Part 37 (1/2)
Date, to-day, April 19, at 4:30 A.M.; location, 1516 Orleans Street, Chicago; cause of fire, supposedly crossed wires on second floor where fire started; loss $60,000 according to C. M.
Holmes, Jr., manager of the scientific department; persons injured, one fireman slightly injured by falling gla.s.s; inst.i.tutions whose diplomas were destroyed, George Was.h.i.+ngton University, Grinnell College, University of North Dakota, Marquette University, Dakota Wesleyan College; lives endangered, five firemen who were climbing a ladder on the rear wall when it fell; insurance, amount not obtainable.
_C._ The following almost excellent news article has one grave weakness.
Rewrite the story, strengthening the weak points.
Earl Moisley was 14 years old. He lived with his parents, three brothers, and a sister at 5417 Gale Street. He was in the eighth grade at the Beaubien school and a promising pupil.
Earl's grandmother gave him a lamb and he kept it in the bas.e.m.e.nt. One day last week the animal slipped through the open door after its master and went bleating into the schoolroom behind Earl.
”Mary had a little lamb With fleece as white as snow.”
Some one in the back row chanted the foolish nursery rhyme. Earl was sent home with the lamb. Thereafter his life was made miserable. Gangs of his comrades followed him, yelling in chorus the song of ”Mary” and ”Little Bo-Peep.”
Earl turned on one of his tormentors yesterday and blacked his eye. His playmates say he was summoned before the princ.i.p.al of the school and suspended for fighting. The boys a.s.sert they saw him marching st.u.r.dily home digging one grimy fist in his eye and muttering, ”They'll be sorry, all right.”
About 5 o'clock last evening Earl's younger brother went into the bas.e.m.e.nt. He saw a pair of shoes sticking over the top of a little red wagon and ran upstairs.
”Mother,” he said, ”there's a man in the cellar. I saw his feet.”
Mrs. Moisley laid aside her was.h.i.+ng and went downstairs with the younger son. She then told her husband, Fred Moisley, an under janitor at the city hall.
Moisley observed a piece of heavy twine tied to the water pipe.
He thought some man had committed suicide and ran outside for a policeman. Mrs. Moisley went near the stiff, outthrust little shoes, and saw they were those of a boy. She bent over the figure and fainted. It was Earl. The lamb lay asleep beside the body.
_D._ Correct in any way needful the following stories for a weekly paper:
1. Susie, the four-months-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Konick, Booneville, died last night after a few days' illness.
She will be interred at the Meadowland cemetery Thursday. Susie had the whooping-cough.
2. Mrs. Alice Rice was born in Jefferson county, Ga., on Aug. 6, 1864, and pa.s.sed quietly away last Sat.u.r.day, making her age 53 years, 10 months, and 27 days. Mr. and Mrs. Rice were married about 32 years. One son, Samuel, and husband, Adam, survive her.
They moved to the Houghton farm, near Adaville, 14 years ago, and were just intending to move to the White farm when death overtook Mrs. Rice after an illness of 22 hours, which was not considered serious until about 2 hours before her death. Mrs.
Rice had worked as busy as a bee all her years in Adaville, and when her beautiful spirit quitted this mundane vale of tears, she was rewarded with the loving attendance and affection of all in the sorrowing neighborhood. The funeral service was conducted Monday afternoon at the sorrowing home by the Rev. R. O. Tumlin.
The remains were interred at the Camp Meeting cemetery. Mrs.
Rice died of heart trouble.
_E._ Get the local and state weather forecast and write for to-morrow morning's paper a story of to-day's weather and to-morrow's prospects.
_CHAPTER XVI_
_A._ Criticize and rewrite the following baseball story:
The scribe again has a sad story to relate concerning the Sox, inasmuch as the White Hose have failed for the sixth straight time to win, and unfortunately it must be admitted that they in every way deserved what they got.
In fact, if Manager Callahan had taken their bats away from them after the first inning to-day and had buried them 20,000 leagues under the sea, securely padlocked in Davy Jones' locker, his men would have been compelled to accept a victory over Detroit instead of handing themselves a sixth straight defeat after one of the cheesiest exhibitions of the national pastime ever seen outside the walls of a state inst.i.tute for the mentally feeble.
The score was 5 to 4, and all five of Detroit's runs were donated by the White Sox, a fact which seemed to rouse the subconscious generosity of the Tigers to such a pitch that in the ninth inning it was all the Callahan bunch could do to keep their opponents from forcing on them enough tallies to even matters up so that they could start over and let the best team win in extra innings.