  The addresses of letters passing through the post have often very curious features, arising from various causes: sometimes the whole writing is so bad as to be all but illegible; sometimes the orthography is extremely at fault; sometimes the writer, having forgotten the precise address, makes use of a periphrase; sometimes the addresses are insufficient; and sometimes the addresses are conjoined with sketches on the envelopes showing both artistic taste and comic spirit. Post-office sorters, who constantly have passing through their hands writing of every style and every degree of badness, acquire an aptitude for deciphering manuscript; and writing must be bad indeed, if to be read at all, when it fails to be deciphered in the Post-office. A very large collection might be made of the vagaries of writers in the addresses placed by them on letters; but the following will give some idea, though not a complete idea, of one of the troubles met with in dealing with post-letters. Some time ago the Danish and Norwegian Consul at Ipswich, being struck by the ever-varying way in which the word "Ipswich" was spelt in the addresses of letters reaching him from abroad, took the pains to make a record of each new style of spelling, and after a time he was able to collect together fifty-seven incorrect methods of spelling
Letters so addressed generally reached the Consul in direct course of post, though some of them were occasionally delayed by being first sent to Wisbeach. In other cases assistance was given in reading the addresses by the northern version of the county "Suffolg" following the word intended for Ipswich. The address, On another occasion the following address appeared on a letter:— A further odd address was as follows, written, it is presumed, by a German:— The next address is one made use of, apparently, owing to the true and particular address being lost, but the directions given served their purpose, and the letter was duly delivered:— Similar cases are as follows, but we are unable to say whether the addresses given served their intended purpose:— To E——, a cook as lived tempery with a Mrs L——, or some such And— In this case the letter had to feel its way about for a day or two, but Ant Sue was found living in a cottage near Lyndhurst. Another letter was addressed thus:— Unfortunately, in this instance the directions given failed to trace the person to whom it was sent, and it had to go to that abyss of "rejected addresses," the Dead-letter Office. It occasionally happens that when the eye is unable to make out an address, the ear comes to the rescue. In London a letter came to hand directed to But no one was known there of that name. A clerk, looking at the letter, commenced to repeat aloud, "Mr Owl O'Neil, Mr Owl O'Neil," when another clerk, hearing him, exclaimed, "Why! that must be intended for Mr Rowland Hill,"—which indeed proved to be the case. A similar circumstance happened in Edinburgh, with a letter from Australia, addressed to Two odd addresses are as follows, one being from America, the other from Ireland:— An American gentleman having arrived in England, and not knowing where a sister was residing at the time, addressed a letter to her previous residence thus— The letter having been delivered to the lady, the writer intimated to the Post-office that he had received a reply in ordinary course, and explaining that the letter had been delivered to her on the top of a stage-coach in Wales. In admiration of the means taken to follow up his sister, the writer ventured to add, "that no other country can show the parallel, or would take the trouble at any cost." It would be impossible to explain in words the difficulties that are met with, and the successes which are obtained, in deciphering badly written addresses; and facsimiles of the directions upon some such letters are therefore appended to enable the reader to appreciate the facts. In the London Post-office indistinctly addressed letters are at once set aside, so as not to delay the work of sortation, and are carried forthwith to a set of special officers who have an aptitude for deciphering indistinct writing. These officers, by a strange contradiction in the sense of things, are called the "blind officers"; and here the letters are rapidly disposed In addition to instances of indistinctly addressed letters, a few specimens of addresses of an artistic and humorous character are furnished in this chapter. The letter, of which the above represents the address, was posted in a town in the north of England, and delivered to the editor of the 'Courant' in Edinburgh. A facsimile of a portion of the communication enclosed is also shown, which will give an idea of the interest attaching to editorial work, and afford some valuable information to the reader! |
|
