ance of securing thereby a new
advertisement. All the petty details of local life had to be reported at
great length, even to the wedding presents received by the daughter of
an undertaker in a small way of business. These were actually displayed
with the names of their donors in separate lines, following the report
of the marriage ceremony, which included a full description of the
bride's dress, with the name of the local dressmaker who had made it.

The pettiness of it all was rudely borne in upon the young reporter when
it came to his knowledge that the item--"Purse from Servant of Bride's
Mother"--represented an expenditure of eleven-pence three-farthings on
the part of a faithful domestic thirteen years of age.

As an off-set against these experiences, Henry had made one great upward
move. In a moment of audacity, which he must recall with wonder, he
ventured to write a leading article and to swagger the editorial "we."
It so happened that when he presented this to the editor, that worthy,
having had a bibulous week and being short of copy, pronounced it good,
and printed it with a few alterations. As it was Mr. Springthorpe's aim
to do a minimum of work each week, he generously encouraged the youth to
further editorial effort, with the result that Henry "we'd" pretty
frequently in the leading columns of the _Guardian_. He was the first
"pupil" who had ever shown any marked ability, and Springthorpe was
secretly proud of him.

As the six months wore away, Henry began to hope that he might be added
to the permanent staff, but neither Bertram nor Edgar showed signs of
departing, and the prospects of his receiving a salaried position
remained low. To the surprise of his colleagues, however, and against
all precedent, he was not ejected at the end of his six months, but
actually received a salary of half-a-guinea a week, accompanied,
however, by the information that he would do well to look elsewhere for
a situation at his leisure.

Now commenced a strenuous time of replying to advertisements in the
_Daily News_. For a while never a sign came back from those doves of his
which went forth trembling, but in the spring of the year after his
going to Wheelton, there came a reply from the manager of one of the two
daily papers at the large and important Midland town of Laysford, asking
Henry to come and see him with reference to his application for the post
of editorial assistant.

The plan of submitting specimens of h