Orange County observer., 1903-07-23
A CHANGE OF SCENE,
BY j. HERBERT WEIGH


writing. AT college, 1 remember, he
was considered bright at it. If you
could squeeze him in, should consider
it a favor"
The editor glanced keenly at Taylor
Ever been on paper?" he asked.
Never replied Taylor.
The editor, tapping his desk gently
with pencil, took another look at the
young man. his eye resting for an in
stant on Taylor's clever face.
"Well," he said, after slight pause,
1--WE are pretty full just now, and we
could give you only beginners pay, but
if you want to try it Oh that basis 1
guess we can give you chance"
''Thank you," said Taylor. "Shall I
begin now?"
"Why, just as you please" answered
Mr.. Duncan in a careless manner that
caused Wilcox to smile slyly and wink
at his friend.
1t would be interesting but imprac-
teal to recount the new reporters ex-
periences of the next few days. He
learned several things, one of which
was that writing ''good stuff at the
rate of a thousand words a day was
quite a different matter from gather
ing facts and writing them out at the
rate of a thousands words or more an
hour. Duncan had it made evident to
| him that his weakness was this gather
ing of facts. He accepted in humble
spirit the chidings of the city editor
| and the unseeing superiority Of the
"star reporters" He was waiting for
his chance.
The city editor strobe over to him
and laid the damp sheet of rival af-
ternoon edition in front of him on the
table. Huge black letters reached
across the page, announcing:
LIVINGSTON TAYLOR HAS DIS.
APPEARED"
"Mr. Taylor" said the city editor
not noticing that the young man he
was addressing was sitting rigid in
his chair and staring at the letters
blankly, "just read this story of the
disappearance of your namesake, the
novelist, and go up and see MI. VIII
cox, who knows him, I think. The
novelist may be in the city, and if he
is. Wilcox may be able to help us To-
cate him. If you should happen to
find the disappearing Taylor, get
good interview with him. There may
be beat for us in this
Taylor seized his hat. He wanted
to get out into the open air as quickly
as possible On the steps leading tt
| the street he read the story. It was
brief enough. Tucked away under ths
big headlines were few sentences tt
the effect that Mrs MacMahon, tht
housekeeper Of Livingston Taylor, hat
notified the police Of Rockton that th'
young man had disappeared in th'
night about two weeks before, ant
that she had neither seen nor hear'
from him since. His departure ha'
evidently been very hurried, as hi
room had been left in a state of grea
disorder. That night he had had
: caller, stranger to Mrs. MacMahor
Although it was not known that h
, had an enemy in the world, murde
was feared. Taylor laughed. 1t wa
painfully evident that Mrs. MacMaho
has not found his note.
But he wanted to consider this ma
ter sanely. He could not do it her
t in this teeming thoroughfare, SO h
entered a cafe and sought out littl
J stall. His name pursued him. A ma
at the bar was reading the story. Thi
2 thing must be stopped. He decide
l that the first thing to do was to pr
e the fears of Mrs. MacMahOn and Rocl
t ton at rest by telegraphing. Whs
f would he do next? He ordered som
thing to aid him in helping to soly
: this problem In a moment his cOurs
J. became clear to him. After an interv;
e of an hour and a half-the time he ha
d decided to give himself in runnir
g down and interviewing the novelist
e he went back to the office, reporte
s to the city editor as briefly as posslb
e that he had found his man, and begs
: to write.
d TAYLOR. the novelist, had evident
been in an expansive mood when
( was interviewed by Taylor, the i
porter. for his remarks touching up
II the sensations of man who dlscove
80 in the newspapers that he has dlsa
p peared were very clever and humorot
His talk had a literary flavor unusu
in newspaper interviews. After t
ii copy reader had glanced over a 1e
le paragraphs of the story he look
ID across the room at Taylor with {
le light of appreciation in his eyes. 3
I'd when he reached the last page
ae frowned and came over to the you
man, with the copy in his hand.
be "Mr. Taylor" he said, "this is 60
oy stuff, very good stuff, but you'll ha
TO to be more specific in your locatl
H. Of the novelist. This is the point OF
til story, you know. Just in the cl
. won't do? Where did you see him!
ial Taylor turned red. He could THINK
at- nothing to say. The address OF
cd own boarding house came suodel
,ss into his mind and he hastily mentor