SOME CURIOUS SUPERSCRIPTIONS.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1621, 23 November 1882, Page 4

SOME CURIOUS SUPERSCRIPTIONS.

Not the least interesting of the many postal curosities to which the newspapers from time to time give publicity are those relating to the addresses on letters. While performing at Bolton in September, 1802, Hay, the comedian, received a letter from Charles Dibdin, ; winch bore the following address :—: — Postman, take this sheet away, And carry it to Mr Hay ; And whether you ride mare or colt on, Stop at tbo Theatre, Bolton ; If in what counti y you inquire, Merely nwntion Lancashire. A letter bearing the following address was received at the office of the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, in February, 1880 :— To Uncle Toby this missive is sent, And I'm sure the penny is very well spent, The weekly newspaper, the Chtontcle named, Is the Newcastle and through England lamed. Mr Editor this to mine uncle will give, And I heartily hope that both may long live. "Uncle Toby, it may be as well to explain, is the assumed name of the conductor of the 'Children's Corner' in the paper mentioned." Shortly previous to the arrival of the above a communication addressed as under reached the same office :—: — To Newcastle I want to go ; And, now Post-office dearies, You'll hand me gently, I trow, To Editor ofAotes and Qinncs Some curious examples were published in the Chromolithograph in 1868 ; these j among others :—: — I "Mr , Travelling Band, one of the four playing in the street, Persha [Pershore], Worcestershire. Please to iind him if possible." "E.R , a cook as lived tempoi-y ■with a Mrs L , or some such name, a shoemaker in Castle street, about No. — Hobern, in 1851. Try to make this out. She is a Welsh person about 5 feet 1 stoutish. Lives in Service some ware in London or nabourede London." This is for her that make dresses for ladies that live at tother side of rode to James Brocklip, Edensover, Chesterfield." "This is for the young girl that wears spectacles, who minds two babies. 30, Sheriff street, off Prince Edward street, Liverpool." The wag who sent an espistle to "the biggest fool in the M'orld. Tunbridge," had little thought, we may be sure, that it would thus be endorsed : tl The Postmaster of Tunbridge cannot decide to -whom he should deliver this, as he does not know the writer." It is related in an old almanac that at the end of last century a gentleman wrote, a letter to a lady of rank in London addressed thus ; "To the 23th of March, 3?oley Place, London." It was delivered 5n due course at the residence of Lady Day. A glance at the calendar will show that Lady Day is celebrated on the 25th March. Two or three years ago, a gentleman at Ayr received a letter the envelope of •which had these lines ; Aw.i tae auld Scotland, and speer for John Graeme, It's a wide direction, but a wheel kent name, In the NewTown o' Ayr, at the auld Brig-en' ; He M'lls a dr.ip whusky— but the postman will ken— And if you should fin' him, as Iv'e nae doot >ou will, I'm tortam he'll no grudge the postman a gill. Aii old "postie," of Chepstow, Monmouthshire, informs us that he once delivered a letter with this address :—: — Postman, ivy hearty, Use the uttermost dispatch In taking this letter fo the Inn Bonny 'Ih.itch. John Kitchen the Landlord A fine old English Host, Good Cheer w.is his motto, Good Ale was Ins boast. On 1 utshill near Chepstow, On the banks of the Wye, You will find it with ease, So, old i'cllow, good bye. We arc further informed that an epistle having the following duly reached its destination :—: — Postman, this missive which I send Is for a tried and valued iriend ; From England's shores to Ireland's nation. . Markwcll the place of destination. _ The name is Bird, you'll find the pair, And young ones, too, in Mountioy Square, 'I he number, seven, all snug ana neat. You'll find tlic nest in Emmett's street. So now to Dublin haste awa\, And find the Birds without delay ; 'lhey'll clap their wings, and sweetly smile A welcome to tbc Emerald Isle. About the year ISSO, aMr Carver was the recipient of a communication form Nottinghamshire beaiing these lines. They were published in the Lcvdb Mercury at the time : I request, Mr Postman, this letter jou'li send To George Carver, mj brother, a trusty okl friend He makes bricks and tiles without straw or stubble, 17cc from Egyptian bondage, tho' not without trouble. At Denton, near Otley, in Yorkshire, you'll find him ; The postage is paid, you ha\c no cause to mind him. One other example, and that the latest that has conic under our notice. In June last, the following amusing address on an envelope passed through the Lochee Po&t-office : AVakc up ! my bauld Postie o' Bonnie Dundee, Gather up your auld traps an' m.ik aff for Locliee, By Capcrdown Wood an' by Gourdie's stey brae ; Nor Linger at Mackies dram-shop by the way. Like a flash o' greased lightnin' leave Fowlis fai behind, But at Bell's o' Murlock >ou may stop and take wind ; Gif the master's .it hamc, qic him this like a brick, And, till I come doon, I've be awn ye a "sic." — Chambers Journal.

Why is an address on board a ship like a bracelet ? Because it's a deck-ora-tion (decoration). "What's the man yelling at ?" asked a farmer of his boy. "Why," chuckled the boy, "he's yelling at the top of his voice." — Elmira Telegram. A REPUTA.SHUN" once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will ahvus keep their eyes on the spot where the krack was. — Josh Billings. The American fisheries were worth in the value of products the very handsome sum of 45,000,000d01. in the year 1880. Teachers in the public schools of France are now paid, on an average, but a trifle over £320 per annum. Little Eddie T. was sick with gastric fever, peevish and fretful, but he seemed to want the idea to prevail that it wasn't much trouble to attend him. His mamma, while bathing his brow soothingly remarked : "What is home without a mother ?" The young rascal immediately snapped out : "Well, what would mother be without a home." A wiiiJisiCAL application of science is reported in the proceedings of a meeting of the Eeole Central of France, at which was exhibited an instrument called a polyscope, which, by means of a reflector and incandescent wire, in a small glass tube, illuminated the interior of a living and swimming pike. This transparent fish did not appear to object to being thus turned in a sort of Chinese lantern, and he presented a very curious and interesting object for observation. For more than two hundred years no Roman Catholic prelate, as such, has been presented at the English court till the presentation of Archbishop Lynch of Toronto, to the Prince of Wai es at a levee in behalf of the Queen at London lately, when the Bishop in a soutanelle, purple stockinets, a gold chain with hanging cross, and a purple zucchett'v on his crown made a novel effect. TH3 Paris milkmen are in. trouble. The police have made a successful raid on their headquarters. The cans are all unloaded in a ( large, warehouse in the city,', and twenty -five policemen are posted outside, loop-holes having been made in tbej wall to enable ,them, to see what was going on, inside. ,Just when the milkraan had brought ,in the. water and were beginning to 'make theft cus« tomary mixture,' the police rushed in and caught them.' ' They Were found t&ljavc 'a large quantity 'of bicarbonate or lime, and also a contriviS-ticfe 'for removing <the *e»led'(JoVeri. i '•' '■' »'** >