Sunday Washington globe., 1902-03-23
ENGLISH POSTOFPlCE STORIES.
Amusing Excuses Made by Employees
Letters That Are Very Blindly
Addressed.

A telegraph messenger was assaulted
while on duty and laid up in consequence.
The following is taken from his letter Of
explanation: "One of them threw the core
of an apple at me, which hit me in the ear;
took no notice of that. and walked on and
then they threw their hats at me. l turned
round, and was about to say: Who are you
throwing atp when took my own part and
hit him back, and a crowd gathered.
stopped to pick up my hat, when he kicked
me, which proved fatal, and ran away"
But the end is happily not yet, as the boy
concludes: Il hope it will not last long"
The loss Of a saviugs-bank book was re-
ported, and shortly afterward the following
letter was received in the department.
The bank book has been found It
seems that the book had been placed be.
tween the lid and box of a stationary case.
the position of lid and box having been
reversed that is, the box was put into the
lid instead of the lid being put on the box.
Mrs. --- had searched through the con-
tents of this box many times, and euriously
enough, she states that the secret was re-
vealed to her in a dream"
travelling pOst-ofice sorter was reported
for an erroneous entry of a registered letter
and his explanation has literary merits
which make il worthy of place in these
pages:
The explanation of this psychological
blunder lies, no doubt, in the fact that when
separating the registered letter fort St-port
from those for So-port, the importance Of
distinction occupied the field of conscious
ness to the exclusion of everything else.
On no other hypothesis can l actually ex-
plain this inverted advisal, which regret"
We can imagine the expression on the
officials face while this explanation was
being read, without, perhaps, being under
stood, says the London 81 -MaTi9NiSle-
Grand.
One letter shows that some widows, at
least, have a full appreciation of the deceit
fulness of man The oTher day the savings
bank department received the following;
will you be kind enough to let me know
if Mr. John Smith has got hundred pounds
in the savings bank, and if 50 will you
kindly let me know, as he was paying his
addresses to me for some time Has / am
only a widow woman and do not wish to be
taken in by him %
Tales are printed indicating the persever-
ance and intelligence of officials in eluci-
dating quaint addresses One letter was ad-
dressed simply: 2Sth March, Clifton" To
Postman Wade must go the credit of having
surmised that this letter was intended for
Lady Day, the wife of the judge of assize,
Mr.. Justice Day, then staying in Clifton. A
letter addressed to wv D. and II. o."
without street or town being named, came
from a distant country aud was delivered to
the firm of w. d. & II. O. Wills & Co., in
Bristol for whom it was found to be i'm
tended. Dr. Grace received an envelope
with merely the initials wv. c." and two
bats aud balls and stumps on the envelope,
while another letter, with drawings-not
too clear-of a flower, an 20, " and repre-
sentation Of sixpence, a cottage marked
hospital" and creek and an urn, was de-
livered to Miss Violet o. Tanner, the Cot
tage Hospital, Crewkerne.