Having engaged the only nurse in the town, which was herself, with the assistance of a couple of farmer’s boys she moved the furniture from the three upper rooms of her own residence into the next house, where she fixed up three rooms very comfortably, and awaited the coming of results.
Early in the afternoon the farmer brought his wife and she was installed in one of the rooms, under the care of the nurse. Later others came, and it soon became known all over the community that the “new doctor,” having more patients than he could visit, had fitted up a nice place in town where his patients could come to him, and where women from the country could “stay over night,” or as many days and nights as were necessary, and where they could be nursed and “doctored” in a proper manner. It was not long until further rooms had been tastefully fitted up, another nurse engaged, and the doctor was kept busy with his patients every minute of the day.
With the assistance of a maid, the doctor’s wife served meals to the patients in their own rooms, and the charges for all these accommodations, room, board, nursing and treatment, were very reasonable. The people of the town and vicinity soon saw the advantages afforded by this plan, and the patronage increased until there was a long waiting list. The reception or social room that had been fitted up was supplied with magazines, newspapers, and other means of entertainment for the patients and their friends who called upon them, and was a much appreciated resting place for country women who came to town with their husbands.
The rent of the building was $15 a month, the nurses were paid $1.00 a day and board, $3 for taking care of a patient at night, and farm produce was purchased at very low prices, or taken as part payment for services.
At the end of the first year these people had cleared $5,000 over all expenses, and on the fourth anniversary of the launching of the plan, the doctor, now restored to health, handed his wife a check for $8,000, to repay her, as he said, for “thinking of such a splendid plan.”
PLAN No. 78. MAKING A SODA FOUNTAIN PAY
She was a druggist’s wife, and had some excellent ideas of her own, besides, she knew how to put them to practical use.
While the prescription business of the store was large and profitable, the soda fountain, a fine large one with every modern feature of equipment, was not making good, and there were seven other soda fountains in the town of some 2,000 inhabitants. Here was the wife’s opportunity.
The drug store was a large and attractive place and she decided upon the following plan of action: She installed four private booths, covering the partitions with green burlap, with burlap curtains on the outside. Putting wire over the top of each booth, she covered them with paper flowers, which she made herself. The covering of one booth was of yellow roses, one of American beauty roses, one of pumpkin blossoms and one of lilies. In the center of each booth she placed an electric light, with a shade to match the flowers of the ceiling, also an electric bell.
This novel and attractive arrangement proved very popular, and rapidly brought a large number of patrons who preferred to have sodas and ice cream served in the privacy of the tastefully decorated booths rather than to sit at tables in the open store. However, she was continually planning on some new feature to make the place talked about, and she turned her attention to the fountain itself. She built a large canopy over the fountain, and covered it with 300 crepe-paper oranges and 3,000 leaves, which produced a very striking and pleasing effect. To still further stimulate interest, she issued neatly designed and printed circulars, particularly when she had some novelty to give away, and thus kept it constantly before the public.