Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-04-20
HIS STORY WAS Loaded

What does newspaper, man mean when
he says that certain article in a news
paper is leaded"s inquired a friend of
one of the Washington correspondents the
other day.
The newspaper man explained about the
leads" or strips Of type metal, that are
placed between the lines, of type Of an
article Of such Importance that it is de-
sirable to have it stand out" more promi-
nentiy than the closely-pEinted articles Of
an ordinary news character, and then he
continued:
Il don't wonder that you ask that ques-
ton about leading / didn't know any
thing whatever about it. when I applied
Tor my first Job in newspaper Office. l
was pretty young chap then, and / had
the Journalistic bug. I went. to Chicago
from a, small town in Illinois, provided
with letter from one of the big men
of the state to the editor of great Chi
cage daily: l knew how to write fairly
well, but I'd never had days experience
In a newspaper office. I was, therefore,
prepared to start in in a pretty humble
way and to make the stab at climbing in
the newspaper business. The best looked
for-for was very little more than twenty
years old-was billet at about s. a week
in newspaper office, and a chance to dog
rob around and see what the other fellows
were doing.
II presented my letter, to the famous
editor of the Chicago newspaper, and he
looked me over with a not very APP
proving eye. But he sent for the city eul-
tor, and when the latter made his appear
ance the editor nodded toward me ana
said to the city editor:
Give this youngster a little something
to do this afternoon and see if he can
do it.
THE city editor glared at me as If l
had somehow or another violently offended
him, and grOWled out
Come out here
II followed him to his private office In
the city room, and sat down WINE ne ne nls
ured out "a little something to do for me;
He found it finally, and turned and glared
at me some more.
There's a crazy man, living in tent on
a vacant lot down on Michigan avenue,
who's got contraption that he thinks Is
perpetual motion machine groWled the CITY
editor to me. Go down there and look MN
and his apparatus over, and then come pdch
here and write something about It,
'It didn't look like particularly promls-
ing subject for a man who had never before
been in the newspaper business and VINO
wasn't used to inditing airy perslhase apout
folks with wheels in their heads, but
grabbed a bunch of copy paper and went
out to cover the assignment. l found the
long haired chap in his tent, and he showed
me his funny wind mill-looking affair ana
explained to me at great length now II was
going to revolutioniZe the whole state OF
society He was funny cuss, cracked De
yond a doubt and his earnestness ana MS
absolute belief in his invention were extra
ordinary I spent about an hour with MN
and then hiked back to the office to write
my stuff didn't know then that 1t was
called stuff that all kinds Of newspaper
copy is called stuff by newspaper men.
"The subject was so fresh IN my mlnd,
and the quaint manners of the inventor
of the perpetual motion machine had struck
me as being so funny, that didn't have
much trouble in rafting off pretty nearly
column about the business: Then waited
until there was nobody in with the city
editor and took the stuff into his office and
lard it on the desk without saying anything.
l didn't feel very confident that TINS lrst
achievement of mine in the newspaper line
was going to help me much toward gettihs
job. ,a ,! ,,,.
gngerly and shook it as i it had been MED
with desk cockroaches, and then he started
In to read it, after bestowing numerous
awful scowls upon me over his specs. he
was nervous gray-hseired, smooth-faced
man, with the most ferQcious manners ana
the kindest heart that ever beat beneath a
vest He seemed TO become Interested IN
the first two or three lines of my little yarn
about the crank inventor and he leaned
back in his revolving chair ana READ IL
closely. When he had finished the first page
he turned and scowled frightfully at me;
then he slammedithe stuff down on his
desk, grabbed big blue pencil and say
agely drew a straight line from me lop 10
the bottom Of the page. mat move just
about knocked me silly.
IT'S all Off said Ito myself. when,
having finished reading the second page,
the city editor again grabbed his blue pen
Gil and drew another savage line IN the
middle of the page from the top to the DOL
tom thereof 4 s'pose he sees that my
work is idiotic and that it won't do, ana
/ felt pretty cerulean for fact
Every time he'd finish reading page
the city editor would wheel about in his
cha ir and ploWer uDOn ana then QfaW
one of those brutal straight lines through
my copy, and by the time he had finished
reading the last page L had silently risen
from nv chair with my hat in my hand
and was edging toward the door. l didn't
know but that he might throw something
at me- After he'd drawn the line through
the last page and was apparently consider
ing something while he gazed straight up
at the ceiling I managed to blurt out from
nv stand over near the door:
cts pretty bad, sir, is 1T?
1.-THE city editor rounded upon me as II
he intended to hop upon my frame ana
throttle me, and said:
Whats pretty bad!
".That thing of mine on your desk said
I, in fear and trembling.
" Bad, nothing, growled the city editor,
glazing at me- It's bully stuff, and you
know it; don't you dare to try to fish for
compliments from me- you CUB; the stuns
bully!
II was dumfounded. naturally. If the
stuff was bully why in the dickens had
he drawn those violent lines through every
page of it, as if he wanted to obliterate it?
"'But those lines started to stammer.
"'What lines? interrupted the city ed-
tor. and when I pointed to the blue pencil
marks he had made on my copy he lay
back and chuckled-he was never known to
laugh out loud in his whole career, but this
time he chucked softly for fully minute
before he could ejaculate:
"'Why, that's leading, son: leading
ooh! said l. I didn't know what the
deuce he meant, but thought it must be
all right.
you'll do said the city editor then.
Well start you in at twenty-five week.
Go out there and take that desk and he
came to the door and pointed out a vacant
desk in the city room.
II had been working on the paper for
fully a week before I piucked up sufficient
courage to ask one Of the older reporters
what leading meant, and when he ex-
planned 1t to me, and I remembered that
the 1st story had done for the paper had
been leaded.' experienced my first case of
Journalistic big head"
The French-Irish.
From the Gentleman's Magazine.
France, with its MacMahons, O'Neills,