Evening star., 1900-10-27
MONEY IN NOlSELESS MILK
HOW AN ENTERPRISING FARMER
PILED UP A FORTUNE.
His Regard for the Morning Slumbers
of His Customers Brought
Its Reward.
Its Reward.

Ats HS"aEu.
Among the guests at the Arlington this
week was Theodore Hollingsworth of the
Mohawk valley, n. Y, tall, dignified gen.
tleman, well past the golden milestone
of life, and looking like a New England
college professor or a clergyman emeritus.
Yet, nevertheless and Notwithstanding
said Mr.. Hollingsworth in a most enjoyable
conversation with a Star reporter, Il am
milkman. You have heard the anecdote of
Pitt the younger, who when a boy, was
asked what he should be when he grew up,
and said in reply, L suppose l shall have to
be lord chancellor, but l should like to be
a ca abman.' That fits me. My father was
a big lawyer and wanted me to be one.
But success in the law seemed to me to be
a plant that fiourished in the quarrels,
crimes and folies of humanity, and 1 read
Blackstone only lorg enough to tell
felony from misdenleanor. threw down
the law books and went out on one of the
beautiful farms south of the Mohawk ana
began serious life as farm hand al $l2
month and board and clothes-good pay
those days.
Il have been at it now over forty years,
and last week we took an inventory OF
what 1 am worth and l wrote my will The
appraisers, good neighbors of mine. noted
locally for their horse sense, decided that
my farm live stock and bank stock, notes.
mortgages and various evidences OF things
mine were worth S265,OO0.
That's pretty good for mllkman, ISM
it? Well if 1 should tell you how L dld
it you would have something to laugh over
for month. Do you want to know! Is II
interesting? I'll tell you. l began farming
for myself in 1862 and succeeded from the
start did things the old way-raising
good cows, hauling out manure, cutting
several barns full of hay every summer ana
IL hn
except winters when. of course: II was
a sled. I delivered my milk myself, dressed
in long red wool leggins big sheep-iineo
shoes and a buffalo overcoat. we mao mo NO
bottle business in those days. Every mix
wagon was flaming red and everybody
milk had to be dipped up with long tln
dipper out of the tall, heavy cans ana pour
ed into the pail or the pltcher that was e ieie
out over night at the kitchen door. Zee
whih, 1t was cold business sometimes anu
yet there was good money in IT,
An Uphill Struggle.
"After the war there were good many
ex-soldiers trying to get back into business
and competition began to reduce my profits'
The old soldier appealed to many OF my
customers and l lost them For seVerai
wears it was close hard struggle. hau
the advantage of a good start, hne farm
all paid for, and fair business sense. ae-
veloped the purest herd of Jerseys money
time and knowledge of breeding coula pro
duce , But this did not win the battle:
About that time the Silo came along ana
built a fine one and was able to put doWn
feed enough for my 80 cows Tor eiSnt
months of the year. 1t maae crnw5sd 'I me
still I learned that AyrShires would yleiu
more milk than Jerseys, ana | sot llu VI
the pretty herd of Jerseys ana puiIt up d
big one of Ayrshres. l got steam engine
and a separator. That, you know, Is the
new device we have for driving by centrf-
ugaI motion the cream out or mix. IN
stead of setting the milk and waiting tWen-
ty-four hours for the cream to rise we can
get the cream out of the milk in twenty
minutes after it comes fresh ana warm
from the COWS. I had cream trace tnat
left me with a good many gallons OF Sepa-
rated milk This was good to give to pigs:
and made big figure in the profits mad
always raised Berkshire hogs as the pest
brand I knew of, but some one told me
about Tamworths that would make the tat
and lean streaked bacon and the fine lean
hams So 1 got Tamworths, and 1 shipped
my hams to Smithfield to be cured ana
made handsome returns from them
But all this did not make me rich Ihe
other fellows crowded me close L was sell
ing less milk every year in proportion 10 my
Investment in cows, barns and land. L
seemed to be forced to go into side issues
to make any money, pay wages and Keep
nv chin above water. One winter L was
taken sick and had to go into town for
medical treatment. I boarded with nice
family where the household was run in eX-
cellent style.
81 had one most aggravat1ng ANNOYANCE,
however and, strangely enough, 1t was
right in my own line of business Every
morning the milkman-my own man-would
wake me up just as l had fallen asleep, eX-
hausted by a night of insomnia.
Il heard his wagon stop. L heard the
springs creak as he stepped to the ground
The bottles clinked as he carried them.
His footballs seemed elephantine as he
crossed the porch and thumped the bottles
nd hen Sta1ke6 back the empty
bottles cIinking in his hand One morning
1 missed the milkman's coming, and aWoke
to find he had come and gone and l had
slept Soundly through it all. This was so
mysterious that I instituted an investiga-
ton and learned that the man had himself
caught a fearful cold the day before and
that morning wore rubbers to keep his feet
dry 1t flashed upon me that all milkmen
should always wear rubbers.
The Idea That Brought Success.
sAs I lay there I thought out scheme
for the relief of the great mass of people
who want to enjoy the luxury of a sound
nap in the morning. 1 bought rubbers for
the four men who delivered milk for me.
l did more, 1 put rubber tires on my milk
wagons. Better still, 1 put rubber shoes
on my horses. Then I furnished every one
of my customers with one of these rubber
mats, such as you see there on the cigar
dealers showcase to keep the coin from
on their porches to prevent the thump of
the milk bottles the milkman set them
down. 1 advertised in the papers and by
circulars the virtues Of 'Hollingsworth's
Pure Noiseess Milk Now. then, there
was nothing more l could do except to gag
the horses and the milkmen, and this
wasn't necessary.
II made 1t understood that my men must
not whistle. sing or shout while delivering
milk. Two men who violated this rule were
discharged.
you never saw such results. When 1t
gradually became known that / sold noise
less milk my old customers began to come
back to me.
''The ingenuity of the idea excited gen.
eral approval, and even after the novelty
of the thing had worn off, and one or two
rivals had stopped ridiculing my rubber
system of delivering milk, and had them
selves begun to initiate my method, 1 kept
my trade. 1t had become a matter of spon-
taneous gratitude. Everybody took HoI-
lingsworths milk because he had been good
to them and introduced something to meet
a long-felt want. The health office reports
show that the death rate in our town is
fully 30 per cent less than what it used to
be. There are scores of good people who