Part 11

They try to marry a promising young man who is making his mark in the world, but, naturally, a young man of this type is associating with a more progressive circle of friends; therefore they decide to accept the first offer that appears like a fair prospect of a home.

What finally happens to these girls? Unless you can look ahead twenty years you can not answer this question. Ask your parents or a friend who has reached the age of fifty to make a list of twenty-five of their schoolmates. Ask them to tell you what has happened to them. How many of them are able to retire? How many are self supporting? What kind of homes are they living in? How many of life’s luxuries have they enjoyed?

And they too were once pretty girls! They too were considered clever. They too dreamed of the same kind of future you are dreaming about. But this youthful dream never came true. They patiently waited for the opportunity which never came. The aggressive, successful young men whom they dreamed of married the “Margarets” who had somehow dropped their old crowd and had become favorites with prominent people. Be honest with yourself! Why should you think you are so different, that through some mysterious good fortune, everything will turn out all right for you?

TRY THIS TEST ON YOURSELF

This test will show you all your weaknesses and strong points. Actually check with a pencil each thing you can do. This will show you what your chances are for success. Go over each question thoughtfully. Don’t check a single question unless you are sure you could do it.

QUESTION NO. 1

Could you walk into the office of your newspaper and say: “Please insert this ad in your want ad column for three days?” You hand them a piece of paper containing the following ad:

“Wanted: Girls and women to train for traveling position. Can earn from $5 to $15 per day. Call in person at once. 457 Main Street.”

(NOTE: This ad will cost about $1 for three days).

QUESTION NO. 2

The next day a girl or woman will call at your address and say that she came in answer to your ad. Could you invite her in and say:

“What is your name, please?

“Where do you live?

“What are you now employed at?

“Are you willing to call upon homes and introduce a new library?”

And then could you say:

“Miss Jones, I am the local manager for The Social Mentor Publications. I am organizing a crew of girls to first canvass this town and then travel all over the country canvassing each city we visit. A girl who is willing to get out and hustle can make from $5 to $15 per day besides having the opportunity of seeing the country. Before I tell you about the plan in general I want to explain about the Woman’s Library and see what you think of it.”

QUESTION NO. 3

After you read each volume in the Woman’s Library, could you with the aid of our course in salesmanship explain what each book was about, and why women and girls would want them?

QUESTION NO. 4

Now that you have told her what kind of books make up the Woman’s Library, could you continue the conversation something like this:

“Miss Jones, the regular price of this library is $15. We have made arrangements to print these books in large quantities, and are selling the entire set for $3. We will pay you $1 for each set you sell. The average girl can sell ten sets per day, so you see you would earn $10 per day, and even if you only sold five sets, you would make $5.

“All that you need to do to get started is to buy one set of books for $2 which you will use as samples. I will tell you what street to start working on, and you bring me your orders each night. At the end of each week you deliver the orders which you have sold and collect for them, keeping $1 on each set for your profit.

“I am employing several other girls, but am giving each girl certain streets to work so that they will not interfere with each other. After you have all worked a day or two, we will all meet here and get acquainted. We can talk over our experiences and in that way help each other sell more orders.

“When we finish working this town, we will move to the next town and canvass it. You see that in addition to earning a fine salary, we will have an opportunity to see every city in the country.”

What happens next?

She pays you $2 for a sample set of books and you tell her what street to work and give her some order blanks. At the end of the week you give her enough books to fill the orders she has taken, and she delivers them to her customers and returns $2 to you for each set. She keeps $1 for her profit.

What is there about this plan you can not do?