JANUARY 15, 19i; 



OUM HOME 



Editor 



K()l'.HlX(i SU K 1'KOI'LE; gymnastics IX THE 

 (jAKDEX, ETC. 



I think most of our readers liave seen 

 advertisements of wonderful things for the 

 cure of sit'k or ailing people in the shape of 

 treatment by mail, correspondence schools, 

 and other thing's along that line. From the 

 very lirst 1 have been suspicious of some 

 corres]iondence schools;* and I have invent- 

 ed money in tliera in order to find out how 

 they work. I have already mentioned the one 

 for the cure of failing memory. A great doc- 

 tor made wonderful jiromises about treating 

 each case individurlh'. I think his price was 

 $20.00 for the whole course. If you did not 

 " bite " at the $20.00 tuition, after a week 

 or two come particular reasons why he has 

 come down to $10.00. If you do not jump 

 at tlie reduced offer, a few weeks later the 

 price is reduced from $10.00 to $5.00; and 

 I do not know but they come down still 

 lower later on. One of our subscribers bit 

 at the bait, and sent me the whole course of 

 treatment. In.stead of its being a personal 

 letter for the particular individual, it was 

 simply a lot of printed sheets that, even if 

 they were of any benefit, could be furnished 

 for 25 cents. There was hardly a new sug- 

 gestion, nor any thing that has not been 

 known for years. 



Some time last spring I saw an advertise- 

 ment of a course of instruction in massage, 

 or something of that sort. It was a way of 

 developing the muscles wonderfully, accom- 

 panied with a picture of a model athlete. 

 As I have been for some time curious about 

 such a treatment I sent for particulars. It 

 did not impress me very favorably, although 

 the writer laid strong emphasis on sending 

 the money back if the customer was not 

 perfectly satisfied. He said Uncle Sam 

 would not permit him to use the mails if he 

 did not " make good " all his promises. I 

 hope the above is true ; but if it is. it is news 

 to me. TVell, I laid his papers aside ; but in 

 the course of a month or so he wrote that 

 he had been anxious about my case, and 

 wanted to know why he did not hear from 

 me, offering to cut the price down to $10.00 

 for an immediate reply. I then wrote that 

 there was no need of sending me any more 

 " form letters;" hut if he wanted to send me 

 fhe treatment, and it proved to be of any 

 benefit to me whatever, I would forward the 

 $10.00. referring him to Dun and Bradstreet 

 for my standing, also mentioning the fact 

 that I did not find him quoted at all. For 



* .Some aip eoort and are operating on tlio rieht. 

 lines. With these I have no quarrel. 



the liist time 1 got a real letter; but I may 

 liave been fooled even then. He said that 

 doctors like himself arc not quoted by Dun 

 and Bradstreet, and the only way he did 

 business was to have cash in advance. I 

 supposed this would end the matter; but in 

 a few days came another form letter, skill- 

 fully planned, to make it appear like a 

 ])ersonal one to myself, saying so many of 

 his friends had told him how much good he 

 could do by reducing the price still further 

 he had decided to offer the whole treatment 

 for the next ten days for the ridiculously 

 small sum of $5.00. I especially wanted to 

 see if the money was coming back promptly 

 if I felt I had received no benefit, or if I 

 were not perfectly satisfied with the invest- 

 ment. Now, right here comes in a " kink " 

 that I had not thought of. The full treat- 

 ment to be gone through with night and 

 morning is for 90 days. Well, my opinion 

 is that the average person would become so 

 tired of the " gymnastics " before the 90 

 mornings or 90 days were over, that he 

 would be likely to be willing to let his $5.00 

 go rather than to keep on. The conditions 

 were that you follow the treatment faithful- 

 ly ; and I have enough confidence in human- 

 ity to think that there are very few who 

 would declare they had kept it up nights 

 and mornings for 90 days when they had 

 not done so. Regularly every week so far 

 comes a form letter giving additional in- 

 formation. Now comes the question, "Have 

 I not received some benefit? " Yes, I think 

 I have; however, very little of the instruc- 

 tion was new to me. The course of gymnas- 

 tics in our schools amounts to about the 

 same thing. For a person who is kept in an 

 office all day, and does not have sufficient 

 exercise outdoors, there would, no doubt, 

 be much benefit from it. For instance, one 

 of the latest exercises is to sit down on your 

 toes and then straighten up, say a dozen 

 times or more, providing you do not get too 

 tired. This is all right and good ; but one who 

 works in a garden has about enough of it 

 in picking strawberries, beans, etc., without 

 having the same thing to do night and morn- 

 ing; and I am inclined to think the vigorous 

 use of a hoe, night and morning, would 

 develop the muscles in the arms about as 

 well as the gymnastics, and something would 

 be accomplished instead of just swinging 

 your arms like Don Quixote's windmill. 

 This treatment is certainly far more com- 

 mendable than the advertisers who doctor 

 with drugs and new-fangled medicines. It 

 cannot do you any harm, even if it does not 



