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

Some postmasters take themselves and their duties very seriously: they will even pursue a missing packet after it has been found. Application had been made respecting a missing letter, and in the course of the official inquiries the papers were referred to the postmaster at the office of posting with a request for precise particulars of posting. Directly afterwards a communication was received from the sender saying that the letter inquired for had been found. This communication was sent forthwith to the postmaster, who it was assumed would understand that the inquiry was at an end. But the postmaster was misjudged: he went on with the case. He kept the case for about six weeks, trying to obtain from the exasperated sender particulars of the posting of the letter. He then returned the papers, confessing that he had been baffled, and that the case was incomplete. Every Christmas brings a number of letters from children addressed to Santa Claus. One such letter, addressed “Santa Claus, Chimney Corner, Heaven,” was sent by a playful sorter to Hever, Edenbridge, for trial. It is pathetic to think that the destination of all letters so addressed is the prosaic Returned Letter Office. A spinster lady who lived in a county town at a house delightfully named “The Haven” wrote to the Postmaster-General to complain that an official letter had been sent to her bearing a wrong address. The abode with the restful name had actually been described as “The Harem”! No wonder the lady's deepest feelings were aroused, and she was scarcely consoled by the expression of the Postmaster-General's regret that the envelope had been inadvertently addressed in this way.