The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-05-14

INTERYIEH " 18th CHARLES II
PINKH4M.

Malicious Stories About Lydia e. Pinkham
Never Having Existed Refueted Son of
the Famous Lynn Benefactor Tells of
Her Kindly Interest In Woman-kind
and her Actual Personality.
(From Times ald-Chicago,)
Lydia L. PinlSham, who is so widely
known by the benign face in the cele-
brated patent medicine advertisement,
is not as many people suppose, myth.
To this fact there is no stronger evil
dence than her son, Charles H. Pink
ham, whom the Times Herald reporter
had the pleasure of interviewing to-
day,
Lydia Pinkham's personality has
probably never been described In any
of the publications illuminated by her
kindly portrait, but that she was a liv-
ing force in the world was a positive
fact
Charles III. Pinkham passed through
Chicago the other day on his way to
spend a vacation in the west. To a
representative of the Times Herald he
spoke feelingly of his mother and the
painful impression that prevails in
some quarters as to her non-existence.
"Of course" said Mr.. Pinkham, "the
mere idea is absurd to me, her son, who
knew her to be the kindest, sweetest,
gentlest mother in the world. She was
all her portrait speaks her to be- and
her whole life was given up to doing all
the good she could in this weary
world"
SIMPLE LIFE AND SYMPATHETIC.
Her life was simple and her heart
full of sympathy and tender feeling.
After the business grew with almost
miraculous rapidity, she devoted her
entire time to it, or at least to that
branch of it which related to correspon-
dence with women seeking her advice,
and her pleasure was in that duty.
am proud to say that my mother was
not myth, and that there was not a
drop of selfishness in her makeup"
Mrs. Pinkham was unique among the
| makers of proprietary medicines. She
was the first to print her portrait in
| her advertisements, and that face has
| seldom failed to warm the heart of any
one who has seen it. Mr.. Pinkham
! carries portrait of his mother in his
| inside pocket. 1t is the face of the ad-
| vertisement sure enough.
Lydia Estes-that was her maiden
| name--was born in Lynn, Mass, and
| before her marriage she taught school
| in the little Yankee town. Her parents
| were Quakers, and 1t was in that sim
pie fraternity she exhibited her early
| ideas of kindness. Her husband was a
/ ~
sessed considerable wealth. There We're
four children, two Of whom-Charles Fl.
| Pinkham and Aroline Chase Pinkham
survive, and who now own the bust
ness equally.
| FIRST BREWING ON A STOVE.
| Mrs Pinkham had for years brewed
| the compound that now bears her
name on her kitchen stove, and had
given it away to her neighbors. When
the panic of 1873 came Mr.. Pinkham,
senior, lost his fortune. 1t was while
| the family were in straitened circum-
stances that one day two ladies drove
| to the Pinkham residence and asked
1 Mrs. Pinkham to sell some of her al
/ ready famous compound. This fact
suggested the bright idea of making
Liz llEtdiIlIiS sbAio ollNi las
i it for sale. What followed, every
newspaper reader knows. She insisted
i on carrying on her own correspond
ence sharing her work with her daugh-
ter-in-law, Mrs. Charles III. Pinkham,
and she sooncame to be regarded as a
/ public benefaetor, This title she de-
served in ample measure.
When she died she bequeathed her
/ place at the head Of the business to her
| daughter, who to-day with years OF
experience and study, and by the aid OF
a corps of assistants, personally at
tends to the great mass of correspond
ence that flows in and out of the big
concern in Lynn: and that bond of con-
fidence so thoroughly established be-
| tween Lydia f. PinlSham and the wo-
men of America, whereby they were
enabled to talk freely of their private
Illness to woman, has never beer
broken.
1t has been the aim of this great wo-
mans children to carry on the work
begun by the mother in the same spirit
of kindness that characterized heI
! whole life.
Lydia e. Pinkham is more than 8
dispenser of medicine, She is a fact II
II history.