Oddly Addressed Letters
On one occasion a letter arrived by post in London, directed to “Sromfridevi, Angleterre.” No such person had ever been heard of; but, on a little consideration, and judging from the sound, it was obvious that the foreign writer of the letter meant Sir Humphrey Davy, and such proved to be the case. Some years since there was returned to the French Dead Letter Office a letter which had gone the round of every seaport in the Levant, and the ambiguity of whose superscription had baffled a legion of postmasters. It was addressed, “J. Dubois, Sultan Crete,” and was intended for J. Dubois Surle Tancrede, a quartermaster on board of the ship Tancrede. The name and address had been written just as they had sounded to the ear. A letter addressed as follows arrived safely at its destination:—
Wood,
John,
Mass.
It was for John Underwood, Andover, Massachusetts.