Part 13 (1/2)
Barrows's,”--na-house in the town, the owner of which has a yearly contract with the Government to take care of just such e around town, and the police won't bother you if you behave yourself
If they call you for loafin' tell theet into the ar lieutenant, drops in on his regular circuit The men who have been accepted by the non-coain, and so expert is the corporal in judging good ht are rejected
”All right,” says the corporal when the lieutenant has gone; ”here's your tickets to the training station at Coluht cents apiece for coffee on the way In these boxes you'll find four big, healthy lunches for each one of you That'll keep you until you get to Colue of the form ticket issued by the railway expressly for the Governet off the train with the others and for fifty cents buy a big pail of hot coffee for the bunch at the station lunch-room Then the corporal takes them all down to the train, tells them briefly but plainly what is expected in the way of conduct from a soldier, and winds up with the admonition: ”And, boys, remember this first of all; the first duty of a soldier is this: do what you're told to do, do it without question, and _do it quick_ Good-bye”
In twenty-four hours Steve and his co station, have taken the oath of allegiance, and are safely and well on their way to full membershi+p in the family of Uncle Sam
CHAPTER VI
WRITING THE ARTICLE
VALUE OF A PLAN Just as a builder would hesitate to erect a house without a carefully worked-out plan, so a writer should be loath to begin an article before he has outlined it fully In planning a building, an architect considers how large a house his client desires, how many rooms he must provide, how the space availablethe rooms, and what relation the roo an article, likewise, a writer needs to deter it must be, what material it should include, how much space should be devoted to each part, and how the parts should be arranged Ti an article is ti the subject fully involves thinking out the article froathered hed; its relation to the whole subject and to every part reater importance, because much of the effectiveness of the presentation will depend upon a logical develop e in the preparation of an article is clear thinkingof it
Amateurs sometimes insist that it is easier to write without an outline than with one It undoubtedly does take less time to dash off a special feature story than it does to think out all of the details and then write it In nine cases out of ten, however, when a writer atte that his ideas will arrange theanized presentation of his subject The common disinclination to make an outline is usually based on the difficulty thatabout a subject in all its various aspects, and in getting down in logical order the results of such thought Unwillingness to outline a subject generally ness to think
THE LENGTH OF AN ARTICLE The length of an article is determined by two considerations: the scope of the subject, and the policy of the publication for which it is intended A large subject cannot be adequately treated in a brief space, nor can an important theme be disposed of satisfactorily in a few hundred words The length of an article, in general, should be proportionate to the size and the i factor, however, in fixing the length of an article is the policy of the periodical for which it is designed One popular publication may print articles from 4000 to 6000 words, while another fixes the liment to prepare a 1000-word article for the former, as it would be to send one of 5000 words to the latter Periodicals also fix certain limits for articles to be printed in particular departazine, for instance, has a departe froth, while the other articles in this periodical contain fro a colues influences the length of articles in azines To obtain an attractive e or two of each special article, short story, or serial to appear in the first part of the es Articles e or two in the first part of the periodical and several coluazines use short articles, or ”fillers,” to furnish the necessary reading es
Newspapers of the usual size, with froreater flexibility than azines in the matter of make-up, and can, therefore, use special feature stories of various lengths The arrangeazine sections, does not affect the length of articles The only way to deterazines is to count the words in typical articles in various depart on the length of his article, the writer should consider what main points he will be able to develop in the allotted space His choice will be guided by his purpose in writing the article ”Is this point essential to the accomplishment of my aim?” is the test he should apply Whatever is non-essentialdetermined upon the essential topics, he next proceeds to estimate their relative value for the developive to each one the space and the prominence that are proportionate to its importance
ARRANGEMENT OF MATERIAL The order in which to present the ical development of a subject by which the reader is led, step by step, from the first sentence to the last in the easiest and e to end, without digressing or , is the shortest distance between two points
In narration the natural order is chronological To arouse immediate interest, however, a writerwith a striking incident and then going back to relate the events that led up to it This nized in fiction In exposition the normal order is to proceed from the known to the unknown, to dovetail the new facts into those already familiar to the reader
When a writer desires by his article to create certain convictions in the ement best calculated to lead the effects are produced, not by stating his own conclusions as strongly as possible, but rather by skillfully inducing his readers to reach those conclusions by what they regard as their own mental processes That is, if readers think that the convictions which they have reached are their own, and were not forced upon them, their interest in these ideas is likely to beIt is best, therefore, to understate conclusions or to omit the his ht so that, after they have finished the last sentence, they will inevitably fored in the best possible order, the writer selects from his available material such details as he needs to amplify each point Examples, incidents, statistics, and other particulars he jots down under each of the chief heads The arrangement of these details, in relation both to the central purpose and to each other, requires soical place in the series Having thus ordered his ood working outline to guide hi
PLANNING A TYPICAL ARTICLE The process of gathering, evaluating, and organizing material may best be shown by a concrete example The publication in a New York paper of a news story to the effect that the first commencement exercises were about to be held in the only factory school ever conducted in the city, suggested to a special feature writer the possibility of preparing an article on the work of the school To obtain the necessary material, he decided to attend the exercises and to interview both the principal of the school and the head of the factory
In thinking over the subject beforehand, he jotted down these points upon which to secure data: (1) the origin and the purpose of the school; (2) its relation to the work of the factory; (3) the methods of instruction; (4) the kind of pupils and the results accomplished for them; (5) the cost of the school; (6) its relation to the public school systeraduation exercises, he secured the desired intervieith the teacher in charge and with the head of the firm, copied typical examples from the exhibition of the pupils' written work, and jotted down notes on the decoration and furnishi+ng of the schoolroom Since the commencement exercises had been reported in the newspapers, he decided to refer to the the significance of the work of the school and what there was about it that would appeal to different classes of readers, he decided to write his story for the azine section of the New York newspaper that he believed was enerally read by business men who operated factories similar to the one described His purpose he forirls can be transforent, efficient American citizens by means of instruction in a factory school; this I wish to do by explaining what has been accomplished in this direction by one New York factory” He hoped that his article would lead readers to encourage the establishirls The expository type of article containing concrete examples, description, and interviews he concluded to adopt as the forth of the special feature stories, in the azine section of the paper to which he intended to submit the article, proved to be about 2000 words In order to accoth, he selected five main topics to develop: (1) the reasons that led the firm to establish the school; (2) the results obtained; (3) the methods of instruction; (4) the cost of the school; (5) the schoolroom and its equipest appeal to the readers of this newspaper?” was the question he asked hiin his article The feature that would attract theresults obtained by the school in a co the several types of beginnings to determine which would best suit the presentation of these remarkable results, he found two possibilities: first, the su statement for the first sentence; and second, a concrete example of the results as shown by one of the pupils He found, however, that he did not have sufficient data concerning any one girl to enable him to tell the story of her transformation as an effective concrete case He deter statement as the feature of a summary lead
From his intervieith the head of the firm, and from a formal statement of the purpose of the school printed on the coram, he obtained the reasons why the school had been established
These he decided to give _verbatily the results of the teaching, he picked out four of the six written exercises that he had copied from those exhibited on the walls of the schoolroom The first of these dealt with American history, the second with thrift and business iene For the fourth he selected the work of a woet into the school and to learn to write the teacher had described to hiures on the cost of the school he had secured fro to his preliminary plan These covered the expense both to the employers and to the city
His description of the schoolroom he could base on his own observation, supplemented by the teacher's explanations