And then, when all of these friends have seen The Mentor, they will want the numbers from the beginning. We say they “will want” them, for that is what most of our subscribers demand. A teacher in Kansas writes, “The Mentor is a delight, and its value is beyond expression. I feel that I cannot miss a single issue, so please send me the numbers from the beginning.” A teacher from Pittsburgh, immediately on receiving the first copy of the magazine, asks for all previous issues. An agent in insurance writes from Arkansas for the preceding numbers, adding, “I cannot afford to lose one copy.”
* * * * *
So from St. Louis we hear, “Send me all preceding issues,” and from New Haven a college student writes, “I like the publication so much that I do not wish to miss even one number.” We lack space to cite all cases of this kind, but as we turn over the mail we find here a request from Toronto for “all numbers, beginning with the first,” another from Charleston, and a third from Hyannis, Massachusetts, demanding “all preceding numbers.”
* * * * *
It has become a regular daily incident, and it shows the unique character of The Mentor publication. It is not simply a magazine. Subscribers do not send for all back numbers of the ordinary magazine from the beginning of its existence. Every number of The Mentor is part of an interesting educational plan. The members of The Mentor Association want all parts of that plan.
FRIDTJOF NANSEN