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.