HOW TO BUY DIAMONDS	341
	trade, if cunningly worded and audaciously and per­sistently stated in the columns of reputable papers, will draw custom from thousands. One might think that business on such a basis could not be permanent. It probably could not in many lines; nor in this, without constant use of advertising mediums and the one re­deeming fact, that poor as they may be, the diamonds sold are really diamonds, and to the indiscriminate pur­chaser, serve the purpose of better stones. To illustrate the nature of this kind of business with an actual oc­currence: some years ago, an acquaintance sat in the office of a jeweler, in a city of some size, who was noted for his extensive and shrewd advertising, and wit­nessed his methods. A man came in to complain that he had been " stung," as he expressed it, in the purchase of a diamond bought of him a few days previous. The dealer listened patiently until the irate customer had expended his wrath. Then in a genial, good-fellow kind of way, he began to expostulate and reason with him, finally offering as proof of fairness, to trade the stone for anything in his stock. Eventually, he got a' hundred dollars extra for another stone in the exchange and the man left, smiling and happy. " You got out of that very well," said the acquaintance. " Yes," said the jeweler, " and the second stone is not much better than the first." " But how can you hold your cus­tomers that way?" asked the acquaintance. "My dear boy," was the answer, " I don't, but I do business just the same. There's a fool born every minute and I spread nets for them. If I catch them once, I'm sat­isfied. Let the others have a chance." That man is doing business yet, and has made much more money