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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
250
CHAPTER
XIX.
CURIOUS
LETTERS
ADDRESSED
TO
THE
POST-OFFICE.
The
fountain-head
of
the
Post-office
establishment
of
this
country,
whose
personal
embodiment
is
the
Postmaster-General,
possesses
very
ample
means
for
the
collection
of
information
of
various
kinds
through
its
willing
and
trusty
agents,
to
be
found
in
every
corner
of
the
empire;
and
this
idea
seems
to
be
entertained
as
well
by
individuals
abroad
as
by
our
neighbours
at
home,
who,
when
they
fail
to
ascertain
what
they
want
by
other
means,
frequently
fall
back
upon
the
Postmaster-General
for
assistance
and
guidance--the
Post-office
being
pre-eminently
a
people's
institution,
whose
head
even
no
poor
man
need
fear
to
approach--at
any
rate
by
letter.
It
is
a
common
expression
to
say
that
a
thing
cannot
be
done
for
love
or
money;
but
while
the
Postmaster-General
is
addressed
by
inquirers
on
every
variety
of
subject,
it
will
be
found
that
love
and
money
are
at
the
bottom
of
many
of
the
communications
addressed
to
him
not
strictly
upon
the
business
of
his
Department.
In
the
following
paragraphs
will
be
found
specimens
of
such
letters--some
entreating
him
to
render
assistance
in
tracing
missing
relatives,
some
asking
help
in
the
recovery
of
fortunes
supposed
to
have
been
left
to
the
writers,
others
begging
him
to
obtain
situations
for
them,
and
the
like;
but
the
letters
generally
explain
themselves.
The
Dead-letter
Office
must
occasionally
be
supposed
to
be
a
repository
for
the
human
dead,
as
inquiries
for
deceased
persons
are
sometimes
addressed
to
the
"Dead
Office."
Thus:--
"We
heard
in
the
paper
about
12
or
14
months
back
Mary
Ann
----
the
servant
girl
at
London
was
dead.
Please
send
it
to
the
Printer's
office
by
return
of
post
whether
their
was
a
small
fortune
left
for
----."
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