Bismarck daily tribune., 1912-06-19
CHAPTER |.
Tho City Editors Assign mont.

M south tomorrow and write a So
rtes of letters on the educational
and social conditions existing In
that section. Avoid the cities and
beaten tracks and let your pic
lures be drawn from life. This will be an
order on the business Office for what mon
ey you may need.
Such were the orders found one
morning on my desk in the city edi-
tors room Of a well known Boston
newspaper. OF the labor involved in
such an assignment l was ignorant,
and I saw only pleasant trip In that
part Of my country In which l had
never Travelled. I had been employed
on the paper for comparatively short
time-in fact, had been In journalism
for period Of less than two years
20 that such an assignment as the one
now given me was highly dattering to
me, and ! knew 1t would be equally
gratifying to my father, who had
watched my career with that interest
which attaches solely to an only son.
l had not been out of Harvard very
long when | had taken the advice Of
an eminent literary man, a friend Of
my father, and entered journalism as
a 0rst stepping stone to literary dis
tinction. The few short stories l had
written. however, had been returned
to me by the magazines to which had
sent them with promptness that was
calculated to dampen my ardor and
otherwise to discourage me. had been
led to believe that my style was excep-
tionally good and that l was not with
out keen sense of humor, at the same
time possessing a proper appreciation
Of the pathetic.
l had taken prize at the high
school for an essay, and later, when
my talents began to develop ut the uni
versity, was elected to fill place on
the editorial stan of one Of the month
ly periodicals published there. was
chagrined. therefore. when my manu-
scripts. written legibly on fine linen
paper, tied with the best silk ribbon
to be had. came back to me. began
to form a very poor opinion Of our
magazines. Possessing an independ-
ent fortune. determined to publish
my writings in book form at my own
expense. took my manuscripts to
publisher, who, honest man that he
was, was kind enough to tell me that
people did not think much of books
published at the authors own expense.
Determined at length to get a proper
estimate of my work, I sought out an
old friend Of the family who had
achieved fame by his pen. he review.
I'd my stories and in ruthless sort of
way, as It seemed to me then, told me
that some Of my ideas were good, but
expressed clumsily. He advised me
10 cease all attempts at literary COM
position and to seek place on a news
paper. writing must become habit
with you." be said, before you can
hope to express your thoughts grace
fully. What you need most Is ease,
and If you can avoid the pitfalls Of
Journalism you may In time succeed in
your ambition" It took me just an.
other six months to make up my mind
to follow his advice. and when l did
10 it was with some degree of humilia.
ton that l discovered that there was
not a reporter on the paper who did
not write better than l. Constant ap-
plication in my new undertaking. how
ever, and the hard work had done at
the university soon brought me my re-
ward. was being singled out con-
stantly for important local assign
ments. and once l had been sent to
Washington on delicate mission.
1 picked up again the order which
lay on my desk and read It over the
second time. thought saw the ear
marks of politics in it. and. while the
racial question was not mentioned. l
believe that 1t was this problem was
to discuss I had made suggestion on
this line some months before. but the
managing editor had 3ot taken kindly
to the idea at the time. The order as
I read it over seemed indefinite. l
thought. and | started with Ii to the
managing editors room. As present.
cd myself before that austere little
npinolo-ph r.,;col h,,t s,ot mental for