The Ruling Passion.She had never mailed a letter before, and so she approached the stamp clerk’s window with the same air that she would enter a dry goods store.“I would like to look at some stamps, please,” she said.“What denomination do you want?” asked the clerk.“Denomination!” This was remarked in surprise. She hadn’t supposed that stamps belonged to any church at all.“Yes,” replied the clerk, who saw no necessity for holding a lengthy palaver over the sale of a stamp, especially when other people were waiting. “Is it for a letter or a newspaper?”“Oh, I want to send a letter to my Uncle John; he’s just moved to—”“Then you need a two-cent stamp,” interrupted the clerk, offering her one of that value.“I hardly like that color,” she observed, holding the brick-tinted stamp up to the light and surveying it critically.The clerk looked at her in astonishment. In his long experience in the postal business he had never before met a customer who objected to the color of the stamps.“That is a two-cent stamp, madame. Please stand aside and let the gentleman behind you come up.”“Haven’t you got them in any other color?” she asked, wholly oblivious to the “gentleman behind.”The clerk began to act cross.“I never did like that shade of red,” she added.“There is only one color,” he replied, curtly.“That is strange,” she mused. “I’d think you’d keep them in different shades, so that there’d be some choice.”The clerk said nothing, but he kept getting crosser everyminute, and murmurs of disapprobation began to rise from the ever-lengthening line of people who would have been thankful to get their stamps without criticizing their hue.“You are sure you have none in a brighter red, or even in a different color—Nile green, or seal brown, or jubilee blue, for instance?”“You can put two one-cent stamps on your letter if you like,” said the clerk, who began to see that the customer could not be frowned away from the window.“Let me see them, please.”Two blue stamps were solemnly handed to her, and the crowd began to hope that at last she was suited.“Ah, that will do,” she said, as she took up the one-cent stamps and eyed them as if they were samples of dress goods. “I like that shade better. I’ll take only one, if you please.”And she handed the other back to the clerk, who took it mechanically, but managed to add:“If it’s for a letter you’ll need two. These are one-cent stamps and letter postage is two cents per ounce.”“Oh, I don’t want to put two stamps on my letter,” she said; “I don’t think they will look well.”“It requires two cents to carry a letter, madame, and you must either put a two-cent stamp on or two ones. It won’t go without. And I must ask you to please hurry, for you are keeping a great many people away from the window.”“That’s singular. I don’t like the look of two together. You are sure the other doesn’t come in seal brown, or”—“No!” thundered the clerk, getting very red in the face.“Then I’ll have to see if I can’t suit myself elsewhere.”And she departed.The clerk replaced his despised red and blue stamps, mopped his perspiring brow, and began to make up for lost time.
She had never mailed a letter before, and so she approached the stamp clerk’s window with the same air that she would enter a dry goods store.
“I would like to look at some stamps, please,” she said.
“What denomination do you want?” asked the clerk.
“Denomination!” This was remarked in surprise. She hadn’t supposed that stamps belonged to any church at all.
“Yes,” replied the clerk, who saw no necessity for holding a lengthy palaver over the sale of a stamp, especially when other people were waiting. “Is it for a letter or a newspaper?”
“Oh, I want to send a letter to my Uncle John; he’s just moved to—”
“Then you need a two-cent stamp,” interrupted the clerk, offering her one of that value.
“I hardly like that color,” she observed, holding the brick-tinted stamp up to the light and surveying it critically.
The clerk looked at her in astonishment. In his long experience in the postal business he had never before met a customer who objected to the color of the stamps.
“That is a two-cent stamp, madame. Please stand aside and let the gentleman behind you come up.”
“Haven’t you got them in any other color?” she asked, wholly oblivious to the “gentleman behind.”
The clerk began to act cross.
“I never did like that shade of red,” she added.
“There is only one color,” he replied, curtly.
“That is strange,” she mused. “I’d think you’d keep them in different shades, so that there’d be some choice.”
The clerk said nothing, but he kept getting crosser everyminute, and murmurs of disapprobation began to rise from the ever-lengthening line of people who would have been thankful to get their stamps without criticizing their hue.
“You are sure you have none in a brighter red, or even in a different color—Nile green, or seal brown, or jubilee blue, for instance?”
“You can put two one-cent stamps on your letter if you like,” said the clerk, who began to see that the customer could not be frowned away from the window.
“Let me see them, please.”
Two blue stamps were solemnly handed to her, and the crowd began to hope that at last she was suited.
“Ah, that will do,” she said, as she took up the one-cent stamps and eyed them as if they were samples of dress goods. “I like that shade better. I’ll take only one, if you please.”
And she handed the other back to the clerk, who took it mechanically, but managed to add:
“If it’s for a letter you’ll need two. These are one-cent stamps and letter postage is two cents per ounce.”
“Oh, I don’t want to put two stamps on my letter,” she said; “I don’t think they will look well.”
“It requires two cents to carry a letter, madame, and you must either put a two-cent stamp on or two ones. It won’t go without. And I must ask you to please hurry, for you are keeping a great many people away from the window.”
“That’s singular. I don’t like the look of two together. You are sure the other doesn’t come in seal brown, or”—
“No!” thundered the clerk, getting very red in the face.
“Then I’ll have to see if I can’t suit myself elsewhere.”
And she departed.
The clerk replaced his despised red and blue stamps, mopped his perspiring brow, and began to make up for lost time.