Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-06-21
a Lesson In Advertising.

The practical Joke on Sam ID.
Jones, the manufacturer, which has
afforded 30 much amusement in At.
lanta, vividly recalls prank played
on exactly the same lines by Henry
w. Grady 80 years ago.
Henry Grady was at that time liv-
ing at Rome and edited the Daily
Commercial of that city. Following
the hard lines which always encom-
passed the pathway of daily journal
ism in Rome up to the present hap
pier time, Grady, although editor-in-
chief, was also one of the most dill
gent advertising solicitors in Rome.
He made special plea for the Rouns-
avilles, one of the largest business
houses of the Hill City, who were
rather soy and not overly disposed
to be liberal in printers ink. But
they stoutly asserted that nobody
read advertisements and that it would
not pay them to advertise their busi-
ness'in the Commercial.
Henry Grady stoutly argued the
other side, and finding the merchants
obdurate, finally left them with this
statement: "Well, / will insert a
small advertisement for you free in
the Commercial to- morrow, and if the
result does not prove that people do
read advertisements, and that adver-
tising pays, / will promise never to
trouble you again, and if you'll prom
ise to advertise in the Commercial if
the result proves to you that people
do read advertisements?"
To this the Rounsavilles consented,
and the editor withdrew. The next
morning there appeared in an obscure
corner of the Commercial brief
want advertisement declsring that
the firm of Rounsaville Bros, were
anxious to secure before the end of
the week, as many cats of all kinds
and of all ages as they could get to
their store.
When the heads of the firm
reached their office on the morning
following the advertisement the
scene was one which they are likely
never to forget. Wagons were
ranged for 40 or 80 yards up against
the platform, which made entrance to
their store, and men, women and chill
dren, from the city and from the
country, with bags in their hands and
oats in their arms, mounting way
past the hundreds and up into the
thousands, stood there clamoring for
the attention of the proprietors to
their answer to the want advertise
ment Mr.. Grady had inserted the day
before in the Daily Commercial.
Such an array or collection of cats
had never before been seen in Rome
or in North Georgia. Gray cats and
black oats, tom cats and tabby cats,
old cats and yonng cats, cats in arms.
cats in baskets, cats in cages, cats
quiet and cats mewing, cats with
backs arched and cats softly purring
all there and waiting for the Rouns-
avilles.
The news of the incident had
spread over the town and nearly one.
half of the population had come tc
see the Rounsavilles convinced by
Henry Grady that advertising paid
1t only remains to be said that out
of the overwhelming mass of proof
furnished by the farmers of Rome
and of Floyd county, the Rounsa
villes did not take long to discover
the truth of Grady's proposition, and
the columns of the Commercial from
that time forward we're never with
out the announcement of the big an6
prosperous firm that has done bust
ness there for 80 many years.
Two negro preachers have beer