News Writing Part 10

XIII. WORDS

=170. Accuracy and Interest.=--For words, as for sentences and stories, the same law holds,--accuracy and interest. If one's words are accurate and stimulate interest in the reader, they are good.

=171. Accuracy.=--Accuracy comes first. It is necessary always to write with a nice regard for exact shades of meaning. As Flaubert declared, "Whatever one wishes to say, there is only one noun to express it, only one verb to give it life, only one adjective to qualify it. Search then till that noun, that verb, that adjective is discovered. Never be content with very nearly; never have recourse to tricks, however happy, or to buffoonery of language to avoid a difficulty. This is the way to become original." An accurate writer avoids looseness of thinking and inexactness of expression as he avoids libel. The adjective _lurid_ is an ill.u.s.tration of a word over which careless reporters have stumbled for generations. When the casualties of the war against inaccuracy are recorded, _lurid_ will be among the missing. As used by ignorant scribblers, the word means something like bright or brilliant, or perhaps towering; yet its precise meaning is pale yellow, wan, ghastly.

Journalists of the last quarter of the nineteenth century will remember a long list of such sins against precision, recorded by Charles A. Dana, editor of the _New York Sun_. A few additions have been made to his list, and the whole is given below. The reader should distinguish keenly between each pair of words and should be careful never to misuse one of them. Do not use:

above _or_ over _for_ more than administered _for_ dealt affect _for_ effect aggravate _for_ irritate allude _for_ refer and _for_ to audience _for_ spectators avocation _for_ vocation awfully _for_ very _or_ exceedingly balance _for_ remainder banquet _for_ dinner beside _for_ besides call attention _for_ direct attention can _for_ may claim _for_ a.s.sert conscious _for_ aware couple _for_ two date back to _for_ date from deceased _for_ died dock _for_ pier _or_ wharf dove _for_ dived emigrate _for_ immigrate endorse _for_ approve exposition _for_ exhibition farther _for_ further favor _for_ resemble groom _for_ bridegroom happen _for_ occur hung _for_ hanged infinite _for_ great, vast in our midst _for_ among us in spite of _for_ despite last _for_ latest less _for_ fewer like _for_ as if materially _for_ largely notice _for_ observe murderous _for_ dangerous onto _for_ on _or_ upon partially _for_ partly pants _for_ trousers past two years _for_ last two years perform _for_ play posted _for_ informed practically _for_ virtually prior to _for_ before propose _for_ purpose proven _for_ proved raise _for_ rear quite _for_ very section _for_ region spend _for_ pa.s.s standpoint _for_ point of view suicide _as_ a verb suspicion _for_ suspect sustain _for_ receive transpire _for_ occur universal _for_ general vest _for_ waistcoat vicinity _for_ neighborhood viewpoint _for_ point of view witness _for_ see would seem _for_ seems

=172. Clearness.=--To secure interest, a word must be clear and forceful. It should not be technical or big, but simple. The biggest words in the average newspapers are the handiwork and pride of the cub reporters. Yet clearness, force, brevity all demand little words,--simplicity. And the simplest words are those of everyday speech,--Anglo-Saxon words generally,--such as _home_ rather than _residence_, _begin_ rather than _commence_, _coffin_ rather than _casket_. The reporter who uses ornate, technical, or little-known words does so at his own peril and to the injury of his story; for the average newspaper reader, without the benefits of a college education and having a limited vocabulary of one to two thousand words, does not know and has no time to look up the meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases. This is why many city editors prefer to employ high-school students and break them in as cubs rather than take college graduates who, proud of their education and vocabularies, attempt to display their learning in every story they write. Simple, familiar, everyday words, those that every reader knows, are always the most forceful and clear, and hence the most fitting. The following is a list of words which young writers are most commonly tempted to use:

accord _for_ give aggregate _for_ total appertains _for_ pertains apprehend _for_ arrest calculate _for_ think, expect canine _for_ dog casket _for_ coffin commence _for_ begin conflagration _for_ fire construction _for_ building contribute _for_ give cortege _for_ procession destroyed by fire _for_ burned donate _for_ give elicit _for_ draw hymeneal altar _for_ chancel inaugurate _for_ begin individual _for_ person obsequies _for_ funeral partic.i.p.ate _for_ take part per diem _for_ a day perform _for_ play purchase _for_ buy recuperate _for_ recover remains _for_ body, corpse render _for_ sing reside _for_ live retire _for_ go to bed rodent _for_ rat subsequently _for_ later tonsorial artist _for_ barber via _for_ by way of

=173. Force.=--Force demands that one's words be emphatic. Unfortunately a reporter cannot have readers always eager to read what he writes. If he had, his readers would be satisfied with having his words merely accurate and clear. Instead, they demand that their attention be attracted, compelled. The words must be fitting, apt, fresh, unhackneyed, specific rather than general. The spectators gathered in the field must not be _a vast concourse_, but _ten thousand persons_.

Nor must it be _about_ ten thousand. The _about_ should be omitted. A specific _ten thousand persons present_ is much more effective and, being a round number, is a sufficient indication that no actual count has been made. In all cases where there is a choice between a specific and a general term, the specific one should be used.

=174. Trite Phrases.=--Interest requires one also to seek originality of expression, to avoid trite phrases and hackneyed words. Embalmed meats and kyanized sentences are never good. Yet one of the most difficult acquirements in reporting is the ability to find day after day a new way to tell of some obscure person dying of pneumonia or heart disease. Only reporters who have fought and overcome the arctic drowsiness of trite phraseology know the difficulty of fighting on day after day, seeking a new, a different way to tell the same old story of suicide or marriage or theft or drowning. Yet one is no longer permitted to say that the bridegroom wore the conventional black, or the bride was elegantly gowned, or the bride's mother presided at the punch bowl, or the a.s.sembled guests tripped the light fantastic. The reporter must find new words for everything and must tell all with the same zest and the same sparkling freshness of expression with which he wrote on his first day in the news office.

=175. Figures of Speech.=--In his search for freshness, variety of expression, the reporter often may avail himself of figures of speech.

These add suggestiveness to writing and increase its meaning by interpretation in a figurative rather than a literal sense. To say, "Oldfield flew round the bowl like a ruined soul on the rim of Hades,"

is more effective than "Oldfield ran his car round the course at a 110-mile rate of speed." But the writer must be careful not to mix his figures, or he may easily make himself ridiculous. An apt ill.u.s.tration of such mixing of figures is the following:

It seemed as if the governor were hurling his glove into the teeth of the advancing wave that was sounding the clarion call of equal suffrage.

In particular, one must not personify names of s.h.i.+ps, cities, states, and countries. Note, for example, the incongruity in the following:

Especially does the man of discriminating taste appreciate her when he compares her with the ordinary tubs sailing the Great Lakes.

=176. Elegance.=--Force also requires that one heed what may sometimes seem trivialities of good usage. For instance, a minister may not be referred to as _Rev. Anderson_, but as _the Rev. Mr. Anderson_. Coinage of t.i.tles, too, is not permitted: as _Railway Inspector Brown_ for _John Brown, a railway inspector_. And the overused "editorial we" has now pa.s.sed entirely from the news article. In an unsigned story, even the p.r.o.noun _I_ should not be used, nor such circ.u.mlocutions as _the writer_, _the reporter_, or _the correspondent_. In a signed story, however, the p.r.o.noun _I_ is used somewhat freely, while such stilted phrases as _the scribe_, _your humble servant_, etc., are absolutely taboo.

=177. Slang.=--Finally, mention must be made of slang, the uncouth relative in every respectable household. It is used freely on the sporting page, but is barred from other columns, its debarment being due to its lack of elegance and clearness. On the sporting page slang has been accepted because there one is writing to a narrow circle of masculine Goths who understand the patois of the gridiron, the diamond, and the padded ropes and prefer it to the language of civilization. But such diction is always limited in its range of acquaintances and followers. A current bit of slang in Memphis may be unintelligible in Pittsburg. A colloquial ephemeralism in a city may be undecipherable in the country districts twenty-five miles away. A large percentage of the athletic jargon of the sporting club and field is enigmatical to the uninitiated. And since a newspaper man writes for the world at large rather than for any specific cla.s.s or group, he cannot afford to take chances on muddying his sentences by the use of slang. The best test of a good journalist is the instinct for writing for heterogeneous ma.s.ses of people. That word is not a good one which is clear only to select readers, whether select in ignorance or select in intelligence. The news story permits no such selection. It is written, not for the few, not for the many as distinct from the few, but for all. No other kind of reading matter is so cosmopolitan in its freedom from cla.s.s or provincial limitations as is the news story, and none is more unwavering in its elimination of slang. Newly coined words, it is true, are admitted more readily into news stories than into magazine articles, but slang itself is barred. One may not write of the "glad rags" of the debutante, or the "bagging" of the criminal, or the "swiping" of the messenger boy's "bike." One may not even employ such colloquialisms as "enthuse,"

"swell" (delightful), "bunch" (group). But one may use such new coinages as _burglarize_, _home-run_, and _diner_ rather freely. When in doubt about the reputability of a word, however, one should consult a standard dictionary, which should be kept continually on one's desk.

PART III

TYPES OF STORIES

TYPES OF STORIES

XIV. INTERVIEWS, SPEECHES, COURTS

=178. Four Types of Stories.=--To the casual newspaper reader the various patterns of stories seem all but limitless. To the experienced newspaper man, however, they reduce themselves to seven or eight, and even this number may be further limited. The popular impression comes from the fact that the average reader places an automobile collision and a fire under different heads. Yet for the newspaper's purposes both may be cla.s.sed under the head of accidents. For the sake of convenience in this study, therefore, we may group under four heads all the news stories that a beginner need be acquainted with in the first year or so of his work: interviews; accidents, society, and sports, to which may be added for separate treatment, rewrites, feature stories, and correspondence stories.

=179. The Interview Type.=--In the present chapter will be discussed the interview type of story, in which are included not only personal interviews, but speeches, sermons, toasts, courts, trials, meetings, conventions, banquets, official reports, and stories about current magazine articles and books. These are all grouped under one head because they derive their interest to the public from the fact that in them men and women present their opinions concerning topics of current interest, and that for newspaper purposes the method of handling interviews is much the same as for the other ten.

=180. Lead to an Interview.=--The lead to a news story of a personal interview may feature any one of the following: (1) the name of the person interviewed, (2) a direct statement from him, (3) an indirect statement, (4) the general topic of the interview, (5) the occasion, or even (6) the time. Probably it is the name of the man or a direct statement that is played up most often. If the former is featured, the lead should begin with the speaker's name and should locate the conversation in time and place. Such a lead may well include also either a direct or an indirect statement, or a general summary of the interview. Thus:

Professor George Trumbull Ladd of Yale, in an interview for The Herald to-day, declared there never had been a time in the history of the world when there was a greater need for the enforcement of international law, nor one when international law was so much in the making as at present.

If a significant statement is of most importance in the interview, the lead should begin with the statement, directly or indirectly expressed, and continue with the speaker's name, the time, place, and occasion of the interview. Thus:

"What has happened in Mexico is an appalling international crime," declared Theodore Roosevelt last evening at his home on Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, L.I. He had been out all the afternoon in the woods chopping wood, and was sitting well back from the great log fire in the big hall filled with trophies of his hunting trips, as he talked of the recent ma.s.sacre of American mining men in Chihuahua.

The most d.a.m.nable act ever pa.s.sed by Congress or conceived by a congressman, was the way in which William J. Conners of Buffalo to-day characterized the La Follette seamen's law. Mr. Conners is in New York on business connected with the Magnus Beck Brewing Company, of which he is president.

=181. Statements of Local Interest.=--Almost always it is well, if possible, to lead the person interviewed to an expression of his opinion about a topic of local interest, then feature that statement,--particularly if the statement agrees with a declared policy of the paper. Usually a problem of civic, state, or national interest may be broached most easily. If the city is interested in commission government or prohibition, if the state is fighting the short ballot or the income tax question, the visitor may be asked for his opinion. If the guest happens to be a national or international personage and the nation is solving the problem of preparedness, or universal military service, or the tariff question, he may be questioned on those subjects and his opinions featured prominently in the lead. Note the following lead to an interview published by a paper opposing the policies of President Wilson:

Declaring that the national administration's foreign policy has made him almost ashamed of being an American citizen, Henry B. Joy, of Detroit, Mich., president of the Packard Motor Company, a governor of the Aero Club of America and vice president of the Navy League, said yesterday that our heritage of national honor from the days of Was.h.i.+ngton, Lincoln, and McKinley is slipping through our fingers.

=182. Inquiring about the Feature.=--Often the feature to be developed in an interview lead may be had by asking the one interviewed if he has anything he would like brought out or developed. When the interview has been granted freely, such a question is no more than a courtesy due the prominent man. But only under extraordinary circ.u.mstances should a reporter agree to submit his copy for criticism before publication. Many a good story has had all the piquancy taken out of it by giving the one interviewed an opportunity to change his mind or to see in cold print just what he said,--a fact that accounts for so many repudiated interviews. In nine cases out of ten the newspaper man has reported the distinguished visitor exactly, but the write-up looks different from what the speaker expected. Then he denies the whole thing, and the reporter is made the scapegoat, because the man quoted is a public personage and the reporter is not.

=183. Fairness in the Interview.=--The first aim of the interviewer, however, must always be fairness, accuracy, and absence of personal bias. No other journalistic tool can be so greatly abused or made so unfair a weapon as the interview. One should make no attempt to color a man's opinions as expressed in an interview, no matter how much one may disagree, nor should one "editorialize" on those ideas. If the paper cares to discuss their truth or saneness, it will entrust that matter to the editorial writers. This caution does not mean that a writer may not break into the paragraphs of quotation to explain the speaker's meaning or to elaborate upon a possible effect of his position. Such interruptions are regularly made and are entirely legitimate, and it will be noted in the Bryan story on page 131 that most of that article consists of such explanation and elaboration. If, however, the reporter feels that the utterances of the speaker are such that they should not go unchallenged, he should obtain and quote a reply from a local man of prominence.

=184. Coherence and Proportion.=--Next to accuracy there should be kept in view the intent to make the sequence and proportion of the ideas logical, no matter in what order or at what length they may have been given by the one interviewed. Often in conversation a man will give more time to an idea than is its due, and often the most important part of an interview will not be introduced until the last. Or, again, a person may drift away from the immediate topic and not return to it for some minutes. In all such cases it is the duty of the reporter to regroup and develop the ideas so that they shall follow each other logically in the printed interview and shall present the thought and the real spirit of what the man wanted to say.

=185. Identifying the One Interviewed.=--Probably the most used and the easiest method of gaining coherence between the lead and the body of the interview is by a paragraph of explanation regarding the person, and how he came to give the interview. It is remarkable how many readers do not remember or have never heard the name of the governor of New York or the senior senator from California or the Secretary of the Navy, and it is therefore necessary to make entirely clear the position or rank of the person and his right to be heard and believed. In the following story, note how the writer dwells on the rank of the Oxford University professor as a lecturer and so inspires the reader with confidence in his statements:

=MODERN DRESS CALLED A JOKE= "Look at our modern dress. Both men's and women's costumes are, on the whole, as bad as they can be." Prof. I. B. Stoughton Holborn of Oxford University is in Chicago to deliver a series of lectures on art for the University of Chicago Lecture a.s.sociation. In an interview Sat.u.r.day afternoon he vigorously ridiculed modern dress. Prof. Holborn is perhaps the most widely known of the Oxford and Cambridge university extension lecturers and has the reputation of being one of the most successful art lecturers in the world. He is the hero of an adventure on the sinking Lusitania. He saved Avis Dolphin, a 12-year-old child who was being sent to England to be educated. The two women in whose charge Mrs. Dolphin had sent her daughters were lost, and Prof. Holborn has adopted the child....

=186. Handling Conversation.=--It should not be necessary to caution a newspaper man against attempting to report all a man says. "Condense as often as possible" is the interviewer's watchword,--"cut to the bone,"

as the reporters express it. Much of what a man says in conversation is prolix. In that part of the interview that is dull or wordy, give the pith of what is said in one or two brief sentences, then fall into direct quotation again when his words become interesting. As a rule, however, it is well as far as possible to quote his exact language all through the interview, since the interest of an interview frequently rests not only in what a man says, but in the way he says it. This does not mean a cut-and-dried story consisting of a series of questions and answers, but a succession of sparkling, personal paragraphs containing the direct statements of the speaker.

=187. Mannerisms.=--The report may be livened up greatly with bits of description portraying the speaker and his surroundings, particularly when they harmonize or contrast with his character or the ideas expressed. An excellent device for presenting the spirit of an interview--giving an atmosphere, as it were--is to interpolate at intervals in the story personal eccentricities or little mannerisms of speech of the one interviewed. Mention of pet phrases, characteristic gestures, sudden display of anger, unexplainable reticence in answering questions, etc., will sometimes be more effective than columns of what the speaker actually said. Indeed, it is often of as much importance to pay as close attention to incidentals as to the remarks of the one talking.

=188. Persons Refusing to Talk.=--In nine cases out of ten it is the reporter's duty both to keep himself out of the story and to suppress the questions by which the man interviewed has been induced to talk. But when he has failed entirely in gaining admission to one he wishes to interview, or, having gained admission, has not succeeded in making him talk, the would-be interviewer may still present a good story by narrating his foiled efforts or by quoting the questions which the great man refused to answer. One of the most brilliant examples that the present writer has seen of the foiled interview was one by Mr. John Edwin Nevin the day before Mr. William Jennings Bryan surrendered his portfolio as Secretary of State in President Wilson's cabinet. The nation was at white heat over the contents of the prospective note to Germany and the possibility of the United States being drawn into the war. Not a word of what the note contained had leaked from any source and there had been no hint of a break in the Wilson cabinet. Supposedly, all was harmony. Yet this correspondent, judging from the excited manner of the Secretary of State, the sharpness of his noncommittal replies, and his preoccupied air as he emerged from the cabinet room, scented the trouble and published the following story hours before other correspondents had their eyes opened to the history-making events occurring about them:

=BRYAN BALKS AT GERMAN NOTE= Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., June 8.--President Wilson at 1:15 this afternoon announced, through Secretary Tumulty, that at the cabinet meeting to-day the note to Germany "was gone over and discussed and put in final shape, and it is hoped that it will go to-morrow," but Secretary of State Bryan is determined to fight for a modification right up to the minute that the note is cabled to Berlin. Bryan believes the United States is on record for arbitration and that it would be a mockery to send Germany a doc.u.ment which, he considers, savors of an ultimatum. Although the majority of the cabinet was against him to-day, he carried his persuasive powers from the cabinet meeting to the University Club, where he and his fellow members had lunch. Bryan's att.i.tude came as a complete surprise to the President. In previous notes Mr. Bryan took the position that the United States should invite arbitration. He called attention to the fact that this country is on record as unalterably opposed to war and pledged to every honorable means to prevent it. But in every instance he has stopped short of any further fight when the note has been approved by the majority of the cabinet. And the President expected that he would do this to-day. In fact, before the cabinet meeting it was stated that the note would have the approval of all members of the cabinet. The first intimation that anything was wrong came when the Secretary did not show up at the executive offices with the other cabinet members. His absence was not at first commented upon because Count von Bernstorff, the German amba.s.sador, was at the state department. However, it was soon ascertained that the amba.s.sador was conferring with Counselor Lansing. Then it was rumored that Secretary Bryan had sent word to President Wilson that he would not stand for the note as framed. Inquiry at the White House revealed the fact that Secretary Bryan had sent word that he would be in his office, working on an important paper, and would be late. At the state department, Eddie Savoy, the Secretary's colored messenger, refused to take any cards in to Bryan. He said he did not know whether his chief actually intended attending the meeting. "He is very busy, and I cannot disturb him," Eddie stated. At the White House a distinct air of tension was manifested. All inquiries as to what Secretary Bryan was going to do were ignored. Finally, about 12 o'clock, Secretary Bryan left his office and came across the street. His face was flushed and his features hard set. He responded to inquiries addressed to him with negative shakes of the head. He swung into the cabinet room with the set stride with which he mounted the steps of the Baltimore platform to deliver his famous speech attacking Charles F. Murphy and Tammany Hall, and precipitating his break with Champ Clark, whose nomination for the presidency up to that time seemed a.s.sured. For more than an hour after he reached the cabinet room the doors were closed. Across the hall the President's personal messenger had erected a screen to keep the curious at a distance. At last the door was thrown open with a bang. First to emerge were Secretaries McAdoo and Redfield, who brushed through the crowd of newspaper representatives. They referred all inquiries to the President. Secretary of War Garrison came out alone. He refused to say a word regarding the note. There was an interval of nearly ten minutes. Then Secretaries Daniels and Wilson came out. Behind them was Attorney General Gregory, and, bringing up the rear, was Secretary Bryan. Bryan's face was still set. His turned-down collar was damp and his face was beaded with perspiration. "Was the note to Germany completed?" he was asked. "I cannot discuss what transpired at the cabinet meeting," was his sharp reply. "Can you clear up the mystery and tell us when the note will go forward to Berlin?" persisted inquirers. "That I would not care to discuss," said the Secretary, as he joined Secretary Lane. "I am not in a position to make any announcement of any sort now. I will tell you when the note actually has started." Ordinarily, Secretary Bryan goes from a cabinet meeting to his office, drinks a bottle of milk and eats a sandwich. To-day he entered Secretary Lane's carriage and, with Lane and Secretary Daniels, proceeded to the University Club for luncheon. It is understood that Secretary Bryan took to the cabinet meeting a memorandum in which he justified his views that the proposed note is not of a character that the United States should send to Germany. He took the position that the United States, in executing arbitration treaties with most of the countries of the world, took a direct position against war. As he put it, on great questions of national honor, the sort that make for welfare, arbitration is the only remedy. Secretary Bryan is understood to have urged that the United States could stand firmly for its rights and not close the doors to any explanation that Germany--or any other belligerent--might make. It is understood that Bryan pointed out that Germany had accepted the principles of the arbitration treaties as a general proposition, but failed to execute the treaty because of the European War breaking out. Her opponents enjoy the advantages under such a treaty, and Secretary Bryan insisted that Germany should not be denied the same rights.... Although Secretary Bryan will continue his efforts to modify the note, persons close to the President insist that he will fail. The President is said to have decided, after hearing all arguments, that the safest course is to remain firm in the demand that American rights under international law be preserved. And it is expected that when the note is finally O. K.'d by Counselor Lansing, it will be sent to Germany. There is speculation as to whether Secretary Bryan will sign the note as Secretary of State. He has angrily refused to take any positive position on the subject. If he should refuse, his retirement from the cabinet would be certain. Bryan's friends insist that he has been loyal to the President and has made many concessions to meet the latter's wishes. They believe that he will content himself with a protest and again bow to the will of his chief. But there was no way of getting any confirmation of this opinion from Bryan. This is the first serious friction that has developed in President Wilson's cabinet. Politicians declare it will have far-reaching effect. Bryan has fought consistently for arbitration principles. And he now considers, some of his friends think, that they have been ridden over rough-shod.[19]...

[19] John Edwin Nevin in _The Omaha News_, June 8, 1915.

The next morning President Wilson announced his acceptance of Mr.

Bryan's resignation as Secretary of State.

=189. Value of Inference in the Foiled Interview.=--The reporter who would attain success in his profession should not fail to study with care this story by Mr. Nevin, to learn not so much what the story contains as what the person who wrote it had to know and had to be able to do before he could turn out such a piece of work. One should a.n.a.lyze it to see how startlingly few new facts the correspondent had in his possession at the time he was writing, and how he played up those lonesome details with a premonition of coming events that was uncanny.

Above all, the prospective reporter should observe with what rare judgment and accuracy the writer noted in Mr. Bryan's demeanor a few distinctive incidents which were at once both trivial and yet laden with suggestions of events to come. To produce this story the writer had to know not only a man, but men. A cub would have got nothing; this man scooped the best correspondents of the nation.

=190. Series of Interviews.=--In a story containing a number of interviews, let the lead feature the consensus of opinion expressed in the interviews. Then follow in the body with the individual quotations, each man's name being placed prominently at the beginning of the paragraph containing his interview, so that in a rapid reading of the story the eye may catch readily the change from the words of one man to another. When there is a large number of such interviews, the name may even be set in display type at the beginning of the paragraph. If, however, the persons interviewed are not at all prominent, but their statements are worth while, the quotations may be given successively and the names buried within the paragraph.

=191. Leads for Speeches.=--In comparison with handling an interview, a report of a speech is an easy task. In the case of the sermon or the lecture, typewritten copies are almost always available and the thoughts are presented in orderly sequence. So if the reporter has followed the advice given in Part II, Chapter VII, and taken longhand notes of a speech, or has not been so engrossed in mere note-taking that he has been unable to follow the trend of the speaker's thought, he will experience comparatively little trouble in writing up the speech. He may begin in any one of a half-dozen or more ways. He may feature: (1) the speaker's theme; (2) the t.i.tle of the address, which may or may not be the theme; (3) a sentence or a paragraph of forceful direct quotation; (4) an indirect quotation of one or more dynamic statements; (5) the speaker's name; (6) the occasion of the speech; or (7) the time or the place of delivery. Any one of these may be played up according to its importance in the address.

=192. Featuring a Single Sentence.=--Of the seven or eight different kinds of lead, a quotation of a single sentence or a single paragraph is happiest if one can be found that will give the keynote of the speech or will harmonize with a declared policy of the paper. Thus:

"It is the traitor G.o.d Love that makes men tell foolish lies and women tell the fool truth," said Prof. Henry Acheson last night in his lecture on "Flirts."