as boldness in the peculiar style in which
Mr. Bonner advertised his paper. As before stated, nothing of the kind
had ever been seen before, and the novelty of the announcements at once
attracted attention. It was seen that they were expensive also, and
people naturally felt some curiosity to see for themselves the paper for
which a man was willing to assume such risk and expense. These
announcements sometimes covered a whole page of a daily paper; sometimes
the page would be almost entirely blank, with only a few lines in each
column containing the announcement. Again the advertisement would be the
opening chapters of a story, which would be sure to excite the curiosity
of the reader, and induce him to purchase the remaining chapters in the
"Ledger" itself. It is to the credit of the "Ledger" that it rarely
loses a subscriber. It has become a family paper.

A recent writer thus refers to Mr. Bonner's early experience
advertising:--

"His mode of advertising was new, and it excited both astonishment and
ridicule. His ruin was predicted over and over again. But as he paid as
he went along, he alone would be the sufferer. He was assailed in
various ways. Men sneered at his writers, as well as at the method in
which he made them known. He had no competition. Just then it was
announced that the Harpers were to put a first-class weekly into the
field. The announcement was hailed with delight by many classes. Men who
had been predicting Bonner's ruin from the start were anxious to see it
accomplished. He had agents in all the leading cities in the land. These
held a monopoly of the 'Ledger.' The book men and newspaper men, who
were left out, were quite willing to have the 'Ledger' go under. The
respectability and wealth of the house, its enterprise, with the class
of writers it could secure, made the new paper a dangerous rival. Mr.
Bonner concluded to make the first issue serviceable to himself. His
paragraph advertising was considered sensational, and smacking of the
charlatan. He resolved to make it respectable. He wrote half a column in
sensational style: 'Buy Harper's Weekly!'--'Buy Harper's Weekly!'--'Buy
Harper's Weekly!'--'Buy Harper's Weekly!'--and so on through the half
column. Through his advertising agent he sent this advertisement to the
'Herald,' 'Tribune,' and 'Times,' and paid for its insertion. Among the
astonished readers of this 'Ledger' style of advertising were the quiet
gentlemen who do business on Fr