ve done work for the lawyers in
our town. I have made a good deal of money that way."

"He gets along faster with all his fingers than you do, playing a sort
of crazy jig with your two first fingers, Mr. Brooke," laughed Dick,
uproariously. "I have seen other fellows play the machine like that and
thought it was the only way, but now I see that it is not."

"You have put it very concisely," said the editor. "By the way, who was
the person who found the money?"

"That was Jack himself," said Dick. "I was there just afterward and took
the thing up to the Academy in my car. Jack is a modest fellow and you
could not get him to say anything about himself."

"Very well put," said the editor. "What do you think about the political
situation? I want a leader on it but hardly feel equal to it."

"Write him an editorial, Jack," laughed Dick. "How much do you pay for
good articles, Mr. Brooke?"

"H'm! the News is not equipped for paying very much for anything,"
replied the other, pecking at the machine, "but if I could get a really
good article on the situation at present or anything, the farming
outlook, for instance, I would be willing to pay something for it."

"I can tell you what I think," said Jack, quietly, "and furnish you with
articles on different subjects. I would like to earn all the money I can
as I am paying for my education out of my own pocket."

"H'm! very commendable spirit," snapped the other. "Is that your case,
Mr. Percival?"

"No, I cannot say that it is. However, I am anxious to see how Jack
makes out as a writer of editorials. Let Mr. John Sheldon have your desk
for a few minutes, Mr. Brooke."

"It won't be long," said Jack, blushing. "Only a few sentences but it is
just what I think."

He sat at the typewriter and wrote rapidly for a few minutes, during
which time both Percival and Mr. Brooke remained perfectly quiet.

When he had finished, Jack took the paper from the machine and handed it
to the editor, saying:

"There, that is my opinion of the situation. You may not agree with it
but that is how I think."

The editor read over the article carefully and then said with more
spirit than he had yet betrayed:

"It is the thing in a nutshell. It is tersely put and carries conviction
with every sentence. If it had been any longer or any shorter it would
have failed of its purpose. I could not express myself any better if I
wrote a column. It will go in just as it is and whenever I want an
e