Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-10-29
WHO SHE WAS
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF LYDIA E. PINKHAM
And True Story of How the Vegetable Compound
Had Its Birth and How the "PanC of 1872 Caused
it to be Offered for Public Sale in Drug Stores

restore the family fortune. They
argued that the medicine which was
SO good for their woman friends and
neighbors was equally good for the
women of the whole world.
The Pinkhams had no money, and
little credit. Their first laboratory
was the kitchen, where roots and
herbs were stepped on the stove,
gradually filling a gross of bottles.
Then came the question of selling
it, for always before they had given
it away freely. They hired a job
printer to run off some pamphlets
setting forth the merits of the medi-
cine, now called Lydia f. Pinkham's
Vegetable Compound. and these were
distributed by the Pinkham sons in
Boston, New York, and Brooklyn.
The wonderful curative properties of
the medicine were, to a great extent,
selfadvertising, for whoever used it
recommended it to others, and the de-
mand gradually increased.
In 1877, by combined efforts the fam
lily had saved enough money to COM
mence newspaper advertising and from
that time the growth and success of
the enterprise were assured. until to-
day Lydia +. Pinkham and her Nege-
table Compound have become house
hold words everywhere, and many
tons of roots and herbs are used annu-
ally in its manufacture.
Lydia E. Pinkham herself did not
live to see the great success of this
work. She passed to her reward years
ago, but not till she had provided
means for continuing her work as
effectively as She could have done it
herself.
l. = ~
rience she was ever methGdical in her
work and She was always caSeful to pre-
serve a record of every case that came to
her attention. The case of every sick
woman who applied to her for advice
and there were Observation-Disclosures
careful study. and the details, ineIud
ing symptoms. treatment and resnlt is
were recorded for future reference, az d
to-day these records, together with
hundreds of thousands made since. ara
available to sick women the world
over, and represent a vast collabora-
ton of information regarding the
treatment of woman's ills, which for
authenticity and accuracy can hardly
be equaled in any library in the
world.
With Lydia F. Pinl1ham worked her
daughter in law. the present Mrs.
Pinkham. She was carefully instructed
in all her hard-won knowledge, and
for years she assisted her in her vast
correspondence.
To her hands naturally fell the
direction of the work when its origina-
tor passed away. For nearly twenty
five years she has continued it. and
nothing in the work shows when the
first Lydia f. Pinkham dropped her
pen, and the present Mrs. Pinkham,
now the mother of a large family, took
it up. With women assistants some as
capable as herself, the present Mrs.
Pinkham continues this great work and
probably from the office of no other
person have so many women been ad-
vised how to regain health. Sick wo-
men, this advice is ''Yours for Health"
freely given if you only write to ask
for it.
Such is the history of Lydia E. Pink
hams Vegetable Compound +: made
from simple roots and herbs; the one
great medicine for womens ailments,
and the fitting monument to the noble
woman whose name it bears.