The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-06-26

w certain angle across Boston
common wise men keep indoors
and animals seek the sheltered way
The air cuts though 10 the body like a
knife. The heaviest overeoat is scant
protection. Furs turn to feathery icicles.
There is then comfort nowhere except
indoors before a blazing FIRE Those
who must be abroad take the nearest
way. and the street car companies for
once. reap a harvest Of short riders"
Out of such conditions II requires rare
favor Of the gods to build success. but
the story of family from Lynn shows
that il is possible. It happened that
rich man, having a directors meeting
to attend on such a January forenoon,
jumped aboard the car on which the
elder brother of this famiIy-a young
elder brOther-Was- 50Urneying TO his
home in Lynn. The rich man carried
in his hand a copy of a Boston newspa-
per, and at the end of his short ride
by some strange Whsm of recklessness
he left the paper behind. The elder
brother. having a long. cold ride before
him, and having no PENNIES to waste
on newspapers, picked up the aban-
doned paper with eager satisfaction
And from this incident grew the max
ing Of millions out of an SS4 check and
the beginning of an advertising ro-
nance that probably has no parallel
This young man from Lynn was tax
ing the SS4 check home and he had II
very closely buttOned in his inside
pocket It represented the first sub
stantial sum he and his family had had
in =heir possession for several years.
At the end of the car line his mother
and brothers and sisters were waiting
hungrily for his appearance with the
small fortune. They had been living
on very thin prOven1ar for months and
looked to this check for a taste of
good, strong food. The family origi-
nally had been among the most substan-
tiaI people in Lynn. The father was
wealthy builder and in 1874 had over
100 houses, finished and under construc-
ton Then a financial squeeze came
and he lost every dollar he had in the
world. Fortunately, there remained the
home, which was in the mothers name,
and somehow the family managed for
four years to keep from starving. Then
in 1873 the elder brother had an ideS
His mother. in the years Of prosperity,
had brewed a certain medicinal COM
pound, the recipe for which had been
given her by an olds German woman
| Of this compound sha had given away
thousands of bottles. refusing pay even
from strangers who asked the medicine
of her. Her sons idea had to do with
| this medicine.
why not make uD the compound
and sell it?' he suggested
The mother was doubtful.
who would buy it
The people to whom you used 70
| give it, and lots Of others, when they
| hear of it. You've got nearly thOu-
! sand letters upstairs from the people
| who wrote to thank you for the med'-
| cine Wen take some of these letters
/ and have them printed; then Wen dis
Frs1, 70 harr as =
/ With considera bic misgiving $3.50
/ was taken out Of the slender family
stock to pay for 900 small. fOur-page
] circulars. The three brothers distrib-
/ uted these circulars from house TO
1 house Next day they went over the
| same route. carrying in canvas bags a
/ supply of the medicine which their
mother had meanwhile brewed over the
! kitchen stove. Wherever a circular
/ had been left they rang the door bell
4 and offered their wares. It was slow
work. but it brought in enough money
| TO keep the family froEz want. Here
/ and there a drug store took several
! bottles and circulars were left on the
/ drug store counters. Finally the de-
/ mand reached a wholesale drug house
III Boston and they ordered gross.
/ 1t was the payment for this first big
sale, the SS4 check, that the elder
| brother was carrying home when he
! happened to pick up the rich man s
| newspa per. He was too cold to take
J deep interest in the new stories
I spread out before him, but he finally
/ lighted on a line that held his eye 1t
was printed on the editorial page In
/ black type and read:
Circulation, a, 900 copies daily"
! The line. fascinated him. It brought
a wicked temptation TO his mind
1T takes u.s. he said to himself,
about three days to put out a thou
{ 1zv-~ rTnv- ne 3
/ undelivered- At that rate 1000 would
| take over half year to put out, and
1 the printing would come to S143- Now,
| If we only had the money we could put
| them all out in one day through this
newspaper, and the cost would prob
ably be no greater"
Just then the ca. passed the news
! paper Office.
The young man ran to the door and
! jumped out.
TN just see what it would cost" he
explained to himself
/ Inside. he handed the man a copy of
his circular.
What would you charge to put that
in tomorrow mornings paper?"
Yes"
''All of it?"
Mechanically the man counted the
''s63.4O'
/ vi the lIOuA page
we don't put ads there"
Then it would do me no good
Very well, I'll put it there so you
can try the effect
The young man drew his breath
hard. He knew what the sum asked
meant at home; but the fever was or
him So steadying ms voice as best he
could he said
All right, you NAV print it if YOU
viii take in payment check for So
and give me the change
The advertising man was willing anC
five minutes afterward his customer
was on his way to Lynn again, but hi;
precious hoard had melted to S2060 A
the house he was met by the whole
family.
Did you get the check"
Yes" he answered sententiousIy.
'Where-where is it2 Let's see it.
The questions came from all sides
They were hungry, clamorOus for
sight of the precious paper. They
wanted to handle it, feel it, look at TIT
figures
Panic suddenly seized the boy. Hi!
Iintoxication passed away, and he rea
lized what he had done. For few
minutes longer he fenced. Then. il
desperation, he blurted out the story
and a wall of anguish and accusation
went up It was the most terribI,
tragedy that had come to this family
since the dark days of 1874 The storm
of words wore itself out after a while