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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



ters to fit different persons with different 

 diseases. They were so skillfully worded 

 that some one of them would fit a large 

 number of sick people. In order to make 

 them feel sure it was a carefully prepared 

 missive from experienced physicians, they 

 had words crossed out as if the typewriter 

 had made a mistrvke. Others were spelled 

 wrongly ; and there was no end to the 

 scheme to make a person think the doctor 

 was greatly interested in that particular 

 case. Yes, a godly man was he. He was 

 doing sick people good. The small amount 

 of pay he asked was a minor consideration. 

 You may remember the postal authorities 

 had a hard time to break up this kind of 

 deviltry, for that is exactly what it is. 



When one of the big doctors was away off 

 in California with his pockets full of money, 

 and, while his stenographers were sending 

 out his printed letters, he was taken to task. 

 Then he tried to explain that he could cure 

 while in California just as well as if he were 

 in his office, even though he did not see a 

 description of the various maladies at all. 

 When the government stopped his mail he 

 simply changed the name of his institution, 

 and kept right on. So much for the illus- 

 tration. 



Now I am afraid that some of our busi- 

 ness firms, in their anxiety to advertise, are 

 adopting similar plans with their printed 

 letters. Not only this, but our Christian 

 institutions seem to have fallen into the 

 habit or trick. Please do not misunderstand 

 me. There is no objection to printed letters 

 and leaflets at all. We are sending them 

 out by the thousands, and they are doing a 

 vast amount of good. When I ask why 

 these leaflets are not all printed with com- 

 mon type, the explanation is that people are 

 so apt to throw them into the waste-basket 

 without reading ; while a personal letter 

 from somebody, they would feel bound to 

 read. Very true. But is it really honest to 

 go to work systematica'ly to fool people ? 

 The objection is often thrown up to me, 

 "Mr. Root, you are altogether too particu- 

 lar. Nobody is fooled by these things, be- 

 cause it has got to be such a common every- 

 day transaction." May be you have heard 

 this kind of logic a good many times— nobody 

 is fooled by extravagant advertising, etc. 

 People are fooled, or else this business 

 would not be so much on the increase. Two 

 small boys in our own establishment were 

 "fooled" by Duffy's statement that a man 

 lived to be 107 years old who drank whisky 

 every day ; and when you get around to it, 

 not only was Mrs. Root's sister fooled, who 

 has been opening the mails for years, but / 

 was fooled; and 1 have been fooled so much 

 I have become suspicious of good honest let- 

 ters. By the way, let me say I do not be- 

 lieve in this "chain-letter" business; and I 

 think the T)ostal department agrees with me. 

 Every little while I read some pathetic let- 

 ter half way through before I discover it is 

 a copy made by some idiot to be forwarded 

 to another idiot. The saddest part of it is, 

 if I do not look out / am idiot No. 2. 



Some little time ago a touching letter 

 came from some charitable institution in the 

 South. I think it was for educating the 

 poor whites' orphans, or something of that 

 sort. Their plea for aid was so very touch- 

 ing I carried it to Mr. Calvert, not thinking 

 for a moment that it was a printed letter. 

 To my surprise he pulled an exact copy from 

 his pocket, and said he had been wondering 

 if we hadn't better give them aid, even if it 

 was a printed letter. The appeals for funds 

 were written by a young lady, or at least 

 the word Miss was written near her name, 

 in a parenthesis. It would appear that a 

 young woman, possibly a teacher, was so 

 enthused with the missionary spirit that she 

 had appealed to business men for help in 

 their Christian work. Had it been a real 

 letter to myself by somebody who knew that 

 I sometimes aid such institutions a little, I 

 might have sent something; but when I re- 

 alized that many thousands of such letters 

 might have gone all over the United States, 

 I threw my letter in the waste-basket and 

 forgot about it. 



Let me digress here sufficiently to say that 

 complaints in regard to our method of doing 

 business are, by my directions, given to me 

 at once. For instance, if a man says he sent 

 us money with a certain order, and waited a 

 sufficient time without getting a sufficient 

 acknowledgment, I always "go for" the 

 clerks or the younger members of our firm. 

 We pride ourselves on promptness in ac- 

 knowledging every kind of order unless the 

 goods go by mail or express so as to get 

 there as soon as the letter would, or some- 

 thing of that kind. Well, I had been think- 

 ing our whole force was getting to be pretty 

 well drilled in this matter until a postal card 

 was put in my tray one morning, reading as 

 follows : 



Me. a. I. Root,— Several weeks ago we wrote you concern- 

 ing a very urgent and important matter. Since then we 

 liaven't ceased looking for a reply, i lease let us hear from 

 jou, if only a line. Many thanks in advanr-e. 

 Kespectfully, 



Charleston, S. C, March 13, 1905. (MiFS) E. A Clabk. 



As soon as! read the words "urgent and 

 important matter" I marched straight to 

 Mr. Calvert, and asked him if he knew any 

 thing about an order for goods, or something 

 of that sort, from Miss E. A. Clark. He 

 began to laugh. He said, "Why, you your- 

 self, father, had her letter, and I had one 

 too— don' t you remember ? ' ' Then he pulled 

 out of one of his side pockets the very letter 

 we had talked about. This woman. Miss E. 

 A. Clark, fooled me with her long letter 

 about the needs of their institution, and 

 then she fooled me again with her postal 

 card. In fact, I do not know but I got into 

 a bad frame of mind just to think that any- 

 body in our institution might have kept some 

 honest customer watching every day for a 

 reply. I am afraid Miss E. A. Clark has not 

 received any reply yet, and will not until she 

 sees it on these pages. Perhaps it would be 

 uncharitable and unchristianlike to suggest 

 that the word Miss might have been added 

 only to make people more ready to read it. 

 God forbid that such should be the case; but 

 I do hope those people in the South who 



