Dreiser, Theodore, 1871-1945; Journalists -- United States -- Biography; Novelists, American -- 20th century -- Biography
As for myself, I felt that there must be some serious and favorable
change impending for me; and true enough, within a fortnight after this
the change came. I had noticed that McEnnis had become more and more
friendly. He introduced me to his wife one day when she was in the
office and told her in my presence what splendid work I was doing. Often
he would take me to lunch or to a saloon for drinks (for which I would
pay), and would then borrow a dollar or two or three, no part of which
he ever returned. He lectured me on the subject of study, urging me to
give myself a general education by reading, attending lectures and the
like. He wanted me to look into painting, music, sculpture. As he talked
the blood would swirl in my head, and I kept thinking what a brilliant
career must be awaiting me. One thing he did was to secure me a place on
the St. Louis _Globe-Democrat_.
Just at this time a man whose name I have forgotten—Leland, I think—the
Washington correspondent of the St. Louis _Globe-Democrat_, came to
Chicago to report the preliminary preparations for the great World’s
Fair which was to open the following spring. Already the construction of
a number of great buildings in Jackson Park had been begun, and the
newspapers throughout the country were on the alert as to its progress.
Leland, as I may as well call him, a cool, capable observer and writer,
was an old friend of McEnnis. McEnnis introduced me to him and made an
impassioned plea in my behalf for an opportunity for me to do some
writing for the _Globe-Democrat_ in St. Louis under his direction. The
idea was to get this man to allow me to do some World’s Fair work for
him, on the side, in addition to my work on the _Globe_, and then later
to persuade Joseph B. McCullagh of the former paper to make a place for
me in St. Louis.
“As you see,” he said when he introduced me, “he’s a mere boy without
any experience, but he has the makings of a first-rate newspaper man.
I’m sure of it. Now, Henry, as a favor to me, I want you to help him.
You’re close to Mac” (Joseph B. McCullagh, editor-in-chief of the St.
Louis _Globe-Democrat_), “and he’s just the man this boy ought to go to
to get his training. Dreiser has just completed a fine piece of
journalistic work for me. He’s closed up the fake auction shops here,
and I want to reward him. He only gets fifteen a week here, and I can’t
do anything for him in Chicago just now. You write and ask Mac to take
him on down there, and I’ll write also and tell him how I feel about
it.”
The upshot of this was that I was immediately taken into the favor of
Mr. Leland, given some easy gossip writing to do, which netted me
sixteen dollars the week for three weeks in addition to the fifteen I
earned on the _Globe_. At the end of that time, some correspondence
having ensued between the editor of the _Globe-Democrat_ and his two
Chicago admirers, I one day received a telegram which read:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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