The Loup City northwestern. [volume], July 08, 1909, Image 6

About The Loup City northwestern. [volume] (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917

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The Right Way to Write Letters
i l By Sherwin Cody i i
Author of the Cody System of How to Write Letters That Pull.
HOW TO MAKE A LETTER SHORT,
YET STRONG.
There is a wide impression on the
part of business men that letters must
be very short if they are to be read
instead of thrown in the wastebasket:
and as a consequence they are often
made so short that the reader does
not know what they are about, and
the important points that should be
impressed on his mind are not made
at all. The short letter may be read
more widely, but still it may convince
fewer in the end than a long letter
that is read by only a very few, but
really convinces them.
The secret of making a letter short,
yet strong, lies in selecting repre
sentative points—one point that will
give the effect of half a dozen. It is
a matter of judgment as to what will
have most effect, what is really typi
cal and representative of the case.
The man who knows his business thor
oughly has a mass of facts from
which he must select. He should take
those which are simplest, most direct,
and most closely related to the or
dinary habit of thought of the person
who is to read the letter or adver
tisement.
For example, a man came into my
office the other day with a baking pow
der which he wished to make com
pete in his own immediate vicinity
with a w'ell-known brand. I asked
him if he had any unique features in
the manufacture which he thought
made his powder better than the
other. He mentioned half a dozen
minor technical points in the manufac
ture. and finally said: “Of course we
deliver baking pow-der fresh every
day, while the other is made six
months in adyance." We immediate
ly recognized a simple point which
every one would see. and which would
be sufficient as far as manufacture
was concerned. More would be accom
plished by emphasizing this point
strongly and letting the others go than
trying to cover all. Stating one typi
cal point and then referring briefly
to “scores of others,” is the right way
to produce conviction. But the one
point must be a good one. Some
times two, three, or even four points
may be stated. In general, there
should be one point lor each feature
or phase of the case.
VOW FAR APART IN TIME SHOULD
LETTERS GO?
The time between foilow-up letters
Is very important. Lists of names will
not stand indefinite continuous work
ing. They wear out and time must be
allowed to lapse before another letter
will pull properly. When time has
passed, letters will begin to pull
again.
At the same time, when a first at
tempt is being made, letters should
usually, be very close together, so as
to concentrate the blows and try to
get some advantage from the succes
sion. and from taking advantage of in
terest while it is aroused. It often hap
pens that two or three letters coming
right on top of each other will accom
plish what no one letter alone would
accomplish, but in that case the let
ters should be very close together, not
over a week apart, and sometimes
only three or four days apart.
In other cases more time should be
allowed to elapse, a month being a
common period, and then three
months, or even four months. In the
end one letter a year may be all that
will pay.
Usually this is about the proper ar
rangement:
A large list made up from Dun or
Uradstreet’s is taken up to be worked
for inquiries. A postal card inquiry
comes back, and the inquiries are fol
lowed up closely with long, hard let
ters.
The answer to the inquiry will be as
full a letter as can be written. It
should be a long and strong letter.
Within a week the inquiry should have
a second letter, and ten days later a
third, perhaps, with a fourth a month
later, and then follow-up letters at in
tervals of two or three months. Others
require six or eight letters one after
the other in quick succession.
As the inquiries are cleaned up
through getting some answer they are
checked off, and there will be a cer
tain residuum of names from which it
is impossible to get anything at all.
They are usually dead ones and should
be thrown out altogether.
Those that replied and show they
are alive may be put in a special list
by themselves and given a special
follow-up from time to time indefinite
ly. But everything depends on the re
turns.
: S FOLLOW-UP LETTERS.
There is a sort of fetich attached to
the term “follow-up letters” by many
persons, who have an impression
there is something magic about them.
Others think you will get orders if
you keep after people long enough
and hard enough, just as the book
ageflt gets orders from people who
pay to get rid of the agent.
Letters cannot be used to worry
anybody into anything. It is too easy
to throw the letter in the wastebas
ket. The only possible hope is to ex
cite interest.
The idea that you will get an or
der if you keep at it long enough is,
therefore, also iallacious. The first
letter may not close an order, if the
amount involved is large. One letter
will not sell a piano or a threshing
machine. But the first letter is most
likely to excite interest and get a re
ply. If the first letter does not de
velop interest, one can safely con
clude that something is the matter
with the letter and a better one raust
be found. If the first letter does
not do something, none of the ordi
nary follow-up letters are likely to.
It happens, however, that the first
letter usually gets some favorable re
sult if the business amounts to any
thing in itself. The case is stated
fully and fairly in that first letter,
and those who are interested re
spond.
In planning letters to follow up a
good first letter, the first thing that
the average man does is to ask if the
first letter has been received and to
express surprise that nothing has re
sulted.
Nothing could be more foolish. As
I said at the beginning, people can
not be worried into doing business
through nagging letters.
The only fair way is simply to con
clude that the first letter made no
impression, and was thrown away and
forgotten. Make the following letter
as complete a soliciting letter as the
first one. Try all over again, restat
ing the entire case, sending circular,
and the like. The second letter should
attack a customer from a new point
of view, that is all. There should be
no direct reference whatever (in most
cases) to any preceding letter. If a
catalogue has been sent, inclose a
small circular in the second letter,
and offer to send another copy of the
catalogue if the first one sent is not
on hand. Never worry or imagine
the first letter has been carefully
laid away. Start fresh each time.
HOW TO FOLLOW UP BY LETTER.
I tie correct principle tor arranging
follow-up letters is to consider that
a certain letter in a certain vein, from
a certain point of view, will interest a
certain percentage of the entire list,
and make very little or no impression
on the rest of the list.
The first follow-up letter should be
made to appeal to another class, and
be arranged from a different point
of view, but otherwise should cover
the same ground substantially as the
first letter. All the important ele
ments of a sales letter should be pres
ent in this follow up
The main thing is to keep all the
elements well in hand in every letter
instead of considering that the cus
tomer will have in mind what you
wrote before. He will either have
forgotten it, or he never paid any
attention to it. or it remains so
vague in his mind you do not get your
complete effect unless you restate all
the salient principles.
Yet of course the follow-up letter
must be really a fresh one. If a man
looks it over and says: ‘ Why, I saw
that before!" he is likely to throw it
in the wastebasket without reading it.
If it is fresh he may take interest in
seeing what more you have to say,
but it, is more the new manner of say
ing it than the substance that af
fects him. Driving the old points
home is not objectionable to a man
if the manner is fresh.
When circumstances are such that
the previous letters must be referred
to, this should be done as briefly as
possible and wholly without worrying
the customer or seeming to find fault
with him for not having responded.
There should always, if possible.be
some fresh circular matter to gi with
each new letter, and when practicable
the stationery and wording cn the
letterhead should be changed so as
to make the outer appearance as at
tractive as possible, and as fresh
looking.
The essential thought should be the
same, but the dress should be fresh.
The old arguments should be put in
in new form. That is the important
element.
HOW TO ADVERTISE A SPECIALTY
There are probably very few busi
ness men who do not at some time or
other have some little thing of their
own invention or conception, or some
thing that somebody else has invented
or conceived, which they would like to
advertise if they knew how.
A certain druggist I know has a
tasteless castor oil. Everybody would
rather castor oil didn’t taste so bitter
when it has to be taken: but how shall
the news be distributed? A farmer has
an improved pick, or an ax handle.
Each and all dream of a fortune if they
can get their discovery upon the mar
ket, and usually they look as far away
from home as possible. They think of
a small advertisement in a big maga
zine, inquiries by mail, or sales to
large dealers through clever letters set
ting forth the merits of the article.
Those who succeed with these spe
cialties. and there are many who do
succeed and make small fortunes,
near]}- always begin very near at home.
The man with the improved pick goes
to every contractor in his immediate
neighborhood and tries to interest him.
If he can't interest a man he can see
and talk to, he can't interest those far
away, to whom he can only write.
When he has got a lot of his neighbors
to using his pick, he finds he is begin
ning to make a little profit out of his
sales, though the article is not known
50 miles away and the big country has
never been touched. But the enthusi
astic indorsement of his near-Dy friends
he puts into a neatly printed circular,
and writes a strong, enthusiastic per
sonal letter to those who are so far
away he can't go to see them. He gets
only three orders from a hundred let
ters, but that is enough to show a
profit on the first sales, and he knows
that future sales will pay him hand
somely. And so the enthusiasm of his
first customer grows until it reaches
far and big interests take him up and
help him to carry the good news every
where, in return for n liberal share in
the profits.
The druggist first tells his own pat
rons about his tasteless castor oil.
They are so much pleased that he
writes to a number of druggist friends
in other towns, and beoause they are
his friends they try his discovery. The
merits of the thing create enthusiasm
in each of these points, testimonials
come in of their own accord, and the
spontaneous enthusiasm of those who
are pleased is little by little spread
farther and farther. He doesn't bank
rupt himself by trying to do too much,
he feels his way step by step and letter
by letter. He tries over and over
again to tell his story till he has found
the best way, and after a while the
volume of orders coming in every day
shows a fine profit.
HOW MANY FOLLOW-UP LETTERS
SHOULD BE SENT.
There is an impression that about
three follow-up letters is right in most
eases. So a series of three is put into
operation and the names dropped
when these are exhausted.
This series of three is arranged to
refer back from the second and third
to the first letter, and I have already
shown the folly of this. But there is
no magic in the number three.
In some businesses the first letter
cleans up everything that it will pay
to go after. Returns from any follow
up letters must he closely watched,
and if the results do not pay, of course
they should be dropped.
As long as letters can be made to
pay ttiere is no reason why they
should stop at all. I know of one
case where follow-up letters were sent
out at intervals for six years, with a
total of over fifty, and yet each letter
paid its one per cent, to five per cent.
Results were watched, and each letter
was worked on till it was demon
strated that it would pay. When it
was proved to be a payer it was sent
out widely. In a drug business I know
a series of ten letters (to dealers) is
used, and every one is known to be a
payer. Many others have been tried
and found to bring no business.
There is absolutely no magic num
ber of follow-up letters. Unless a let
ter shows some results immediately,
or within thirty days, it ought to be
looked on as a dead one and cut out.
As long as the letter writer can see a
way of making up a letter that on test
shows orders he should continue his
series.
When one argument is given in one
letter, and then the next letter takes
up some other phase of the matter, it
is clear that soon all sides of the case
will have been covered. But when
every letter is made to cover the
whole argument, and effort is directed
toward getting a new dress or setting
for the old arguments, it is largely a
matter of the writer's command of
language and illustration, or the devel
opment of new points in the progress
of the business.
Every new big or special order
might be the occasion for a new let
ter. Every specially good testimonial,
every improvement in the quality,
every change in the price, and changes
in the special premium offers or dis
counts give new excuses for new ver
sions of the single perfect sales let
ter.
(Copyright, 1909, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
HOW ARTIST GETS SUBJECTS
Unpatented Device That Noted Writer
Suggested Might Be Useful
to Authors.
“But, of course, it happens with
everyone that the brain is sluggish
sometimes, and I have invented a lit
tle spur for such occasions. Will you
just help yourself to that square of
cardboard on that chair over there
—that's it.
“You see, I have two dials set side
by side. On one of them is printed,
in round robin form, a list of sub
jects for paintings: Windmill, old
church, hay meadows, stone steps at
Capri, Alhambra, Coney Island, Notre
Dame, and so forth. On th? other
dial is printed a list of weather or
time conditions, like moonlight, sun
rise, haze, snowstorm, windy day, June
clouds, and «o forth. You'll notice that
only one subject at a time is shown
through the little slit that I have cut
in the paper that covers my dials.
Now turn the left-hand dial.”
1 turned it and came on “Oxford.”
“Now spin the other one for the
atmospheric conditions.”
This brought me “June clouds.”
“You see; Oxford, in June. Very
easy to paint Magdalen gardens un
der June clouds—and so it goes. But
I seldom have to use my machine,
as my mind is full of places I have
seen.”
Wonderful man! If men had never
humored their laziness we would have
had no great inventions. Why could
not authors have a plot dial and a
character dial? It might change the
style of stories now current.—Charles
Battell Loomis, in Success Magazine.
SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER]
-
Fate of Unhappy Man Who Aroused
(re of Young Mother.
The baby in arms was screaming
lustily and the man in the gray suit
could not hide his irritability.
"What on earth, madam,” he splut
tered, "do you mean by bringing such
a howling brat into a public vehicle?”
"It isn't a brat,” retorted the moth
er. with natural indignation, “And. if
I'm any judge, it doesn't howl half as
much as you did at its age, going by
the looks of you.”
The man in gray wriggled uneasily
under the general scrutiny.
“Baby, see the ugly man?” pursued
the infuriated female, pointing at him.
“See the monkey-ponkey, gorilla man,
what might take a first prize at a
beauty show for the horriblest face?
Baby, hush, or the ugly monkey man
will—”
But the sentence remained unfin
ished. for the man in the gray suit
had bolted.
No Effect on Flowers?
A writer in a German paper says
that every caterpillar and slug has
disappeared frohi his garden since h«
allowed his boy to ride a motor bicycle
round the garden. He is convinced
that the exhaust fumes from the en
gine acted, as a caterpillar destroyer
and he has never seen his garden with
such a show of fruit and flowers.
RAISING BEEF IN CORN
BELT FOR THE MARKET
Greatest Discretion Must Be Exercised In Selection of
Stock and Proper Combinations of Feeds.
—By J. B. Burris.
A Herd of Fat Stock Ready for Market.
The present era of high prices for
ail forms of feeding produces makes
it imperative to exercise the greatest
discretion in feeding beef cattle for
market. This condition must give
emphasis to the three fundamentals
of beef production, viz: The selection
of the feeding steer, the proper com
bination of feeds, the feeding period
and conserving the manure, writes J.
It. Fturris in the Orange Judd Farmer.
I believe that on $100 per acre land
in the corn belt that feeding cattle
cannot be practiced at a profit unless
one has a well-bred herd of milking
shorthorns and has a good, reliable
market for the surplus milk. Then
also must the calf lose none of its
milk fat, but be pushed to a finish as
baby beef, and never carried through
more than one winter.
It costs on high-priced land about
$24 to keep a cow a year, and to this
Prize-Winning Youngsters.
must be added the cost and keep of a
sire, quite an expense in itself, in or
der to produce a calf that could be
bought in the open market for $20.
From this evidence I am inclined to
believe that for the most part feed
ing cattle of any age having fair
quality can be purchased more cheap
ly than when grown on the corn
belt farm. If cattle can be purchased
near the place of finishing so much
the better. One of the most serious
problems in this regard is to obtain
cattle of good quality.
Those districts which are not es
sentially dairy regions have such a
mixture of varying degrees of worth
lessness that it is almost an impossi
bility to obtain a fair grade of feed
ing cattle. This necessitates going to
Kansas City or other western markets
for feeders. A steer in fair flesh
weighing 1.000 to 1,100 pounds, and
known in market parlance as a na
tive. would be my choice. As tc
breeds 1 should not be especially par
tial. Any one of the three recognized
beef types will give good returns if
selected carefully. Cattle of this kind
if put in the feed lot the last half ot
November can be made into good beef
in from 120 to 150 days. Corn, clo
ver hay, silage, shredded stover and
cottonseed meal should be used. The
cattle should be made to consume as
much roughage as possible from the
point of economy, and thus utilize all
the corn plant. If the feed lot is cov
ered, and it should be by all means,
the amount of manure saved will be
quite an item on the credit side of
the transaction.
By a judicious combination of the
above-mentioned feeds there is no
reason why a price cannot be ob
tained for the feed consumed equiva
lent to that obtained on the market.
But this may not appear as profit.
The average corn belt farmer can feed
the products of his farm as cheaply
as to haul them to market. If these
products are fed on concrete floors
under shelter fully three-fourths of
their plant food value can be returned
to the farm. Even if only the mar
ket value of the feeds is obtained and
the feeder did not receive any net
profit from the feeding proposition as
far as the cattle are concerned, there
would still be a profit.s Besides the
feeding farmer is gradually but sure
ly adding to the material value of his
farm. The conservation of soil fer
tility is unquestionably the greatest
consideration in American agriculture
PIN MONEY FOR
FARMER’S WIFE
Vurlou Ways for the Womcs '
to Earn u Pcuny.
In advising a fanner's wife or
daughter to earn money most people
will say "hens,” "garden truck" or
"bees.” Now, if you live on a farm,
you know that hens and garden truck
don't thrive to a very great extent on
the same farm. And if they did the
family and hired help would play hobb
with the profits of either, for the first
will uniformly go to pay the grocer,
and the second fill the innner man.
Hut 1 believe bees can be profitably
kept if you know how and are not
afraid of them. Now. I don't know
and am afraid of them, so will leave
that to some abler pen to explain, says
the Agricultural Epitomist.
One way to earn a penny is to start
tomatoes and cabbage plants in the
house early; put only one plant in
each tin can that is unsoldered and
tied together with a string; keep them
gVowing, and if they are ready to blos
som by the time all danger of frost is
past, so much the better. Dig a hole
where you want to set them, wet the
dirt in the can thoroughly, untie your
string, slip a knife around the can and
slip your tomato into the hole; press
the dirt around it and it will never
know it has been transplanted, and
you can sell tomatoes at 15 cents a
dozen before your neighbors’ vines are
in bloom.
Cabbage and melons and cucumbers
can be treated the same way, and are
all a paying crop, while lettuce and
radishes can be grown ready for mar
ket in the bay window or upstairs if
your house is reasonably wrarm.
Breeders’ Notice.
There is one valuable fact which
students and practical breeders of
trotting stock has learned half a cen
tury ago. It is this: The most suc
cessful of‘sires produce speed with
greater uniformity from mares that
are bred in some particular line than
they do from other mares that are ap
parently better individuals bred in
other lines. All breeders know that
Rysdyk’s Hambletonian produced what
was extreme trotting speed, at that
early day, with greater uniformity
from daughters of Seely’s Americafi
Star than he got from mares possess
ing any other blood inheritance.
Shelter for Geese.
Old geese thrive in all kinds of
weather if given a shed shelter closed
on the windward side. Better a shed
to themselves than the cow barn, be
cause they are safe from being stepped
on. A pasture too poor for other
stock wil still do for geese.
Every year in which the garner, is
fertilized and the ground worked it be
comes richer and more capable of
growing crops.
ORCHARD MADE
HOG PASTURE
Must Be Bone in Reasonable and
Judicious Manner.
The most ardent advocates of poison
sprays to rid our orchards of diseases
and insects, are at the same time the
most willing to use all other available
means to the same end, says Home
stead. It is found that the destruction
of the early fallen fruit is of prime im
portance, and this is accomplished by
making a hog pasture of the orchard.
Some who are averse to spraying go
so far as to say that when this is done
spraying is unnecessary. But, while
not admitting such an extreme view,
the evidence in favor of hog pasturing
is so strong that it is to be advised
whenever practicable. But this pas
turing must be done in a reasonable
and judicious manner. The orchard
must not be made a hog pasture for
the entire season. Rather it should
be used as au annex, for a temporary
convenience. Ana caution must be
used not ;o overdo it. Ten or fifteen
hogs to the acre, for a few weeks when
the wormy apples are falling, will be
about right.
There are thousands of farms where,
by a little extra fencing, the orchard
may be so utilized, to the mutual ad
vantage of the hogs and the orchard.
If it is desirable to gather windfalls,
the hogs may be kept out in the morn
ing until this work is done, and then
turned in to eat the refuse. A little
rooting of the ground will do no harm,
and while there is plenty of other feed
the hogs will not injure the trees. If
they begin to do so, it shows that you
have the ground overstocked, and they
should be kept out. It is not advised
that this be done as a substitute for
spraying, but in cases where spraying
is not done, do this as the next best
thing. If this course is followed per
sistently for several years, a wonder
ful improvement in the fruit will be
noted. Cows are sometimes used as
cull eaters, but the objection to them
is that they reach to high and devour
all the fruit. Where trees are very
straight and tops upright, the cows
may be admitted.
Sheep vs. Dogs.
In some counties of England, it is
said, a law exists compelling a lamb
to be produced for each acre on the
farm. The value of sheep on the farm
is thoroughly understood and appreci
ated by the English people. In some
of the states in this country the rule
seems to be to produce a dog for
nearly each acre. Sheep are constant
farm improvers, while dogs are exact
ly the opposite. But for the preva
lence of worthless curs there are
many sections where sheep would be
raised and their keeping would turn
the tide that would soon lean tc
profitable farming.
C/Z.O/y’YCT C&OSSC'S
An object of unusual interest to resi
dents and visitors in Troy, a “steeple
Jack" has for several weeks past been
swinging daily about the steeples of
St Joseph's Provincial seminary, the
famous “Towers of Troy,” as they have
come to be called, occupied, with as
much nonchalance as though on terra
firma, in the task of making extensive
repairs to those steeples and placing
an eight-foot gilded cross on each of
the four spires. The "Towers of Troy.”
from their elevated position on the
crest of the hill overlooking the cen
ter of the city, form a landmark easily
recognized for many miles in all direc
tions. and like stalwart sentinels they
have stood guard over the busy com
mercial section of the city below these
30 years or more.
Weakened by age, a high wind sev
eral months ago carried away the
pinnacle of one of the spires and drew
attention to a general weakening of
the others, so the Sisters of St. Jo
seph. who hold the seminary property,
recently awarded a contract for
strengthening the steeples and placing
a large gilded cross upon each. George
Ferguson of Albany, a famous “steeple
Jack,' was selected for the hazardous
undertaking, and for the last six
weeks he has been engaged with two
assistants in performing the work.
A few minutes of observation of the
painstaking, methodical movements of
the “steeple Jack" is sufficient to con
vince the observer that his is no easy
task. Beside being a sort of mechan
ical engineer, the “steeple Jack," to
be a success, must be a master of sev
eral trades. To observe a man seated
in his boatswain’s chair anchored
against the side of a spire may give
the impression that the work Is easy,
but imagine standing in a ioop of rope
and sawing off a section of tower
above one's head weighing nearly half
a ton. Yet that was what was done
on these towers. The old finial orna
ments, placed at the top of the spires
when the building was erected hack
:n the '70's as a Methodist university,
were each 14 feet high and nearly
four feet in diameter, and in their de
cayed condition considerable skill was
required to prevent them falling the
wrong way and causing damage to the
buiidiug.
Mr. Ferguson declares that the only
part of the work which may he called
easy is the actual 'limbing. This is ac
complished in a novel manner, tor the
steeples, rising 75 or more feet in the
t/ACK AT WORK
air, prc?sent nothing upon which a ^old
may be secured, and yet he climbs
without scaffolding. Patiently — it
may seem tediously—the steeple Is
climbed by means of two ropes se
curely wound around the lower, leav
ing a loop to slip over the body. Al
ternating from the lower to the upper
loop, similar to hitching up a pole, the
"steeple Jack” gradually works up to
the very top, carrying tackle and
swing-chair, from which he proceeds
to repair or paint as required.
Mr. Ferguson inherited his profes
sion ol steeple-climbing from his fa
ther, who followed that business for
more than 32 years, climbing the high
est spires throughout the eastern
states and finally meeting his end by a
fall of 30 feet at the Albany peniten
tiary building in 1891. A decayed wall,
capped by stone, gave way while he
was painting it, and he was killed in
stantly. The son was -erving at the
time as an apprentice in the navy, a
calling which presents some similar
situations, and when he received his
discharge in 1S92 he succeeded to his
fathers business. Of modest but
jovial disposition, he credits the fact
that he has had no accidents to his
athletic build and temperate habits,
tor, as he strongly declares, drinking
intoxicants and steeple-climbing "do
not mix."
The illustration gives an idea of the
size of the crosses being gilded be
fore placed.
RURAL AUCTIONEER
DREADED CHARACTER
Last Act of Tragedy Is Where He Plays the Leadiug Part—Novel
Sights on the Day of the Sale as Old Farm Is Delivered
Into the Hands of Strangers.
The most conspicuous character in
the last act of the humble tragedy
of the abandoned farm is very olten
the rural auctioneer, says Collier's. He
it is who rings the curtain down witn
careless quip and boisterous .lest. Per
haps his burly presence has been
menacing the household through long
years of gripping struggle with ad
versity. The land has been becom
ing poorer, the ambitious men of the
family have gone away to seek their
fortunes elsewhere, and on the heels
of misfortune has followed the chat
tel mortgage. L’usung heroism, in
credible economies, toil unceasing,
have not sufficed to check the steady
decadence of the farm and its af
fairs. Some day, when the ultimate
disaster can no longer be held at
arm’s length, a printed bill, announc
ing the sale at auction of stock, tools,
and household, is posted in the vil
lage store and the postoffice.
The idlers scan the bill with curi
ous interest, but with no marked
symptoms of surprise. The auction
has been a foregone conclusion tor
some time. The storekeeper remarks
to his leisurely customers:
"Old Jonathan Woodman nas been
livin' alone on the farm for years and
years. He’s the last of 'em. All
petered out, ain’t they? He's going to
live with his grand daughter in New
market, so they tell me. Hung on
longer than l expected, the old man
did. Too old to do much tanning and
no money to hire help.”
On the morning of the saie the
roads leading toward the Woodman
place are populous with vehicles more
serviceable than elegant—concords,
democrats, buggies, carry-alls and rat
tling wagons. An auction is a diver
sion, a mild excitement, and the wom
en folk forsake their spicy kitchens to
enjoy a day's outing, with the bulging "*
dinner basket tucked under the front
seat. Long before the auctioneer is
ready to begin his task the Woodman
house, dooryard and barn are overrun
by a curious, shrewdly calculating
crowd discussing the family history
and the values of its goods and chat
tels.
Peculiarities in Pavement.
The resistance to traction in dry
weather is smallest on brick pave
ments and in wet w-eather on bitu
lltlric pavements.
The Julep of Old Virginia
Old-Fashioned Host Explains Hew It
Should Be Made, and Dem
onstrates.
"Virginia may be dry in spots, but
this is not one of them," said the old
faslfloned Virginia host, sniffing the
mint he had just brought in from his
garden.
"Sit there and I'll show you how to
make a genuine old-time Virginia mint
julep, like father used to make.
"First, you see, I pound my ice. 1
always steal one of my wife's best din
ner napkins to pound it in. It gives it
a flavor that beats this shaving con
cern they use for ice nowadays.
“Well, sir, having pounded your ice.
fill a tall thin glass full of it and put it
into the refrigerator. What for? I’ll
show you later. Now, in another glass
I mix my whisky—smell the bouquet
of that, sir. Fine, isn’t it? My mint
which I crush—yes, sir, crush is the
word I used—and a little sugar. Wa
ter? What do you want with water
in a mint julep? This is the old-fash
ioned way I’m showing you.
"Now, then, I pour the mixture into
the tali glass; it melts the ice a little,
you see; that's all the water you need
Then I fill it up with more ice, dash it
with the best old French brandy
trim it with a little sheaf of mint on
the side—like the what-you-may-cal!
'ems on the new hats, insert one
strawberry or a cherry to give it color
—and, taste that, sir. Isn't that the
nectar of the gods? A straw? TTpon
my word! Do you think you are at a
soda fountain? What do you want
with a straw when you can bury your
nose in mint like that? Fragrance and
flavor, that's what. %
"How do I get the frost on the
glass? Well, partly by chilling it in
the ice box and partly by pouring into
the chilled glass the warm mixture. 1
thought you would say it was the best
you ever had. Try another for old
time’s sake.”
Reduces Price of Telegrams.
Spain has reduced the cost of tele
grams to America 50 per cent.