The post office and its story an interesting account of the activities of a great government department

The following was perhaps a little more difficult. An American gentleman arrived in England, and not knowing where a sister was residing at the time, addressed a letter to her previous residence thus— “Upper Norwood or Elsewhere.” The letter was delivered to the lady on the top of a coach in Wales, and in thanking the Department for what had been done the gentleman said, “that no other country can show the parallel or would take the trouble at any cost.” Here is another quaint address: “To the military gentleman who arrived from Aldershot on Thursday, who often stays at the Queen's Hotel, and who wears a long fawn overcoat and light cap. Queen's Hotel.” I am afraid a great many people furnish puzzle addresses with malice aforethought, and the Department does its best to discourage such attempts to waste its time. An official may sometimes make an effort to deliver such packets, but there is no call upon him to do so. For instance, a letter was posted in London addressed as follows:— “From an old Bachelor To a Young Lady, The Youngest of Three, Who lives in a house Close down by the sea. The house is quite large, Part of it used for a shop, Where the relatives Deal in tea, bacca, and soap, In the scraggy tail end of the British Isles.” The letter was passed on from one sorter to another, and was finally hung up. Then a sorter wrote in blue pencil across it—