The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance

As might readily be supposed, strange communications are often received on savings-bank business--some quaint and curious, though written quite seriously, while others are evidently written with the intention of making fun; yet another class deriving their peculiarities from a too common cause--want of education. A few of such specimens are given as follows:-- A depositor being asked to furnish particulars of his account, the reply received from some one who had opened the letter on his behalf was to this effect:--"He is a tall man, deeply marked with smallpox, has one eye, wears a billycock, and keeps a pea-booth at Lincoln Fair,"--a description ample enough, and one that would rejoice the heart of a detective. The envelopes supplied to depositors, in which they send their books to headquarters, have within the flap a space provided to receive the depositor's address, and the request is printed underneath--"State here whether the above address is permanent." This request has called forth such rejoinders as these--"Here we have no continuing city," "This is not our rest," "Heaven is our home," "Yes, D. V." In one case the reply was "No, D. V., for the place is beastly damp and unhealthy;" while another depositor, being floored by the wording of the inquiry, wrote--"Doant know what permanent is"!