I cannot exactly tell, was made to Mr. Fisher, and after some consideration Mr. Fisher was about ready to accept it. One fine afternoon, when Mr. Fisher and Mr. Thompson were going to close the deal, a messenger appeared at the hotel with an urgent request that before doing anything in the matter Mr. Fisher see Galvin and Lawson. J. D. Thompson was reluctant to part with Mr. Fisher before the deal was closed, but there was no alternative. That very evening the transaction was consummated, not between Mr. Fisher and the Chicago Carnation Company, but between Mr. Fisher and Galvin. Disappointed and discouraged, Mr. Thompson returned to his home in Illinois without the Mrs. Thomas W. Lawson.
Thirty Thousand Dollars for a Carnation
The plan conceived was a novel one. This seedling was to be put on the market with great fanfare of trumpets. First of all the Associated Press must take it up, as a great and important piece of news, worthy of heralding. Columns upon columns of Lawson matter appeared in the daily papers throughout the country. Was it ever heard or even dreamed of that a financier like Mr. Lawson should pay thirty thousand dollars for a Carnation? It was startling, sensational in the extreme. Not only had the general public been taken in with such a news item, but the florists themselves were sitting up and taking notice. A Carnation that could bring in thirty thousand dollars was worthy to be exhibited. Orders came thick and fast to Mr. Galvin for blooms. Mr. Galvin was in nowise slow to respond to such calls, and any florist wishing blooms could readily have them at five or six dollars per dozen. But price or no price, the progressive florists had to have them in their window, in order to satisfy their curious customers who read all about the thirty thousand dollar Lawson Carnation in the newspapers.
Thus the success of the "Lawson" was instantaneous. When the cuttings were put on the market it was not so much a question of how many could be sold as it was a question of how many could be produced. Every grower, large or small, wanted it. In Boston, Galvin's window was a center of attraction. People kept gazing at the blooms, wondering how in the name of good sense any man could pay thirty thousand dollars for a Carnation. The curiosity aroused was general. Even newsboys and working girls and working men talked about the sensational "Lawson." A rival of Mr. Galvin's, I recall, conceived the idea of playing a trick. Why let Mr. Galvin have all the glory and all the benefit? Couldn't he just as well fool the public, without doing any especial harm? There was the "Francis Joost," a beautiful pink Carnation that could well deceive the uninitiated. So one fine day there appeared a beautiful vase of Francis Joost in the florist's window, with a conspicuous card, "Mrs. Lawton, the great Carnation of today."
His trick, however, did not last long, for Mr. Galvin took the matter to court; and as the deception was so obvious, the court imposed a fine of a hundred dollars, with a warning to abstain from such tricks in the future.
The Lawson indeed proved to be a great Carnation, free, sturdy, with splendid lasting qualities; it was grown everywhere here and in Europe with great success. While Carnations have appeared since that are ahead of it, for a number of years the Lawson was the standard among growers. So well known was it before it was introduced to the general trade, that people would often come into florists' shops and ask for the Lawson Carnation. One day a young man from New York entered Niemeyer's store, in Erie, and asked if he had a Lawson Carnation to sell.
"The Lawson?" interrogated Niemeyer. "Why, we haven't got the Lawson."
"Oh, you're not in it at all," rejoined the young man.
"What color is the Lawson?" asked Mr. Niemeyer.
"It comes in all colors," was the reply.
