Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 July 1884 — ADVERTISING WITHOUT COST. [ARTICLE]

ADVERTISING WITHOUT COST.

The Result, aa la Usual la Soda Cases, Was Not Satisfactory. ( A hardware man took the agency for a new kind of ice-box for preserving cold vituals. It was a pretty good thing, he thought, and it was only necessary to enlighten the publio regarding its real merits and indisputable advantages over everything else of the kind to cause a tremendnous rush of customers eager to purchase; so be counseled with himself and soliloquized thusly: “That refrigerator must be brought before the people, and I am jnst the man to do it. Don’t talk to me about your newspaper advertisements. I'll show you how to advertise without cost. ’You don’t ketch me paying a paper for advertising; not I. I’m too old for that, and I’ll show folks a new idea.” Then he laughed a satisfied Lugh, and at once set about making a practical test of his new method of diffusing information. He mixed np a pot of black paint, procured several large sheets of card-board, and after much experimenting and repeated attempts, finally succeeded in producing two signs that read as follows: “Fifty dollars to the man who can prove that any two things put into this ioe-chest will taste one of the other.” He had a refrigerator run out to the curbstone, hung a sign over each side, and retired indoors to wait the expected run of customers. People passed np and down the street, jostled each other in their hurry, glanced at the icebox and its signs, and—went on. After hours of disappointed hopes and exEectations the dealer saw a pedestrian alt, calmly peruse the wonderful announcement, and rather hesitatingly advance to the door. “Do you mean it?” he inquired in an anxious tone, pointing over his shoulder to the signs. “Yes-sir-ee,” emphatically responded the dealer. “Put your money up ?” insinuated the stranger. “No, sir,” replied the dealer, in pompous style; “my word is as good as the cash.” “All right, I’ll take you,” responded the stranger, as he departed. Some time after he returned with a box under each arm. “Stick to your agreement?” he queried. “Of course I will,” answered the dealer, wondering what in the name of Christopher Columbus the man had iu view. The strangor set his boxes down on the sidewalk, and a crowd began to collect. He told the dealer that he was afraid that he (the dealer) would back out of the bargain, but the latter asserted his readiness to put up tho stamps if necessary. The stranger opened a box, lifted a cat out and placed her in the refrigerator; then he opened the other box and took therefrom a wire cage containing a large rat. “Now, mister,” said he, “you just shut that door in a hurry when I flop the rat inside, and 111 go you another fifty that one will taste of the other in less’n five minutes. ” The crowd yelled, and the dealer slammed the refrigerator door and slid into the store, with a remark about fools and swindlers. —Denver Republican.