I had thought out a novel way to fight the mail-order competition. It had come to me from an article I had read in a magazine about how a druggist in a small town in the Middle West had practically eliminated mail-order competition--at least temporarily--in his town. I decided immediately to try it. Betty says I am always too impetuous. When I reviewed what happened, I was uncertain whether I had done myself good or harm; but one thing was certain--I surely did get a lot of publicity! After I had read that article in the magazine, I said to myself: "Now, that's reasonable. If people haven't got a mail-order catalog, they won't buy from the mail-order house. Why didn't I think of that before? If I get this mail-order catalog, I take away from them the thing that makes it easy for them to buy." In the lower corner of the ad I had a picture and description of the talking machine, set off by a border. Then I had two men march about the town with boards across their shoulders, on which were painted, "DAWSON BLACK'S MAIL-ORDER CATALOG CONTEST. TAKE A CHANCE! SEE THE NEWSPAPERS!" This is the ad I put in both our papers: HAVE YOU A SPORTING INSTINCT? If so, take a few chances on winning a phonograph. These chances are free. Bring your mail-order catalogs to us. In return for each catalog you will receive a numbered coupon. A drawing will take place in our window next Monday at 7:30 p. m., when one of the coupons will be drawn by a blindfolded person from a tub in which all the coupons will be placed. The number of the coupon drawn will be the winning number, and the holder of it will receive the talking machine absolutely free. The machine may be seen in our window, or at the Farmdale Furniture Store. I had only a few days between the announcement of the contest and the time for the drawing, because I thought, if the time were longer, people would write to the mail-order houses for catalogs so as to enter them in the contest. I didn't know just what the effect would be, but I did know there was a lot of money going out of the town to the mail-order houses. The avalanche started the next morning. Before we opened the store there was a line of youngsters outside, each carrying from one to six catalogs. Great big fellows, they were, many of them. As they came into the store, we passed out coupons, each one numbered separately. A boy bringing in two catalogs got two coupons, and so on. All the week we had catalogs rolling in. Some of them were ten years old. I didn't know there were so many mail-order houses. By the looks of many of the catalogs they had been frequently used.