Shadows of the Past

[tbutler]

How far back can you see, by looking at the side of a building?

You can see this kind of thing on a lot of the historic brick buildings in Kansas City - old, faded signs painted on the side, advertising whatever business used to live there. Some are still pretty clear - 'John Deere' is on one of the buildings in the West Bottoms area. But this one? 'Envelope Co.' is still quite readable on the top layer, but what's beneath? 'heart and a soul'? 'delivered anywhere'?

(Edit: Just to note, some of the older signs date back to the late 1800's. I'm frankly surprised they've lasted more than a century...)