"To any one, old or young, in any part of the globe, who will send us a list of twenty names of men or women, boys or girls, likely to be interested in the most beautiful, the most superb, illustrated family weekly ever published, we will send our marvelous paper, the 'Whole Family,' for four consecutive weeks free of charge, and we will pay the sender "TWENTY-FIVE CENTS IN CASH FOR EACH NAME "added to our subscription-books on or before November 1, 1897. Remember, there is no canvassing! You select twenty good names and send them to us by letter or postal card. We do the rest. If you pick names of twenty good people we will get twenty subscribers, and you will get "FIVE DOLLARS IN CASH FOR FIVE MINUTES' WORK, "besides our matchless paper free for one month! Remember! Five dollars for twenty names--no more!" Perner finished reading and looked steadily at Barrifield, as did Van Dorn and Livingstone. Barrifield was reflecting deeply with closed eyes. "They send in the names of twenty people," he meditated; "we mail sample copies to them, and pay the sender twenty-five cents for each one that subscribes. We don't pay till they subscribe, do we?" "Why, no, of course not!" Perner was slightly annoyed that Barrifield did not catch the scheme instantly, though it had taken him and Van Dorn two full days to become entirely clear on it themselves. "You see," he continued, "we'll send sample copies to each of these names for two weeks. The sender of the names will also be getting his sample copies, and knowing that twenty-five cents is to come from every subscriber, he'll talk up the paper among others. He'll be an agent without knowing it. The unpleasant feature of soliciting subscribers will be all done away with. He'll pick the best names, of course, in the first place--people that he knows are dead sure to take the paper. We'll get up a paper they can't _help_ taking. He'll get five dollars in cash, and we'll get twenty subscribers to the 'Whole Family.'" "Twenty-one," corrected Van Dorn. "The sender of the names will subscribe, of course--he'll have to, as an example to the others." "Perny's going to send him a special confidential circular," put in Livingstone, "thanking him for his interest and calling him 'Dear Friend.'" "And a hundred thousand people will send lists," said Perner. "A hundred thousand lists with twenty names to the list will be two million names. Every one of them will subscribe--every one of them! But say they don't--say, to be on the safe side, that only _ten_ of them subscribe before November 1; say that only _five_ of them do. There's one half-million subscribers to start with--one half-million subscribers on the first day of November, when we mail our first regular subscription issue! What do you think of that?"