Arizona republican., 1899-06-23

spirit of the newsgatherer, whose great
 est ambition is to get a beat"
 To young men entering journalism
 the stories will give valuable points
 The news instinct" MT. Williams
 says, means broadly all abnormal i keenness in approaching what is con tempCraneously interesting to the pub lic-a habit of mind acquired by those
 who deal in news, just as various other habits Of mind are acquired by those who deal in various other goods" This habit is acquired only at the ex- Pense of certain senses Or sensibilities. according to MT. Williams. and in the last story in the book, '"The Old Re porter" he draws a lugubrious picture Of the effect upon character of news gathering and news writing as depict ed in the previous stories. "The Old Reporter" is the longest and most se- rioUs study Of character develcpment that MT. Williams tns done, and was written expressly for the book with a view to rounding out the whole sub- ject. Some of the other stories have been previously published in magazine form, but all have been revised and n some cases changed or added to
 For the most part, MT. Williams is optimistic. and his stories, with the ex- cepti0n of 'SThe Old Rerorter,'' are buoyanlt and overfOwins with ilu,nor He has gathered many a good tale in his newspaper. experiences. and tells them with zest. The "cub' reporter furnishes him with much material for humorous writing. Here is one of Mir. Williams incidents:
 C1s day cub reporter was ssnt to cover meeting of an east side liter ary club, which was to debate upon arbitratfcn and it's effects upon inter- na1cIal peace. But he came back to the office within an hour, looking dis appointed
 Where's your story?" asked the city editor.
 There wasn't any story to write replied the new reporter, picking up a newspaper; 'fthey couldn't agree upon the wording of the subject, and they get to arguing and calling names, and finally the meeting broke up in a free fight; so I came back"
 The city editor came down from his desk and gazed pitifully upon the cub They were to have debated on peace" he said, soTrCwfully, "aud the meeting broke up in a fight. And there was nothing to write! You may go.''
 Many cf MT Williams characters are taken directly from life, and news paper men in New York have been able to identify them with reporters and editors on the prominent papers of thet city. The great Billy Woods how ever, seems to be a combination of all the vices and virtues Of the reporter
 Mr Williams was first brought into prominence by his Princeton Stories' which. as descriptive of American col lege life. have never been equalIed. He graduated from Princeton in '92 and after Q year abroad went to work with the New YcTk Sun and later with the Commercial Advertiser It was during this period that the"Princetcn Stories" appeared and the story is told that the volume was given to him-'Fbeing Princetcn man''-to review The au- thor appreciated the humorous as wei as the business side of the matter and wrote an enthusiastic review three quarters Of a column in length. MT. Williams is now abcaIt 90 years old. For the last two years he has been with Charles ScribneE's Sons, the pub fishers of his present Yolume.-Kan- sas City Star