How To Write Special Feature Articles Part 15

seems to me to be over fifty, although appeal heightened she gave her age as only forty," explained by quoting teacher the teacher. "She couldn't _verbatim_ read or even write her name. Despite her age, she begged for a long time to be permitted to enter the school, but there were so many young girls who desired to learn that they were given the preference. She pleaded so hard that finally I asked to have her admitted on trial."

"It was hard work to teach her," Progress in penmans.h.i.+p continued Miss Meyers as she pointed could not be to some of the woman's writing. The shown by quoting first attempts were large, irregular exercise letters that sprawled over the sheet like the work of a child when it begins to write. After twenty weeks of struggle, her work took on a form that, although still crude, was creditable for one who had never written until she was over forty. "Her joy at her success was great enough to repay me many times over for my efforts to teach her," remarked Miss Meyers.

The exact cost to the firm of conducting VI. COST OF SCHOOL the school, including the wages 1. Expense to firm paid for the time spent by the girls in the cla.s.sroom, has been itemized by Mr. Sicher for the year just closed, as follows:

Floor s.p.a.ce $175.00 Short table of figures Rent, light, and heat 105.00 is comprehensible Janitor 357.00 and not uninteresting Wages at 17 an hr., 40 girls 375.00 ------- Total cost, 40 girls $672.00 Total cost per girl 16.80

The Board of Education, for its part 2. Cost to Board of of the school, paid out $560 for the Education teacher's salary and for supplies. This was an expense of $14.80 for each pupil.

The entire cost for educating each 3. Entire cost per pupil one of the forty girl workers, therefore, was only $31.60.

That this money has been well spent 4. Returns outweigh is the opinion of the employer, for the cost school work increases the efficiency in the factory sufficiently to make up for the time taken out of working hours.

"I would rather have these girls in Head of firm's statement my employ whom I can afford to pay given to convince from ten to twenty dollars a week," readers declares Mr. Sicher, "than many more whom I have to pay low wages simply because they aren't worth higher ones.

From a business point of view, it saves s.p.a.ce and s.p.a.ce is money."

That the result has been what the VII. SUMMARY CONCLUSION firm had antic.i.p.ated in establis.h.i.+ng the school is shown by the following 1. Results quoted from statement which was made on the commencement program program: "It is the present belief of the firm that the workers Note appeal of who have been thus trained have "efficiency" to gained from 20 to 70 per cent in efficiency." practical readers

How much the girls themselves have 2. Impression given gained more vital to them even than by girls efficiency was very evident to everyone Note patriotic appeal who looked into their faces as they received in closing the certificates that recognize phrase, which was them as "Literate American Citizens." a happy choice.

ANOTHER ARTICLE ON THE SAME SUBJECT. This commencement at the factory school furnished another writer, Nixola Greeley Smith, with material for a special feature story which was sent out by a syndicate, the Newspaper Enterprise a.s.sociation, for publication in several hundred newspapers.

Her story contains only 375 words and is thus less than one fifth the length of the other article. The author centers the interest in one of the pupils, and shows the value of the school in terms of this girl's experience. The girl's own account of what the school has meant to her makes a strong "human interest" appeal. By thus developing one concrete example effectively, the author is able to arouse more interest in the results of the school than she would have done if in the same s.p.a.ce she had attempted to give a greater number of facts about it. Unlike the longer article, her story probably would not suggest to the reader the possibility of undertaking a similar enterprise, because it does not give enough details about the organization and methods of the school to show how the idea could be applied elsewhere.

The beginning of the shorter story was doubtless suggested by the presence at the exercises of Mary Antin, the author of "The Promised Land," who addressed the girls. The first sentence of it piques our curiosity to know how "the promised land" has kept its promise, and the story proceeds to tell us. The article, with an a.n.a.lysis of its main points, follows:

WONDERFUL AMERICA! THINKS LITTLE AUSTRIAN WHO GRADUATES FROM FACTORY SCHOOL

"The promised land" has kept its I. STORY OF REBECCA promise to Rebecca Meyer! MEYER

Eight months ago an illiterate Austrian 1. Striking statement immigrant girl, unable to speak or beginning write English, went to work in a New Note effective use of York garment factory. device of contrast

To-day, speaking and writing fluently the language of her adopted country, Second and third proficient in other studies, she paragraphs show proudly cherishes the first "certificate striking results in of literacy" issued by a factory--a one concrete case.

factory which has paid her for going to school during working hours!

It was Rebecca Meyer who received 2. Commencement this first certificate, at the graduation Note that Rebecca exercises held on the top floor of the is the central figure big women's wear factory of D.E.

Sicher & Co. It was Rebecca Meyer who delivered the address of welcome to the members of the board of education, the members of the firm, her fellow employees, and all the others gathered at these exercises--the first of Dash used to set off their kind ever held in any commercial unique element establishment, anywhere!

"Isn't it wonderful!" she said. 3. Rebecca's statement "When I came from Austria, I hoped Slightly unidiomatic to find work. That was all. How I English is suggestive should learn to speak the English language, I did not know. It might take me years, I thought. That I should go to school every day, while I worked--who could dream of such a thing? It could not be in any other country except America."

Dudley E. Sicher, head of the firm, II. STORY OF THE SCHOOL in whose workrooms a regularly organized 1. Origin of school cla.s.s of the New York public Note method of schools has held its sessions all winter, introducing head of firm stood smiling in the background. Mr.

Sicher is president of the Cotton Goods Manufacturers' a.s.sociation. It was he who conceived the idea, about a year ago, of increasing the efficiency of his women employees by giving them an education free of cost, during working hours.

"One of the first and most noticeable 2. Results of school results of the factory school has Statement of head been a marked decrease in the friction of firm and the waste of time caused by the inability of employees to comprehend directions. A girl who understands English, and has been enabled thereby to school herself in factory methods and conditions, doesn't hesitate and blunder; she understands, and does.

And what then? Why, higher pay."

No wonder Rebecca Meyer is grateful III. CONCLUSION for the 45 minutes a day in which Rebecca again made b.u.t.ton-sewing has given place to study--no the central figure wonder she thinks America must Appeal to reader's be the wonderland of all the world! pride in his country.

ARTICLES COMPOSED OF UNITS. The study of the two special feature stories on the factory school shows how articles of this type are built up out of a number of units, such as examples, incidents, and statistics. A similar study of the other types of articles exemplified in Chapter V will show that they also are made up of various kinds of units. Again, if we turn to the types of beginnings ill.u.s.trated in Chapter VII, we shall find that they, too, are units, which in some cases might have been used in the body of the article instead of as an introduction.

Since, then, every division of a subject may be regarded as a unit that is complete in itself whatever its position in the article, each of the several kinds of units may be studied separately. For this purpose we may discuss five common types of units: (1) examples, (2) incidents, (3) statistics, (4) scientific and technical processes, and (5) recipes and directions.

METHODS OF DEVELOPING UNITS. In order to present these units most effectively, and to vary the form of presentation when occasion demands, a writer needs to be familiar with the different methods of developing each one of these types. Four common methods of handling material within these units are: (1) exposition, narration, or description in the writer's own words; (2) dialogue; (3) the interview; (4) direct or indirect quotation. Statistics and recipes may also be given in tabular form.

When a unit may be developed with equal effectiveness by any one of several methods, a writer should choose the one that gives variety to his article. If, for example, the units just before and after the one under consideration are to be in direct quotation, he should avoid any form that involves quoted matter.

EXAMPLES. In all types of articles the concrete example is the commonest and most natural means of explaining a general idea. To most readers, for instance, the legal provisions of an old age pension law would be neither comprehensible nor interesting, but a story showing how a particular old man had been benefited by the law would appeal to practically every one. That is, to explain the operation and advantages of such a law, we give, as one unit, the concrete example of this old man. Actual examples are preferable to hypothetical ones, but the latter may occasionally be used when real cases are not available. Imaginary instances may be introduced by such phrases as, "If, for example," or "Suppose, for instance, that."

To explain why companies that insure persons against loss of their jewelry are compelled to investigate carefully every claim filed with them, a writer in the _Buffalo News_ gave several cases in which individuals supposed that they were ent.i.tled to payment for losses although subsequent investigation showed that they had not actually sustained any loss. One of these cases, that given below, he decided to relate in his own words, without conversation or quotation, although he might have quoted part of the affidavit, or might have given the dialogue between the detective and the woman who had lost the pin. No doubt he regarded the facts themselves, together with the suspense as to the outcome of the search, as sufficiently interesting to render unnecessary any other device for creating interest.

Another woman of equal wealth and equally undoubted honesty lost a horseshoe diamond pin. She and her maid looked everywhere, as they thought, but failed to find it. So she made her "proof of loss" in affidavit form and asked the surety company with which she carried the policy on all her jewelry to replace the article.

She said in her affidavit that she had worn the pin in a restaurant a few nights before and had lost it that night, either in the restaurant or on her way there or back. The restaurant management had searched for it, the restaurant help had been questioned closely, the automobile used that night had been gone over carefully, and the woman's home had been ransacked. Particular attention had been given to the gown worn by the woman on that occasion; every inch of it had been examined with the idea that the pin, falling from its proper place, had caught in the folds.

The surety company a.s.signed one of its detectives to look for the pin. From surface indications the loss had the appearance of a theft--an "inside job." The company, however, asked that its detective be allowed to search the woman's house itself. The request was granted readily. The detective then inquired for the various gowns which the woman had worn for dress occasions within the preceding several weeks.

This line of investigation the owner of the pin considered a waste of time, since she remembered distinctly wearing the pin to the restaurant on that particular night, and her husband also remembered seeing it that night and put his memory in affidavit form. But the detective persisted and with the help of a maid examined carefully those other gowns.

In the ruffle at the bottom of one of them, worn for the last time at least a week before the visit to the restaurant, she found the pin. The woman and her husband simply had been mistaken--honestly mistaken. She hadn't worn the pin to the restaurant, and her husband hadn't seen it that night. The error was unintentional, but it came very near costing the surety company a large sum of money.

The benefits of a newly established clinic for animals were demonstrated in a special feature article in the _New York Times_ by the selection of several animal patients as typical cases. Probably the one given below did not seem to the writer to be sufficiently striking if only the bare facts were given, and so he undertook to create sympathy by describing the poor, whimpering little dog and the distress of the two young women. By arousing the sympathies of the readers, he was better able to impress them with the benefits of the clinic.

The other day Daisy, a little fox terrier, was one of the patients.

She was a pretty little thing, three months old, with a silky coat and big, pathetic eyes. She was escorted to the clinic by two hatless young women, in shawls, and three children. The children waited outside in the reception room, standing in a line, grinning self-consciously, while the women followed Daisy into the examination room. There she was gently muzzled with a piece of bandage, and the doctor examined her. There was something the matter with one hind leg, and the poor little animal whimpered pitifully, as dogs do, while the doctor searched for a broken bone. It was too much for one of the women. She left the room, and, standing outside the door, put her fingers in her ears, while the tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Well, I wouldn't cry for a dog," said a workman, putting in some S.P.C.A. receiving boxes, with a grin, while the three children--and children are always more or less little savages--grinned sympathetically. But it was a very real sorrow for Daisy's mistress.

There was no reason for alarm; it was only a sprain, caused by her mistress' catching the animal by the leg when she was giving her a bath. Her friends were told to take her home, bathe the leg with warm water, and keep her as quiet as possible. Her mistress, still with a troubled face, wrapped her carefully in the black shawl she was wearing, so that only the puppy's little white head and big, soft eyes peeped out, and the small procession moved away.

In a special feature story designed to show how much more intelligently the first woman judge in this country could deal with cases of delinquent girls in the juvenile court than could the ordinary police court judge, a writer selected several cases that she had disposed of in her characteristic way. The first case, which follows, he decided could best be reported _verbatim_, as by that method he could show most clearly the kindly att.i.tude of the judge in dealing with even the least appreciative of girls.

The first case brought in the other day was that of a girl of 16, who hated her home and persisted in running away, sometimes to a married sister, and sometimes to a friend. She was accompanied by her mother and older sister, both with determined lower jaws and faces as hard as flint. She swaggered into the room in an impudent way to conceal the fact that her bravado was leaving her.

"Ella," said Miss Bartelme, looking up from her desk, "why didn't you tell me the truth when you came in here the other day? You did not tell me where you had been. Don't you understand that it is much easier for me to help you if you speak the truth right away?"

Ella hung her head and said nothing. The older sister scowled at the girl and muttered something to the mother.

"No," refused the mother, on being questioned. "We don't want nothing more to do with her."

"Humph," snorted Ella, "you needn't think I want to come back. I don't want nothing more to do with you, either."

Miss Bartelme often lets the family fight things out among themselves; for in this way, far more than by definite questioning, she learns the att.i.tude of the girl and the family toward each other, and indirectly arrives at most of the actual facts of the case.

"How would you like to go into a good home where some one would love you and care for you?" asked the judge.

"I don't want n.o.body to love me."

"Why, Ella, wouldn't you like to have a kind friend, somebody you could confide in and go walking with and who would be interested in you?"

"I don't want no friends. I just want to be left alone."