The sun. (Wilmington, Del.) 1897-19??, 1901-06-04
STORY WAS LEADED

'1eads," or strips of type metal, that ar.
placed between the lines OF type Of al
article of such importance that it is dc |
sirabe to have it "stand out more promi
nently than the closely-printed articles o
an ordinary news character, and then h
continued:
81 don't wonder that you ask that ques
tion about leading ! didn't know any
thing whatever about it when l applied
for my first job in newspaper office.
was pretty young chap then, and | hae
the journalistic bug. l. went to Chicago
from small town in Illinois, provided
with letter from one Of the big met
of the state to the editor Of great Chi
cago daily. knew how to write fairl,
well, but I'd never had days experience
in newspaper Office. was, therefore
prepared to start in in d pretty humble
way and to make the stab at climbing il
the newspaper business. The best looked
for--for l was very little more than 2
years old--was billet at about five dollar |
week in a newspaper Office, and chance t. |
dog rob around and see what the other fel
lows were doing.
IL presented my letter to the famou
editor Of the Chicago newspaper, and HI
looked me over with a not very ap
proving eye. But he sent for the city edi
tor, and when the latter made his appear
ance the editor nodded toward me ant
said to the city editor:
"'Give this youngster little something
to do this afternoon and see If lie car
do it,
"The city editor glared at me as if hat
somehow or another violently offended him
and growled ont'
"'Come out here,'
81 followed him to his private office in TIN
city room, and sat down while he figuree
out "a little something to do for me. liz
| found 1t finally, and turned and glared al
me some more.
""There's crazy man. living in tent OF
vacant lot down on Michigan avenue
| who's got contraption that he thinks is
perpetual motion machine, growled the cit!
editor to me. Go down there and look hin
and his apparatus over, and then come baci
here and write something about it.
at didn't look like a particularly promis
ing subject for man who had never before
been in the newspaper business. and VIII,
wasn't use to inditng airy persiilage abou,
folks with wheels III their heads, but ,
grabbed bunch of copy paper and Wen
out to cover the assignment. iound th'
long-haired chap in his tent, and he showed
me his funny wind mill-looking affair anc
explained to me at great length how 1t wa!
going to revolutionize the whole state o
society. He was funny cuss, cracked be
You'd a doubt, and his earnestness and HI
absolute belief in his invention were -eX
traordinary. spent about an hour WITT
him and then hiked back to the office t
. write my stuff didn't know then that
| ~ Al all L., Ia AZ ,,ntpl. nm n "a
, copy is called stuff by newspaper men.
, The subject was so fresh in my mind
and the quaint manners of the inventor
of the perpetual motion machine had struc
, me as being so funny that | didn't hav
much trouble in rafting off pretty nearly
= column about the business. Then waite
: until there was nobody in with the CIT
e editor and took the stuff into his office an
8 laid it on the desk without saying anything
!, / didn't feel very confident that this frs
(. achievement of mine in the newspaper lin
was going to help me much toward gettin
job.
: "The city editor picked up my stuff yer
gingerly and shook it as if it had been lille
: with desk cockroaches, and then he starte
!, in to read it, after bestowing numerol
S awful scowls upon me over his specs. Il
u was d neINouo, Sthy
d man, with the most ferocious manners an
!. the kindest heart that ever beat beneath
= vest. He seemed to become interested
!, the first two or three lines of my little var
: about the crank inventor and he leane
back in his revolving chair and read
!. closely. When he had finished the first pat
/, he turned and scowled frightfully at M
n then he slammed the stuff down on h
Z desk, grabbed big blue pencil and sa
d agely drew straight line from the top
;. the bottom of the page. That move Ju
I. about knocked me silly.
y cts all off, said / to myself, whe
= having finished reading the second pag
L the city editor again grabbed his blue pc
e Gil and drew another savage line in IL
o middle OF the page from the top to the be
V tom thereof. 4 s'pose he sees that n
k. work is idiotic and that it won't do al
i. felt pretty cerulean for fact.
~ every time he'd finish reading pa
l., the city editor would wheel about in b
:" chair and glover upon me and then dra
&c one of those brutal straight lines thront
"a nv COPY, and by the time he had finish'
Sc reading the last page had silently ris'
lie from my chair with my hat in my han
II and was edging toward the door. didr
s. know but that he might throw somethii
- at me. After he'd drawn the line throui
:, the last page and was apparently considt
" ing something while he gazed straight
" at the ceiling, managed to blurt out fro
~ my stand over near the door:
IN Its pretty bad, sir, is it?
u "The city editor rounded upon me az
re he intended to hop upon my frame al
I'd throttle me, and said:
ST "'What's pretty bad?
re ""That thing of mine on your desk, sa
4 /, in fear and trembling.
IN i" Bad, nothing growled the city edit'
80 =. glaring at me. It's bully stuff, and y
= know it; don't you dare to try to fish
az compliments from me, you cub; the stuf
~ bullyn
he 81 was dumbfounded, naturally. If t
hit stuff was bully why in the dickens h
nd he drawn those violent lines through eve
ii. page of it, as if he wanted to obliterate it
"A. "'But those lines started to sta
If. mer.
~. ".What lines?' interrupted the city e
=. tor, and when ] pointed to the blue pen
=, marks he had made on my copy he
back and chuckled-he was never known
So laugh out loud in his whole career, but t
RS time he chuckled softly for fully mini
IN. before he could calculate:
in .NGhy, that's leading, son; leading
or .~Oh!' said |. didn't know what
or deuce he meant, but thonght II must
of all right.
on "'Youll do said the city editor tn
~. wen start you in at twenty-five we
-. Go out there and take that DESK and
came to the door and pointed out vac;