THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Waterman Company is getting to be a neces- 

 sity to almost everybody, and all those who 

 write would find it a convenience that they 

 would never part with had they once expe- 

 rienced its joys. Here are some of the un- 

 usual uses to which Waterman's Ideals have 

 been put in addition to the keeping of base- 

 ball scores already mentioned : Marking uni- 

 forms and linen during a recent campaign; 

 making memoranda on the field of battle in 

 war correspondents' note-books; making, in 

 the hands of a skilful draughtsman, draw- 

 ings that cannot be told from wood engrav- 

 ings; the reporting of rapidly given testimony 

 in court. But it is in the lightening of the 

 burden of every writer, whether of personal 

 correspondence, literary matter, school com- 

 positions, or accounts, that this useful tool 

 has gained its popularity. The range of this 

 fruit is bounded by no zone, nor is its 

 growth hampered by climatic conditions, for 

 it is found in all countries and climes and is 

 used by all kinds and conditions of people. 



The Waterman Ideal is the most cosmo- 

 politan of writing instruments, for it records 

 all tongues and is alike fluent for the poet, the 

 composer of music, or the writer of chance 

 postal-cards at the mail-box. This extensive 

 use of the fruit of the Waterman tree is not 

 a matter of cha'nce; it is due to its entire 

 reliability under all conditions and its adapt- 

 ability to every peculiarity of every user. 



The making of this necessary recorder 

 •seems a simple matter until one has followed 

 the process. The gold nib alone requires 

 between sixty and seventy operations; and 

 the hard rubber barrel about forty more. 

 When one considers the number of processes 

 through which each completed pen passed, 

 and the costly quality of the material used, 

 the wonder is that Waterman's Ideal can be 

 sold so cheaply. There is no doubt that a 

 fountain pen can be produced with much 

 less work, but not Waterman's Ideal Fountain 

 Pen. For this masterpiece specially trained 

 workmen are employed in making, and 

 experts do the work of assembling, so that 

 no imperfect pen leaves the maker's hands. 



Though great care is expended in the 

 making of these pens, equal effort is spent in 

 the marketing of them : there is hardlv a town 

 or village in this country that cannot boast 

 its display. The stock of pens in the village 

 stationery store, jewelry shop, cr pharmacy 

 is always kept up to requirements cf the 

 buyers, and the same system of exchange, 

 until the customer is suited, is in force as in the 

 main office on Broadway, New York. Prac- 

 tically, the buyer in places remote from the 

 great centers has the same facilities as the 

 dweller in the chief metropolis. So thoroughly 

 does the L. E. Waterman Company realize 

 that satisfied patrons are its best asset, that 

 a bound book is issued by them for the edu- 

 cation of people who sell their pens through- 

 out the country. It is practically a corre- 

 spondence course on pen selling and pen us- 

 ing, to the direct advantage of the purchaser, 

 who gets what he needs and what suits him. 



It is thoroughly understood that if a per. 



does not satisfy the buyer it is not because 

 fountain pens are not suited to that writer, 

 but because that particular style of point or 

 holder does not fit the peculiarities of that 

 hand. This accounts for the great care ex- 

 pended in training the pen-clerks who sell 

 the Waterman product. There are Water- 

 man Ideals to fit any hand. 



Twenty-one years ago the small shoot of 

 the L. E. Waterman Company appeared in , 

 an obscure place full of vigor and thriving in 

 spite of many adverse conditions. To-day ' 

 the great tree has reached its majority, its I 

 fruits are to be found in every quarter of the ■ 

 globe, its roots extend to many lands, and 

 its growth in its twenty-first year is quite as . 

 rapid and as symmetrical as in the early years i 

 of its vigorous youth. 



The main stem of this great tree is the 

 six-story building, corner of Cortland^ Street 

 and Broadway, but three short blocks from 

 the place wher,e the seed was planted. A 

 factory at Seymour, Conn., where the rubber 

 barrels are made, and a gold pen factory in 

 lower New York City, are offshoots of the 

 main plant. j 



The inventor of this almost indispensable 

 writing instrument planted the seed so many 

 years ago with a confidence in the future of 

 the great tree that should grow from it that 

 nothing could shake. The tree grew, and 

 Waterman's Ideal came into more and more 

 common use, but not until the eve of its : 

 twenty-first birthday was its universal usej 

 and unrivalled quality officially recognized. 

 Up to 1904, fountain pens were not consid- 

 ered worthy to put be in the Grand Prize 

 class at international expositions, but at the 

 St. Louis World's Fair Waterman's Ideals 

 received the only Grand Prize for a fountain 

 pen, and one of the four awarded to all the 

 varied industries in the great Palace of Manu- 

 factures. Not until this pen is in the hand of 

 every one who writes (and this will come about 

 as soon as people realize what a convenience 

 it is) will the L. E. Waterman Company tree 

 cease from growing;. 



