One of the most successful specialists in the profession had retired with a competence. He got to speculating and lost heavily. When he had only $1,000 left he was compelled to resume practice. He rented quarters which cost him $125 a month, and furnished them magnificently at a cost of $1,250, paying $500 down. Various other outlays cut his cash capital down to $100 by the time he was ready to open his offices. Did he flinch? Not at all. He was game and knew that with any ordinary luck it would be a paying investment. He made a second fortune which he was wise enough to keep. “It was like catching flies with a bait of sugar,” he said in discussing his method. “They swarmed in from all sides; the surroundings looked right, and I had little trouble in landing a fair percentage of the callers. If I 96had attempted to skimp in the rent or furnishings my purpose would have been defeated from the start.” In taking medical treatment, as in nearly everything else, people like to deal with the successful man, and they judge of a man’s success by his surroundings. If he looks prosperous the battle is half won before the attack on the caller’s pocketbook begins. Next to the location and furnishings of the office, and the neat, well-dressed appearance of the physician himself, comes the question of the selection of the proper reception room girl. Here almost as much tact is needed as in the physician’s private office. The right kind of girls are scarce, and when one is found she is worth much more money than the average doctor, unacquainted with the importance of the position, is willing to pay. A thoroughly competent girl is easily worth from $18 to $25 a week, yet most doctors grumble at paying $10 or $12. It is a peculiar combination of talent, one exceedingly hard to find, that is required. The successful attendant must be prepossessing in appearance, a neat dresser, intelligent, sympathetic, chummy to a degree without being “fresh,” and, above all, must have that undefinable quality known as tact. She must have the knack of making people feel at home and comfortable on their first and all subsequent visits, without being fussy or over-prominent in her attentions. Quiet dignity and charm of manner in a reception room girl is a combination of great value to an employer. The girl possessed of these qualities, in addition to “tact,” can be a valuable and powerful ally of the physician. 97She will exert a great influence in keeping patients good natured and satisfied, steer the malcontents away from opportunity to make trouble, and preserve in general the harmony that should prevail in the professional family.