The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-08-09
HIS JOKES BRING: TRADE
"A Kansas CITY sAoplsepsr's Novel
-, Modc or AdvertisinE,

1AVWU u AWVGEtA8An8s
At the end Of the Ninth street cable
line, ACROSS The Independence electric line
tracks, stands little shop where George
H. Hough sells Ice cream, watermelons
candy, cigars, cold lunch, and II you have
time and whiskers to spare he will give
you a shave. ..n,-.... s.
Hough Is a laxative man, and be is do.
Ing thriving business where others be.
fore him were not particularly successful
He attributes bis success to bis unique
method Of advertising. Not that he her.
aids, his wares. for in all hts advertise
ments be rarely ever mantions nlerchan-
disc, but he goes on the theory that II the
public gets interested In unique idea
some Of It at least viii want to see the
originator of the plan and naturally buy
something -. .,... ...,.-. -
Hough bought two blackboards, each
4 feet long and is inches wide, and hung
them on either side Of his store door, and
for three days they hung there black and
barren.
The children and others in the neigh
borhood came as usual, but saw q new
face behind the counter. Their first and
most natural question was, HAS this
place changed hands7" Hough answered
polite yes, but the visitors became more
numerous, so the next day on one of the
blackboards appeared:
Eyes, this place has changed hands.
Come in and swap les"
The opposite bore this suggestion:
Don't wait until you get to the park
to be cheated Come in here"
Both signs attracted attention.. but the
next evening those who passed that way
found the inscriptions changed and in
their places:
Women appreciate rising young men,
especially In street car"
THE last word Is the most dangerous.
Show this to your wife,"
The following evening everybody was
looking for the blackboard changes. They
came and were:
What are the two things In this life
Tor which man Is never prepared?
Twins"
"How much ice cream can your best
girl eat2 Rays arithmetic says one
gallon-four quarts. Try it. Ten cents
DISH"
The blackbOards now began to attract |
the attention Of the passengers on the
electric line. No cars 60 by the place
that the travellers do not lean from the
windows to see what Is posted.
The joke man was beginning to be rec
ognized as a regular thing, and here are
some he has sprung on the public:
Some women can't believe a word
their husbands say unless they talk in
their sleep"
Nomatter how poor man is there was
a time when he rode in his own car
riage-when his mother pushed It along"
What class Of men are apt to marry
for money more than others? Clergy
men,"
"stranger-Mr Conductor, will l have
time to bid my wife Goodbye Conductor
Il don't know. How long have you been
How did you happen to adopt the
blackboard joke idea?" Mr.. Hough was
asked.
II hardly know" he replied. II want
ID something to attract attention, 80 !
put up the board. The jokes are not all
original with me, but think the idea Of
Advertising Is"
Mr.. Hough declares he does not own
l Joke book, but some of his jokes were
'avorites with the grnndfathers of many
who read them on his blackboards. But I
l jokes a joke, and laugh is one of the .
Few things In the world that are worth
more than their weight in gold-Kansas
Vitv Stnr