In the early days, he and Bok were opening the mail one Friday full of anxiety because the pay-roll was due that evening, and there was not enough money in the bank to meet it.

From one of the letters dropped a certified check for five figures for a contract equal to five pages in the magazine.

It was a welcome sight, for it meant an easy meeting of the pay-roll for that week and two succeeding weeks.

But the check was from a manufacturing patent-medicine company.

Without a moment's hesitation, Mr.Curtis slipped it back into the envelope, saying: "Of course, _that_ we can't take." He returned the check, never gave the matter a second thought, and went out and borrowed more money to meet his pay-roll.
With all respect to American publishers, there are very few who could have done this--or indeed, would do it today, under similar conditions--particularly in that day when it was the custom for all magazines to accept patent-medicine advertising; _The Ladies' Home Journal_ was practically the only publication of standing in the United States refusing that class of business! Bok now saw advertising done on a large scale by a man who believed in plenty of white space surrounding the announcement in the advertisement.