The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1880-08-19
CuriOsities Of Advert iSing.

To those who read between the lines
there are. humor, mystery and many
salient elements of character beyond
the epitome of the times; the CONNER
cial activity or quiet is infallibly reflect
ed, and we, at least, find no end of en-
tertainment in these columns which
often contain much more than common
place announcements of things for sale
and services to be disposed of. A
grocer, with vocabulary that would
do credit to penny-a- liner, advertises,
not tea and coffee, but "the peculiar
delicacies ofthe far-off Ind, and the fine
ly-fiavored and humanizing leaf of the
still llfarther-off Cathay; the more exciting
though not less delicious berry of Bra
zil, and the spices, sugars and luscious
fruits of the Antilles; the sugar, condi-
ments and blood -enriching wines of the
Mediterranean. and the salt-c cured and
brain-renewing fish of our own waters"
A young lady "who has received a
good education, can read and write.
and is yersed in geography, history,
music, dancing and elementary mathe-
matics, wishes a situation in a respect
able family as washer and ironer." A
large number of "oil paintings by. the
ancient masters of to-day" are offered
for sale, and {" Reformation wants q
pew in "a Protestant Episcopal Church.,
where the services are the same as they
have been for three hundred years-no
candles, no choral services; no incense,
no gaudy robes or other mummery or
nonsense"
Too often truth is sacrificed to per-
sonal interest in advertisements, but
here are two instances of extraordinary
disinterestedness. A large quantity of
whisky is offered, "not particularly
good, but as good as most of the whisky
sold in this neighborhood," and a coun-
try-seat, in a village where fever and
ague prevails, is thus described by its
tenant: Il hereby offer for sale my
country residence at West Morrisania,
near Melrose station, where l have lived
for the past three years, and where i
could not live much longer. i
have always heard that people looking
for places to purchase could never find
one where they had chills and fever
they always had it about mile, a mile
and half or two miles off, but never
right there at the place for sale. Now
l offer for sale, as a curiosity, some
thing rare-the precise and exact spot
where fever and ague is. will war;
rant it to be there. Three of my chill
dren have it; my groom has sure pre-.
monitory symptoms ofit, and have it
myself. The pace, in fact, is beauti-
full, and beside fever aud ague has all
that BELTS an American gentleman's
country residence. i. bought it to please
my wife, and leave it to please the
whole family" @
In another column, a farmer warns
the public against harboring his wife,
who has left him at the beginning of
summers work, though he has had the
expense of "wintering her." and
laundress is wanted who will be willing
to stake her pay in lessons on the
guitar, and board on washing days"
The facetia is but incidental, howev-
er. and the predominant effect is that of
the extraordinary variety of interest
put in juxtaposition, and the freedom
with which space is used. In the after
noon and evening long strings of peo-
pie may be seen in the. main office of
the paper, patiently waiting to deliver
their advertisements-peo of the
most diverse aspect, purpose and
condition; the threadbare clerk
out of position; the amply
proportioned cook; the small trades
man and consequential advertising
agents. At the branch offices about
town the crowd is also great on some
nights, and, as the advertisements are
delivered, they are telegraphed by pri-
vate wires to the main office. Thous-
ands of dollars are paid for the an,
nouncements of one issue millions of
dollars in year, and of twenty pages
three-fifths are filled by advertisements.
w H. Rideinq, in Scri6ner's Monthly.