I'm not sure that XML::Parser is what you need here, at least not for the task you're presenting. See an example of the usage of XML::Parser here.

Perhaps all you need is XML::Simple ?

#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w

use warnings;
use strict;
use XML::Simple;
use Data::Dumper;


my $xs = new XML::Simple(KeepRoot => 1);
my $address = "<LOC><HNO></HNO><STN>Eagle Way</STN><MCN>Gotham City</M
+CN></LOC>";

my $ref = $xs->XMLin($address);

print Dumper($ref);


# to print "Eagle way"
print $ref->{LOC}->{STN};
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