ough the acceptance
of an occasional short editorial, sufficiently piquant and impudent and
vivid in language--to suit, had given him hopes. He was salaried, but
under orders for special service, and was always in the hope that the
execution of each new assignment would bring him into popular notice,
which would mean an advance of position and pay.

Philip was impressed with the ready talent, the adaptable talent, and
the facility of this accomplished journalist, and as their acquaintance
improved he was let into many of the secrets of success in the
profession.

"It isn't an easy thing," said Mr. Brad, "to cater to a public that gets
tired of anything in about three days. But it is just as well satisfied
with a contradiction as with the original statement. It calls both news.
You have to watch out and see what the people want, and give it to
'em. It is something like the purveying of the manufacturers and the
dry-goods jobber for the changing trade in fashions; only the newspaper
has the advantage that it can turn a somersault every day and not have
any useless stock left on hand.

"The public hasn't any memory, or, if it has, this whirligig process
destroys it. What it will not submit to is the lack of a daily surprise.
Keep that in your mind and you can make a popular newspaper. Only,"
continued Mr. Brad, reflectively, "you've got to hit a lot of different
tastes."

"You'd laugh," this artist in emotions went on, after a little pause,
"at some of my assignments. There was a run awhile ago on elopements,
and my assignment was to have one every Monday morning. The girl must
always be lovely and refined and moving in the best society; elopement
with the coachman preferred, varied with a teacher in a Sunday-school.
Invented? Not always. It was surprising how many you could find ready
made, if you were on the watch. I got into the habit of locating them in
the interior of Pennsylvania as the safest place, though Jersey seemed
equally probable to the public. Did I never get caught? That made it
all the more lively and interesting. Denials, affidavits, elaborate
explanations, two sides to any question; if it was too hot, I could
change the name and shift the scene to a still more obscure town. Or it
could be laid to the zeal of a local reporter, who could give the most
ingenious reasons for his story. Once I worked one of those imaginary
reporters up into such prominence for his clever astuteness that my boss
was taken