The Monticellonian., 1906-10-11
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 "Panic of '73' 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 ncighbors 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 steeped on the stove, gradually filling 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 l.. 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 great extent, self advertising, for whoever used it recommended 1t to others, and the de- mand gradually increased.
 In 1s7z by combined efforts the fam fly had saved enough money to com mence newspaper advertising and from that time the growth and success of tuttIpIlSt NtIG dSSuItN. hullk It- day Lydia F. Pinkham and her Vege- table Compound have become house. hold words everywhere, and many tons of roots and herbs are used annu- ally in it's 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.
 During her long and eventful expe- rience she was ever methodical in her work and she was always careful to pre- serve a record of every case thatcam to her attention. The case of every sick woman who applied to her for advice and there were thousands-received careful study. and the details, includ- ing symptoms, treatment and results were recorded for future reference, and today these records, together with hundreds of thousands made since, are available to sick women the world over, and represent vast collabora- tion 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. Pinkham worked her daughter in law, the present Mrs. Pinkham. She was carefully instructed in all her hafd-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 E. 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.