Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-10-03
THE ESTHETIC GIRL.
Thought the Postal Auth0r14fas Should Issue HanasPainted
 Stamps.

The esthetic girl frowned as she took the letter a maid brought in. and after she had run oyer it's contents and re- turned the sheets to their envelope her delicate brows contracted again. She looked fxedly at tha envelope and mur- mured: ..ft really is time something was done about it"
 T hope you've had no bad news, ' ven- tured a sympathetic friend, relates the Brooklyn Eagle
 E No; I was just reminded of some thing. Do you remember that dreadful bazaar fire in Paris. some years ago? I happened to be in the city at the time The bodies of the victims were carried ito the Champs dc Mars the morning after the fire. As stood in the imrI5z crowd outside, watching the reAatiy
 and friends enter to identify the victinI two deliberately dressed women wei in past the guarded entrance One d them wore 8 bright red hat and liftek her skirt unnecessarily high over scar let silk petticoat. Hem! ironicallyf calculated brawny peasant woman at X my elbow, sMais voiIa des toilettesnour .visiter les morts!' g
 They certainly weren't appropriats toilets to visit the dead in" assented the sympathetic friend, "but is there any connection between the fact and that letter of youns?''
 The esthetic girl rsagranged the folds of her tobacco brown gown, which ex4a actly matched her hair, and adaslsted tho string of amber beads about her neck before she replied:
 Well, this letter is just as absurd3 in It's way as that woman in a red haf: at the scene of mourning. Doesn't N ian on your artistic sense to see that bread 'bfack-banded envelope with bright red stamp in one corner? It's an insult to the esthetic taste of the nation for the government to force us to such atrnc- ities.''
 Now, what I would suggest is.thaS the postal authorities should issus mourning stamps. They might be q appropriate design, .urns and weeping willows and that sort of thing. or even those everlasting old fathers of shd country done in black would be some improvement.
 , Do you know i've given up usinA lmauve stationery because it was so ex- 'pensive. Doesn't cost moro than cthez tcolors. No, but the stamps do. of course. I couldn't dresm of putting 'horrid red stamp on a heliotrope en- fvelope, so I had to Sbpy threa-cenf stamps. They matched bsautifully,
 Think what a jay its would be il, ina stead of buying those odious nttIe red oblongs, one could get postage stamps in assorted colors, beautifully tinted dys The idea opens out ;limitless possibii- < ities, too, in the way of suitable designs [ for different occasions. There might < even be expensive hand-painted stanops I for aristocrats who dislike to use what the common herd does. And the lover should be able to send the beloved ob- { ject letters stamped with hearts and , cupids.''
 The sympathetic friend thought the scheme just lovely" and the esthetic { girl went on rapturously:
 Don't you believe we women could start petition Chat seems to be fba way they do things nowadays) and send 1t to the president! We'd call it the modern stamp act; nothing to do with stupid tea as in the old days, but purelv for arts sake, You know the stamne could be made an art education for the masses declare I'll agitate the matter at the next meeting of the A. A. 's--Ar- tistic Advancement Club"