Before the (1)…… of the postage stamp, it was difficult to (2) …… a letter to another country. The sender paid (3) …… the letter to travel in his or her own country. Then the person in the other country was the payer of that part of the trip. If a letter crossed several countries, the problem was worse.
Rowland Hill, (4) …… was a British teacher, had the idea of a postage stamp with gum on the back. The British post office made the first stamps in 1840. A person bought a stamp and put it on a letter, the post office (4) …… the letter. When people received letters, they didn’t pay anything. The letter were prepaid.