SEALING WAX

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 92, 15 October 1927, Page 20

SEALING WAX

A LANGUAGE OP ITS OWfc

The "language of flowers'' long ha? "been familiar to the romantically; inclined; the language of the handkerchief is equally known to the flirtatious; and those whose intercourse is bythe post have cdntrived a moderately comprehensive language of the postagestamp. Now comes the latest fad to interest Parisians—the language of sealing-wax (states the Paris correspondent of the '* San Francisco" Chronicle"). True, it may not be altogether a novelty, since ,a century ago Byron told of an unhappy woman in "Don Juan" that when she wrote her lover a farewell letter "T;he wax was superfine, its hue carnelian"; and doubtless there was some cryptic or esoteric significance, in her choice of that colour. But to-day such meanings have been developed into an extended code, now widely recognised throughout Europe, especially in the Latin countries, the home of romantic sentiment and also in South' America. . , Thus for announcements of. marriages white sealing-wax is need, and for news of deaths, funerals, or other melancholy uses, black. Violet wax must'be used for' messages of condolence, and brown for those intimating vexation or displeasure. Chestnut colour is the proper hue for invitations to dinner. Light red is reserved for happy lovers, and yellow for those whose passions are not reciprocated. Green is the hue of hope, though a pale green is employed for the conveyance of reproaches.. Sky blue denotes constancy—in accordance with the old term "true blue." Girls writing to each other use rose-coloured wax, while grey is the accepted colour for simple friendship. For business letters, a flaming vermilion is preferred, its intense hue shouting to the sense of sight, "Money! Money! Money!"