The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-04-16
HARDING DAVIS HOW.
His Three Rules of Writing That
Make Things Real


The peol,ic of two continents read
what he writes. Whyy
I put the question to Richard Hard
in Davis while walking through a din
gy side street in New York before
Christmas, and the answer came in the
form of a question.
See that bartender2% pointing across
the way, where a low bros ed man,
with close-cropped haiE and protruding
jaw, was perched on step ladder fes-
toening the doorway of q saloon with
eVergreens and holly.
Yes, / replied.
We'll what. does that suggest to
you3''-s
The incident to me appeared COM
mOnplace. But what Mr.. Davis saw
in il was that this man, who "a FEW
hours before had pro Oably beaten in a
drunken patrons face and sent him
home bruised and bleeding to his mis-
cradle family, should now be engaged
in 50 cheerful and gladstone work.
This was the first thought that oc-
Cured to him. The raotives Of the bar
tender interested him. Had he been as
signed as a reporter to write a story
about that incident he would not have
told the height of the ladder or the
color of tire house We know now what
he would have told.
That's yo' secret, then2n 1 asked.
You see THU. -
',WeR, 1 try to /. he replied. - never
walk one city bl ok that I do not see
twenty things to interest me. I Guilt
waited the .hab bit when L Began reporting.
and to this day if l see a man turn in
a car to look out the window, I uncon-
sciously turn with him He rnay have
observed something that escaped me-
This ability of Davis to "see things
is no little helped by an almost perfect
eyesigft. General Miles pronounced it
better than any mans in the United
states army Personally, have known
Davis TO decipher with the naked eye
Vivid. simply with: The man died at
steamer quarantined at Alden when
others, cOuld barely make it out zgith
field glasses.
From the very outset of his newspa-
per career the city editor recognized
that this reporter had ever an original
method OF kandling story. Some hui
man note he struck, some duSt-coveTed
gem he revealed that arrested the
thought of bank president and plumber
as they stumbled through the mass of
daily print and remained in the memo
~ of each long after the paper mad
been regrOund to pulp.
1 have in mind story in the Even
ing sun that serves to. illustrate this.
AT O'Clock on a spring morning the
blotter at police headquarters recorded
triffing fire on the East Side News
being dull, Davis was sent to cover it.
he round r1ckety tenement house ID
which fire had little more than sineed
the top floor. The crowd had left. A
few ashes were smoldering and the in
surance adjusters We're examining the
place.
Nothing. here, said the policeman
on watch. Only $500 damage and a
bum iodgeEs asphyxiated. He's in that
room"
The reporters peeped, saw the black
ened face and rigid form of a man nm
named and, forgotton-and wrote a
paragraph The Evening Sun reporter.
IN Inoucnlng about, saw an alarm clock
pS the dead mans side with nhe hand
pointing TO z o'clock.
he asked.
Let me see" yawned the bluecoaf
o clock II was. 1 remember because
mat alarm was going off just as I got
That's my story said Davis. and
he began his account. touching ana
vivid, simply with. The man died ~
e.Se- Inc alarm went OFF at Z. 1t was
Just half an hour too late"
s g. q g
- In the first place" DR.. Davis saws
use SMILES that the man at bone
san understand; second 1 ten the fbine-
az iI impressed me when first sa,,- ir2.
thlruly, / always tell the thing fbat
most interests me-.
II IS sreat temptation of writer's of
eIdyeI 10 show off. to tell how many
countries they have visited. Mr. Dsyis
avoids this. He does not saw the Ty-ye-
mas are higher than the Mosoile of
- Sopnias but that they are 800 feet
nisher than Madison. Square tower .
- Vas writing for a New York public
men ana could not feel sure that a.
majority of his. readers had seen 81
Sopnla- The fatter he describes as
ABOUT as big as the auditorium of the
Fitth Avenue theatre In anofbsr
pace ne says. Brindisi looks like Long
tslaho tlty when you come into It from
me rear. That puts a man at home
IN Brindisi and he is prepared to learn
more about It, - .
As TO the third rule, Mr.. Davis saws
II formed in his mind one night at =
p l. hght, - was the first one he had
49,, s'e.eIosd. ana while deeply FASH
lidteu with the tger-like movements Of
ehe pugitists, the painful kiss of fbe
llVe-ounce glove and the spray of rcd
oiood, what interested him more stvass
me conduct Of the mayor. This cifv
SlliSIaI SAY near the ring, and eYery-
pouy Watehed him; took their cue from
hlm The mans collar had Iost jts
IiiVofingS behind, and in consequence
an dignity. With each successive ro1nd
Il behaved more erraticaiIv nov s,,r'
p" NoNFiis BIS AOnOr clutching Tnadlv
at times TO hold il in place !, So tbat
me collar fairly reflected the fight. In
stead OF describing the various upper
cuts ana straight jabs therefore. Davis
merely described the struggle 't,yixt
the mayor and his collar.
q q g
This conviction to write what in
7eFests me- said Mr.. Davis. was
streng thened on visit to Mexico.
where was stranded in an out-of-the-
way village and CHANGED to pick Nh "A
Harper's Magazine. The three in
portant articles We're one by Weeks on
1ndia, one by Child on South America
and one by Julian Ralph on (shicapof
Wen, the only one read was the one
on chicago. and 1 asked myself why ?
You. don't know anything about Sorfl,
america or India. I said and obvf-
ously, these are che places you should
read about. could only get inter-
ested, however, in the Chicago story.
sauging the average American by my
seii;. 4 concluded that he would rather
read about something he knows, some