Does Advertising Pay?

Financially, the law firm of Montague and Pipps is not a success. The two young men have but three dollars between them and are in despair. Suddenly Montague gets an idea. "What the firm needs." he declares, "is advertising." He goes out and returns later with a huge wad of bills, which he shows to his astounded partner. Most of it, he explains, is stage money. There are only eight real dollars in the lot, the three that he started out with and a borrowed five-spot. They go out and commence to flash their roll in restaurants and cigar stores. The businessmen who see it are convinced that the two young lawyers must be doing well and consequently are worthy of their business. In this way, Montague and Pipps become the legal agents of two real-estate brokers and a member of the stock exchange, Mr. Silas Whipple, whose daughters the two young fellows have long admired from a distance. Later, they meet the two girls in the park and the roll performs another miracle. The girls change their haughty attitude to one of extreme affability and the two boys have a great time with them. On one occasion, when Montague is out collecting money for one of the firms for whom he is doing business, he is set upon by an indignant man who gives him the credit of a foolish prank really played by a mischievous schoolboy. He has his hat smashed in and his eyes blackened and looks dreadful. Instead of mourning his misfortune, he sees the chance to get more free advertising. He claims that he was set upon by thugs and robbed of $3000 and some loose change that he was carrying to the bank. The newspapers are full of the case, and seeing the account, the Whipple girls visit him at the hospital and bring him flowers. Montague and Pipps each marry one of the girls, and having got so much advertising, the firm becomes one of the most prosperous in the city.