words, which may be expanded to seventeen hundred or two thousand, by the addition of matter gleaned at the office. The receiving telegrapher will "take" the message on the typewriter, and it will be put into shape by a sub-editor, who will arrange the sub-heads and make it readable. The headlines are the work of a special editor.

Brown is now at Smithville. He goes at things with vim, interviewing officials, talking with train hands, getting a definite statement from the engineers and conductors, questioning survivors, listening to bystanders, cross-questioning the section boss and the keeper of the little station, and sifting the truth little by little, getting in twenty minutes a clear statement of just what happened.

While doing this, his mind is shaping the form the story will take, when he comes to write. His facts gathered, he gets down to his writing, moving along smoothly and rapidly. And the very men who have given him his information will scan his account next morning and recognize the truth of what he has written. This ability to get at the facts is not merely a gift, although it appears so, but is the result of long training in news gathering.

He starts his story with the statement that two trains met, head on, giving if possible the causes of the collision, stating how many were killed and injured, giving the list alphabetically, and arranged according to those killed, seriously wounded, and slightly injured, with special note of any celebrities killed or hurt. Then follows a carefully detailed and circumstantial account of the disaster.

While he is getting things into shape, his assistant has rigged his wires, ready for telegraphing. As fast as Brown writes a slip, it is wired to the office and is put into shape by the sub-editor. It is set up on the linotype as fast as it comes through.

EXERCISES BASED ON PICTURES

Joan of Arc. France possesses a wonderful legacy in the romantic patriotism of the maid of Orleans. Tending her humble flocks at Domremy, in the darkest hour of her country's history, she seemed to hear voices that called on her to deliver her prince and her country from foreign oppression. This is a copy of the picture that hangs in the museum of Orleans.

Take time to get the story of this national heroine, and tell it in a manner befitting the theme. It may be told in three parts:

1. The Maid of Domremy. Her country's enslavement; the voices that called to her as she watched her flocks. Difficulties in the way.

2. The Maid of Orleans. How she came to lead the forces of France; how she entered Orleans; her work as a military leader.

3. The Maid as Martyr. The circumstances of her martyrdom ; her courage in trial and distress: her death as a martyr for God and country.

They're Off!

Photograph by Frank C. Sage.

You never saw a finer start on any track. Every nerve and muscle is strained to win. Who will come in first? There is a companion picture on page 78 showing the winner crossing the line in this same run.

What do they get out of it? Ask them later, when as American business, mechanical, or professional men, they strain every nerve to win. They will tell you that their training here is invaluable.

Write a short paper discussing the value of athletics in later life.

EXERCISES ON THE NEWS STORY

(a) Retelling and Condensing.-1. Retell Mr. Keeley's story of how a news story is written, in two hundred words. Omit nothing that is really important.

2. Take your statement just written and boil it down to twentyfive words. This will be a little hard to do at first, but it can be done, and it is well worth doing.

3. Retell Mr. Keeley's story in two hundred and fifty words. Tell it in your own way. If you so desire, tell it in as many words as come to you, and then put it in the number required.

(b) Arranging and Sifting.- Arrange the following facts in an orderly way, combining and boiling down with special reference to unity, coherence, and emphasis. Write three hundred words.

Suppose a wreck at Norris station, C. H. & D. R. R., a circus train. Just about daylight, say at 5:13 A.M., in a heavy fog. Tramps supposed to have built a fire, which spread to the leaves and set the woodwork of the bridge on fire, weakening the trestles. Train ran on to the bridge before danger was noticed. Engine fell into the river, killing fireman and severely injuring engineer. Cars overturned on the bank of the stream, killing several trainmen and three circus hands. Treasurer of the company, L. T. Byers, of the Cummings & Byers Co., owners of the show, badly injured, may die. Some of the finest animals also killed, and others injured so that they had to be shot. A lioness, with two half-grown cubs, at large. Fine performing bear missing, supposed to be in woods near by. Neighborhood terrorized, although circus men anticipate no difficulty in recapturing the animals. Armed bands organizing to hunt down wild beasts. Circus managers offering large rewards for return of wild animals, if uninjured. Three tramps arrested, suspected of having camped near the bridge; they deny any connection with the matter. Relief train dispatched to scene of wreck, with corps of physicians on board.

Later. P. L. Brown, injured engineer, died at noon. Michael McCarty, track walker, reports having driven three tramps from camp last night. Thinks they may have returned later.

Later. Charley Williams, farmer's son, claims reward for capture of lioness. Found her in coal shed, and locked door, preventing her escape.

(c) Getting the Vocabulary Ready. Reporters and news writers, as well as others who have to write hurriedly, often make a list of usable words for convenience in reference, before beginning to write. This is especially the case where the subject or topic is new to them. In most cases, experienced newspaper men make this list mentally and almost unconsciously. From the moment they are assigned to certain

work, the subconscious mind is at work formulating the outline, and preparing the vocabulary.

To get at the items of information required below, the class may be divided into three or four groups, each group taking its share of the lists, getting the information or reporting on points in doubt. It may be necessary to interview railway employees on some of the points.

1. Make a list of ten words relating strictly to the railway train, selecting such words as may prove useful in writing up the wreck.

2. Make a list of the officers and employees of a train, passenger and freight.

3. Make a list of ten words, adjectives or nouns, relating in any way to the rails, ties, ballast, roadbed, right of way, and the fields near by. This is to be used in describing what occurred in the wreck.

4. Make a list of twenty words referring to or describing accidents of any nature, such as might befall passengers on a train caught in a wreck.

5. Select ten words descriptive of the engineer and fireman, or helper on an engine. This may include descriptions of their appearance, clothing, duties, characteristics, and especially their courage and devotion to duty.

6. Make a list of ten words useful in describing accidents to the locomotive or its tender.

7. Explain the precautions necessary to be taken by trainmen and nearest railway telegraphers in case of a wreck, in order to guard against further accident.

8. What signals are given by the conductor for starting and stopping his train? What answers are made, and by whom?

9. If you discover a broken rail, a burning bridge, or some obstruction on the track, how would you stop the train in daylight or at night?

10. Make a list of "first aid to the injured," for use in case of accident or wreck.

11. What kinds of cars make up the large passenger train or "flyer"? Name the kinds of cars found in a large freight train.