Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-14

| a pair Of shoes). II wore the boots and.
! ladies, they are excellent ones-I never wore
! better. And l thought no more about 1t,
| until the manufacturer wrote few days
| ago, asking II l had any improvement to
81 ggest. 1 wrote him politely. saying the
I shoes were as nearly perfect as he might
| hope to make them
| 1 was interrupted by a small chorus OF
| groaEs. And how innocent she WASH NUT
| tered the secretary to her next neighbor.
| Then he wrote me the following letter"
produced his epistle informing me that he
I was to name the shoe after the Nota Bene.
] and also my reply, with his second. Now.
| ladies'" 1 concluded with dignity. 1.-The mat
! ter is in your hands. 1 did not dream OF
any harm in what 1 did. short-sishted
| though l may have BEEN" l swept back to
| my position and took up the gavel again
with my haughtiest air. Six women were
on their feet before 1 sat down.
| Madam President" they began In uni
| son. Madam PRESIDENT they repeated
| after one another with shrill crescendo.
| The situation was a grave one. l knew not
| which to recognize, but the tension gave
| way one of the older women sank
swooning into her seat. When she had been
| sufficiently revived my particular enemy
| rose to her feet.
| Madam Chairman" she began severely.
| Il move a vote of censure from this board
| for the woman who has disgraced u.s." Two
| feeble seconds were heard, but there were
| also hisses Then Mrs. Henry rose, ana
| her calmness seemed to lull the seethlng
| elements in the room.
| Madam President" she began in her
| smooth we'll modulated tones, Il VIII ASK
| the last speaker to withdraw her motion,
| with instructions to the secretary not 70
put 1t upon the records" A chorus or L
| second the notion arose. But Mrs. Henry
| went on calmly: such a motion would
| be an infinitely greater stigma upon the
| club than the fact that some man has
named his shoe for us. regret this whole
| occurrence as much as Is reasonable: none
| 10 5as bo nd NJ puhiCifV which Will
| attend such advertising, but, Madam Presl-
| dent, wish to say emphatically that We
| are in danger of making ourselves ridicu-
| 1ous." She turned to the other ladies'. our
| president may have been a little unwise.
| but only from the fact OF her youth ana
| innocence. "a sneer from my toe) but
| as board we, to woman, should stano Wy
| her now After the last speaker has con-
| sented to withdraw her motion, I wish TO
put another. .. =,
I looked at my enemy. For the moment
| withdraw IT, she said. ungraclously:
but I will not promise not to present II
| again. A., 11orr, In
even tones that we as an executive
| board write carefully worded le..eI 10 10
this enterprising manufacturer ana peg
| him to drop the name Nota Bene anu
adopt another, offering, II necessary 10
help select a suitable one In Its place.
| This motion was heartily seconded, ana
T FASTENED to put it. Three women re-
| fused to vote, but the remainder were
| counted in the affirmative. A committee
was appointed and recess was taken "Liile
| they prepared the document. When .ne
| meeting came to order again, every MEMBER
| Of the board signed the following letter:
| ITO John A. Biggs:
| Dear Sir: At a meeting or the executiNe
| hoard OF the Nota Bene Club this afternoon
| # was unanimously voted to request you
not to use the name which We nave mace
| famous by our beloved club as the Sltle
| of your shoes. We will help you 10 seieet
| at any hOOr
| YOU may designate, but we cordially protest
against your appropriation of our name.
| Before the special meeting or the GluD'
| which was held the next week, the ioio"
ing letter came In reply:
| "To the Executive Board Of the Nota Bene
| Club: oo.,
Ladies': have your favor OF me z'.t
| the same time regret that do not see my
| way clear to change the name of my shoe
| which your president will tell you Is a
| good one, and will reflect luster on your
honorable association. thank you ior
your offer to help me select another name,
but I am quite satisfied with the one
have chosen. And have the honor TO be,
| "YOur very Ob't servant,
JOHN A. BIGGS."
The special meeting was a repetition OF
| this with more women to add to the con-
| fusion. and a few to back up Mrs. Henry
and save the situation from pecomins com,
pletely ridiculous. The records of the board
| meeting were read to the club, the ofncers
| seeming to stand by me, with two or three
exceptions. One woman complained openly
| that I had used the club stationery, though
how she knew I could not tell. And the up
| shot Of the meeting was another letter to
| John Biggs, demanding in strong terms
| that he give up the use of our name, and
| limiting at legal proceedings IN the event VI
| his refusal.
Within Ave days came his reply, addressed
| to the whole club:
| II regret exceedingly that the good ladies
| C1t,lN do mot n
preciate nv cordial intention of paying them
| a compliment in naming my shoe the 'Nota
| Bene.' but must reiterate That II is lmpossi,
| bic to change. AS for the matter Oh lesai
| proceedings / would advise. while you are
| at liberty to appeal to whatever authorizes
| you may choose, that you should not be
| hasty AS I have registered the name
| 'Nota Bene as my trademark. 1t VIII be
| understood that nothing now can prevent
| my using it, and, in fact, that If 1t came TO
| a question of the giving up OF the name, IL
| would be necessary for the club to find an
| other as we now own 1t, and only by our
| sufferance can the club use it any longer.
At the same time We are honored by such
| use of the name, and trust That you VIII
| still continue its honorable and intelligent
conduct as in the past"
| When 1 showed this to my colleagues they
| fairly gasped.
| "He is right" said Mrs Henry. 1.-THE
| Judge says IL he has 1t registered as a
+, trademark we can do nothing. Now, let
| us try to settle the thing. and quiet the
| perturbed spirits who think theiA honor has
| been impeached."
But we had not seen the last Of 1t. The
| next month in all the leading magazines
| there was full-page advertisement of the
! Nota Bene shoe, giving not only the history
| Of the affair, but reproducing the corre-
| spondence, even to the imprint Of our club
| stationery, which came near being the last
! straw that broke the back Of the opposi-
| ton. Then the newspapers took 1t up. and
| we came in for our share of ridicule as
we'll as the sympathy of a few club women.
| "You see," said Minnie Morrison. ''it has
| been simply too good to keep Club won1-
i en- don't know how funny they are when
| they let themselves loose. Here they've
| been blaming you and talking of impeach-
| ing you for using the club sta
tionery for your letter to Brother Biggs,
and then they solemnly go and fndite an
| epistle themselves on the same paper o
| Inconsistency, thy other name Is Nota
Bene! And Biggsy had 'em on the hip
| when he impaired the information that he
| owned the name and If anybody had to give
| 1t up 1t would be you club women. How
| funny it would be II he took 1t to the courts
| and made you change your cognomen.
I'm glad you think So replied with as
| much hauteur as 1 dared assume with her.
| ITO me the situation is anything but funny.
| I wish had never seen his Shoe
But, bad as it was, I found it could be
, worse, for the very next Sunday the per-