Page 280 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

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HE SOLD HIMSELF SHORT 265
then file it away; that the alcoholic has to continue to
take inventory every day if he expects to get well and
stay well. That was my only slip. It taught me a valu­
able lesson. In the summer of 1938, almost a year
from the time I made my original contact with Akron,
the man for whom I was working, and who knew about
the program, approached me and asked if I could do
anything about one of his salesmen who was drinking
very heavily. I went to the sanitarium where this
chap was incarcerated and found to my surprise that
he was interested. He had been wanting to do some­
thing about his drinking for a long time but did not
know how. I spent several days with him, but I did not
feel adequate to pass the program on to him by
myself. So I suggested that he take a trip to Akron for
a couple of weeks, which he did, living with one of the
A.A. families there. When he returned, we had practi-
cally daily meetings from that time on.
A few months later one of the men who had been
in touch with the group in Akron came to Chicago to
live, and then there were three of us who continued
to have informal meetings quite regularly.
In the spring of 1939, the Big Book was printed,
and we had two inquiries from the New York office
because of a fifteen-minute radio talk that was made.
Neither one of the two was interested for himself, one
being a mother who wanted to do something for her
son. I suggested to her that she should see the son’s
minister or doctor, and that perhaps he would recom­
mend the A.A. program.
The doctor, a young man, immediately took fire
with the idea, and while he did not convince the son,
he turned over two prospects who were anxious for