After the process outlined in Section IV of this chapter has shown the reporter how to go about the job, the report is to be written, proof-read by the teacher, corrected by the reporter, and rewritten until it is letter-perfect. VII. Suggested Reading Kipling's _007_ in _The Day's Work_. VIII. Memorize SUNSHINE Think every morning when the sun peeps through The dim leaf-latticed windows of the grove How jubilant the happy birds renew Their long melodious madrigals of love; And, when you think of this, remember too 'Tis always morning somewhere, and above The awakening continents from shore to shore Somewhere the birds are singing evermore. LONGFELLOW, _The Birds of Killingworth_. CHAPTER V CONSTRUCTIVE NEWSPAPER WRITING "The drying up a single tear has more Of honest fame than shedding seas of gore." LORD BYRON. I. Introduction The worst thing about most news articles is that they tell of destruction, failure, and tragedy instead of construction, success, and happiness. If one were to judge from the papers, one would be forced to conclude that the world is rapidly advancing from civilization to barbarism. To test the truth of this assertion, you have only to examine almost any current newspaper. A man may labor honorably and usefully for a generation without being mentioned; but if he does or says a foolish thing, the reporters flock to him as do cats to a plate of cream. The reason is obvious. Tragedy is more exciting than any other form of literature; it contains thrills; it sells papers. However, aside from the fact that the publication of details concerning human folly and misfortune is often cruel and unjust to the sufferers, its influence upon the public is debasing in the same way, if not in the same degree, as public executions were debasing. Newspaper writing should, therefore, deal with progress rather than with retrogression. Most newspaper men admit that this is true, but declare that the public will not buy the kind of papers which all sensible people approve. Just as soon as such papers can be made to pay, they say, we shall have them. One of the objects of this course is to create a taste for constructive rather than destructive newspapers. As an exercise tending to produce this result, the student should each day examine the local paper for the purpose of ascertaining how many columns of destruction and how many of construction it contains. The result should be reported to the class and thence to the papers as news. There are three kinds of items which boys and girls can write and which are constructive. These are: 1. Items dealing with progress. 2. Humorous stories. 3. Items based on contrast. The work this week will be on the first of these. II. Models I