Away went the letter to the extreme north, but Thurso did not own to the young lady. Kirkwall was then tried, and eventually the packet found an owner in a village in the Shetland Islands. This was evidently more than the writer deserved. A letter was returned undelivered with unmistakable signs on the address portion of the efforts that had been made by the Department to effect its delivery. “Not Cæsar,” “Try Hannibal,” “Not in Jupiter,” “Try Mars,” were the sorters' and postmen's notes, showing that the universe, seen and unseen, had apparently been searched in vain. Yet the owner of the letter was simply an able-bodied seaman attached to the Channel Fleet. Many people will doubtless think what an amusing place the Returned Letter Office must be, and how interesting must be the duty of reading the undelivered letters. But they have only to realise the number which pass through the office daily to understand that very little time can be given to reading other people's correspondence. Moreover, most of it is terribly dull and uninteresting to strangers. Now and then the eye of the clerk spots something good, but he is usually thinking more of correct addresses than jokes. These lines were found in a lost letter written from a wife to her husband at sea:— “Darling, there is a promise in your eye: I will tend you while I'm living, You will whack me while I die— And if death kindly leads me To the blessed shades on high What a hundred thousand welcomes Shall await you in the sky.” The man who supplied me with these verses says the lady mis-spelt “watch” as “whack,” but I see no reason why her sentiments should be explained away. I am sorry to say that the complaints of the public respecting the non-delivery of their letters are not always politely expressed. No allowance is made for possible errors on the part of the person sending the letter. The following letter is at least outspoken:— “TO DEAD LETTER OFFICE “If I don't get an anser to this I shall say there as been rogery at work somewhere. I wont be rob out of my money not by no one. I sent a P.O. for a pound and it is hard I should waste my time here. If I dont receive a anser on Tuesday morning some one will receive vitrol in their face, if others be rogues I will be villain. i dont mind penal servitude send a anser as soon as possible if you receive same.” This is, I suppose, what is called being quits. The following letter was received by the Postmaster-General, and I have seldom seen a case in which the accuser comes into court with dirtier hands:— “Enclosed please find wrongly addressed envelope which was sent after I had given my correct address to you. Such careless mistakes are deeply to be deplored, and I trust they will not occur again.