“I’ll never forget my first experience in the newspaper business in this city,” he said musingly; “it satisfied me that enterprise, while quite valuable in itself, is not the most important thing in the gathering of news. I know that when I began I was eager to accomplish great things.
“One morning the city editor assigned me to a meeting of the Municipal League, and as I was leaving the room he called out:
“‘See here, I want you to put a little ginger in your articles. We want to brighten the paper up a bit.’
“It was a prosy gathering. Most of the members of the league were elderly or old men, and they made long winded speeches and accomplished little business. There did not seem to be much prospect of a bright article in the ordinary report of a meeting of this character. I decided to burlesque the meeting. The result was all that could be desired. The city editor was not ‘on’ and the story went straight to the copy desk.
“The next morning I was informed the proprietor wanted to see me. I felt at once that this summons had something to do with my article. When I entered the room, he looked at me curiously and in silence for some moments.
“‘Did you write the meeting of the Municipal League which appears in this morning’s paper?’
“‘I did,’ I answered, swelling up with pride.
“‘Didn’t you like the report?’ I finally inquired.
“‘Yes,’ he said, prolonging the word in a strange manner.
“‘Oh, yes,’ with a peculiar laugh; ‘it was bright.’ Then turning to me he said impressively: ‘I have no doubt in the world that the members of the league deserve all the ridicule you cast on them, but,’ he added, ‘it should not have been printed in my paper. I am the president of the Municipal League.’”
Herbert and Tomlin remained in conversation for a long while, and the older man regaled his companion with a batch of very interesting stories bearing upon the incidents that take place behind the scenes of journalism. They walked home together that night, and Herbert, feeling that Tomlin was a man in whom he could trust and confide, confessed to him the low condition of his finances.
“I thought I would get immediate employment,” he said, “and as a consequence brought only a small amount of money with me from the country. I met an old acquaintance who was on his uppers and gave him a large part of my surplus. As the result of this and my other little expenditures, I have only about two dollars.”