HOW SIX HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS MADE MONEY
Reading edition
Six high-school girl-graduates, who had just finished a course in domestic science, and were wondering what they could do to make a little money, were told by their instructress that she would give each of them a valuable household formula to work with, and that she would give a cash prize of $25 to the girl who made the most profit out of her formula in six months. The girls promptly accepted the offer, and went diligently to work with the following results:
PLAN No. 534. GOOD WHITE POLISHING POMADE
Girl No. 1 selected the following as the basis of her activity:
Tripoli powder, 1 pound; whiting, 1 pound; pumice flour, 1⁄2 pound; crude oleic acid, 1⁄4 pound; kerosene, 3 fluid ounces. Mix together with sufficient petroleum jelly to form a paste, and add perfume, such as oil of lemon, cassia, or nitrobenzol (mirbane) which gives the usual almond odor.
Making up a considerable quantity, in the above proportions, she canvassed a large part of the residence district in the city and took trips to outside towns, demonstrating and selling it, and received valuable aid from one of the drug companies when she put it on sale.
Her profits for the six months were $248.
PLAN No. 535. A FIRST-CLASS FOOT POWDER
The third girl chose a foot powder to work upon, the formula being as follows:
Finely powdered talc, 60 ounces; boric acid, 30 ounces; salicylic acid, 1 ounce; powdered alum, 1 ounce. Mix well, and scent as desired. The drug stores of the city told her they would take all of this she could make, as it was better and cheaper than powder widely advertised, and in the following six months her profits amounted to $287.
PLAN No. 536. A GOOD AND CHEAP HAIR DYE
Girl No. 4 thought she saw in a formula for a hair dye the foundation of at least a small income, so she chose that:
She gave samples to several elderly ladies of her acquaintance, and they were delighted with it. From these samples, indirectly, she sold several hundred bottles, and then a young lady friend of hers, a very successful canvasser, offered to sell all she could make of it, on a commission of 40 per cent. She accepted the offer and, began making it in large quantities, while the other girl sold it, and at the end of six months found that her profits were $397.
PLAN No. 537. INSECT POWDER
Girl No. 5 was rooming at a house where cockroaches were driving the landlady almost frantic, and gladly chose the following formula as her field of operations: Persian insect powder, 4 ounces; borax 30 ounces; starch, 4 ounces; sugar, 3 ounces; cocoa, 4 ounces; tartar emetic, 4 ounces. Reduce all to a fine powder and mix thoroughly.
The landlady was her first customer, and soon dispelled the roaches. Then the girl visited all the rooming houses, hotels, bakeries, cafes, etc., in the city, and made good sales. The drug stores sold considerable of it also, while women canvassers sold some, and the profits of her plan in the six months were $275.
PLAN No. 538. STARCH ENAMEL
There was but one of the formulas left, and the sixth girl took that one, determined to make it a success. The formula was as follows:
Stearine, one powder; paraffin, 4 ounces; powdered ultramarine blue, 1⁄2 dram.
Fortunately, this girl’s uncle was the owner of a large laundry in the city, and he offered to make a thorough test of her product in his own establishment. The result of that test was that he offered to furnish the money for making this starch enamel on a very extensive scale, and the sales were so large that by the end of the six months her share of the profits were over $700, and she not only took the prize offered by her domestic science teacher, but found herself a half-owner of a business that later made large profits each year.