HOW TO WRITE SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLES part 3

WHO'LL DO JOHN'S WORK?

BY M. C. HOBART

"It's a quarter after 8 and Schuyler hasn't showed up," telephoned
Beggs, one of our foremen, last Tuesday morning. "I've put Fanning
on his machine, but that won't help much unless I can get somebody
to work at Fanning's bench. Got anybody you can let me have for
to-day?"

I didn't know offhand. But I told Beggs I'd call him back.

Ten minutes later a young lathe operator reported to Beggs. He was
able to run Fanning's machine while the latter temporarily filled
the shoes of the absent Schuyler.

Scarcely a week passes that does not bring a similar call to our
employment office. While our plant, as plants go, is not large, we
always have a number of men working with us who are fitted by
experience and adaptability to do other work than that which they
are hired to do. Such men are invaluable to know about, especially
when an operator stays away for a day or perhaps a week and the shop
is full of orders. Once it was a problem to find the right man
immediately. A few additions to our employment records made it
possible to keep track of each man's complete qualifications.

The employment records I keep in my desk in the deep drawer. They
are filed alphabetically by name. When we hire a man we write his
name and the job he is to fill on the outside of a 9 by 12 manila
envelope. Into this envelope we put his application, his references,
and other papers. His application tells us what kinds of work he can
do and has done in other shops.

There are 29 different kinds of work to be done in our shops, from
gear cutting to running errands. I have listed these operations,
alphabetically, on a cardboard the exact length of the employment
record envelope, 12 inches. When a man tells me in his application
that he not only can operate a drill press, for which he is hired,
but has also worked at grinding, I fit my cardboard list to the top
of the employment record envelope and punch two notches along the
top directly opposite the words "drill press" and "grinding" on my
list. Then I file away the envelope.

I rest secure now in my knowledge that I have not buried a potential
grinder in a drill press operator, or that I do not have to carry
his double qualifications in my mind. I know that if Beggs should
suddenly telephone me some morning that his grinder is absent--sick,
or fishing, perhaps--I need only take my cardboard list and,
starting at A, run it down my file until I come to the envelope of
the drill press operator. I am stopped there automatically by the
second notch on the envelope which corresponds in position to the
word "grinder" on my list.

And there is every likelihood that, with the necessary explanation
to the man's own foreman, Beggs will get his grinder for the day.

From the following article, printed in _Farm and Fireside_ city and
country readers alike may glean much practical information concerning
ways and means of making a comfortable living from a small farm. It was
illustrated by four half-tone reproductions of photographs showing (1)
the house, (2) the woman at her desk with a typewriter before her, (3)
the woman in her dining-room about to serve a meal from a labor-saving
service wagon, and (4) the woman in the poultry yard with a basket of
eggs.

TEN ACRES AND A LIVING

SHE WAS YOUNG, POPULAR, AND HAD BEEN REARED IN THE CITY. EVERYBODY
LAUGHED WHEN SHE DECIDED TO FARM--BUT THAT WAS FOUR YEARS AGO

BY ALICE MARY KIMBALL

When she decided to be a farmer everybody laughed. She was young,
popular, unusually fond of frocks and fun. She had been reared in
the city. She didn't know a Jersey from a Hereford, or a Wyandotte
from a Plymouth Rock.

"You'll be back in six months," her friends said.

Four years have passed. Mrs. Charles S. Tupper still is "buried" in
the country. Moreover, she is supplying eggs, chickens, honey, and
home-canned goods to those of her former associates who are willing
to pay for quality.

"Farming," said Mrs. Tupper, "is the ideal vocation for the woman
who feels the modern desire for a job and the need of marriage and a
home.

"I never wanted a job so keenly as when I found myself in a small
city apartment without enough to do to keep me busy. After I'd swept
and dusted and prepared meals for two, I had hours of time on my
hands. The corner bakeshop, the laundry, and modern conveniences had
thrust upon me more leisure than I could use. Mr. Tupper is a young
engineer whose work takes him to various parts of the Southwest. In
his absence I felt strongly the need of filling up my idle hours in
some interesting, useful way.

"I didn't quite like the idea of spending all my spare time on
cards, calling, women's clubs, and social pleasures. I longed to be
a real partner to my husband and to share in making the family
income as well as spending it.

"We had a few thousand saved for a home, and were trying to decide
where to build. One day it flashed upon me: 'Why invest in city
property? Why not a little farm? Then we'll have a home; I'll have a
job, and can make our living.'"

The idea materialized into a modern bungalow on a 10-acre farm in
Westdale, Missouri, an hour's drive from Kansas City. Mr. Tupper's
salary furnished working capital for the enterprise and Mrs. Tupper
has found congenial work as farmer-in-chief.

Poultry, bees, and a vegetable garden are Mrs. Tupper's
specialities. Her side lines are a pig and a registered Jersey cow.
She looks after the poultry, works in garden and apiary, and milks
the cow herself. She employs very little help.

"It wasn't difficult to get a start in learning to farm," Mrs.
Tupper explained. "I visited farms and studied the methods of
farmers and their wives. I asked lots of questions.

"I didn't have any old fogyisms to unlearn, and I didn't acquire
any. I went straight to the agricultural college and the state
poultry experiment station for instructions. While I was living in
the country supervising the building of the bungalow, I read and
digested every bulletin I could get. I'm still studying bulletins. I
subscribe for several farm papers and a bee journal.

"Of course, I learned a great deal from the practical experience of
the people about me, but I checked up everything to the rules and
directions of government and state agricultural experts, which may
be had for the price of a postage stamp. I tried to take orders
intelligently. I ignored old rules for poultry and bee-keeping."

Mrs. Tupper's chickens are hatched in incubators, hovered in a
coal-heated brooder house, fed according to experiment-station
directions, and reared in poultry houses built from
experiment-station designs. From the first they have been
practically free from lice and disease. She gets winter eggs. Even
in zero weather and at times when feed is most costly, her spring
pullets more than pay their way.

"Bees responded as readily to proper treatment," she said. "My
second season I harvested $265 worth of comb honey from twenty
working swarms. And I was stung not a half-dozen times at that."

Some of Mrs. Tupper's neighbors were inclined to joke at first at
her appetite for bulletins, her belief in experts, and her rigid
insistence on pure-bred stock and poultry. They admit now that her
faith has been justified.

If Mrs. Tupper had trod in the well-worn neighborhood ruts, she
would have marketed her produce by the
country-store-commission-man-retailer-consumer route; but again she
did not. From the first she planned to plug the leakage of farm
profits in middlemen's commissions. When she had anything to sell,
she put on a good-looking tailored suit, a becoming hat, smart shoes
and gloves, and went to the city to talk to ultimate consumers.

The consciousness of being dressed appropriately--not expensively or
ornately--is a valuable aid to the farm saleswoman, Mrs. Tupper
thinks.

"If a salesman comes to me shabbily dressed or flashily dressed, I
can't give him a fair hearing," she said. "I may let him talk on,
but I decide against him the instant I look at him. So I reasoned
that a trim, pleasing appearance would be as valuable an asset to me
as to the men who sell pickles, insurance, or gilt-edged bonds. It
would mean a favorable first impression and open the way to show
samples and make a sales talk.

"If I tried to interview a prospective customer handicapped by the
consciousness that my skirt hung badly or that my shoes were shabby,
not only would I be timid and ill at ease, but my appearance would
suggest to the city buyer the very slipshodness and lack of
reliability he fears in buying direct from the farm.

"I go strong on attractive samples. It would be useless to try for
fancy prices if I brought honey to town in mean-looking cases or
rusty cans. A slight drip down the side of a package might not be
proof positive of poor quality, but it would frighten away a careful
buyer. Likewise, I do not illustrate my egg sales talks with a
sample dozen of odd sizes and shapes. It is needless to add that
goods delivered to customers must be of the same quality and
appearance as the samples, and that one must keep one's promises to
the dot. A little well-directed enterprise will land a customer, but
only good service can hold him."

When the current wholesale price of honey was $3 a case, Mrs.
Tupper's comb honey has been in demand at from 20 to 30 cents a
pound. She disposes of every pound to private customers and to one
grocery store which caters to "fancy" trade. She sells eggs from her
400 Anconas at from 4 to 6 cents more a dozen than the country
store is paying its patrons who bring in eggs and "take them out in
trade."

Mrs. Tupper figured that if a trademark has advertising pull for a
manufacturing concern, it would help the farm business. She
christened her 10 acres "Graceland Farm," and this name is stamped
on everything that leaves her place. She had cards printed bearing
the name of the farm, its telephone number, and its products.
Graceland Farm is also emphasized on letter heads.

"Prompt attention to correspondence is an easy method of advertising
a farm business," she suggested. "A typewritten letter on letterhead
stationery, mailed promptly, creates a pleasant impression on the
man who has written to inquire the price of a setting of eggs or a
trio of chickens.

"Suppose I delayed a week and wrote the reply with pen and ink, or,
worse, with a pencil on ruled tablet paper. I'd stand a good chance
of losing a customer, wouldn't I? If I didn't miss an order
outright, I should certainly leave a suggestion of inefficiency and
carelessness which could only be charged to the debit side of the
business."

She has found that a $50 typewriter and a letter file have helped
greatly to create the good-will which is as essential to the farmer
business woman as to the woman who runs a millinery shop or an
insurance office.

Mrs. Tupper has encouraged automobile trade. Her apiary is within
sight of the road, and a "Honey for Sale" sign brings many a
customer. Many of her city patrons have the habit of driving to the
farm and returning with a hamper laden with eggs, honey, butter, or
canned stuff from the vegetable garden. The garden last summer
supplied material for more than 900 cans of vegetables.

The neighbors smile at her zeal for fairs and poultry shows.

"It isn't fun altogether; it's business," she tells them.

It was cold, disagreeable work, for instance, to prepare an exhibit
for the Heart of America Poultry Show at Kansas City last fall; but
Mrs. Tupper felt repaid. She won first prize on hen, first and
second on pullet, and fourth on cockerel. Then she exhibited at the
St. Joseph, Missouri, Poultry Show with even better success.

"These prizes will add to the value of every chicken I have, and to
all my poultry products. They give me another advertising point,"
she said.

"The shows gave me a fine opportunity to meet possible customers
and to make friends for my business. I was on the job for days. I
met scores of people and distributed hundreds of cards. I learned a
lot, too, in talks with judges and experienced breeders."

The Tupper bungalow is neat and attractive. In spite of her duties
in the poultry house and apiary, Mrs. Tupper serves appetizing
meals. She finds time for church work and neighborhood calls, and
gives every Thursday to the Red Cross.

The housework is speeded up with such conveniences as hot and cold
water in kitchen and bathroom, and steam heat. The kitchen is an
efficient little workshop lined by cupboards and shelves. Mrs.
Tupper can sit before her kitchen cabinet and prepare a meal without
moving about for ingredients and utensils. A service wagon saves
steps between kitchen and dining-room.

The floors of the bungalow are of hard wood. They are waxed a few
times each year, and a little work each morning with dust mop and
carpet sweeper keeps them in good order. The washing is sent out.

"I couldn't earn an income from the farm if I had a farmhouse
without modern improvements," Mrs. Tupper declared. "Reducing
drudgery to a minimum is only plain business sense. Laundry work,
scrubbing, and dishwashing have a low economic value. Such unskilled
labor eats up the time and strength one needs for the more
profitable and interesting tasks of farm management, accounting and
correspondence, advertising and marketing."

THE PERSONALITY SKETCH. We all like to read about prominent and
successful people. We want to know more about the men and women who
figure in the day's news, and even about interesting persons whose
success has not been great enough to be heralded in the press. What
appeals to us most about these individuals is, not mere biographical
facts such as appear in _Who's Who_, but the more intimate details of
character and personality that give us the key to their success. We want
to see them as living men and women. It is the writer's problem to
present them so vividly that we shall feel as if we had actually met
them face to face.

The purpose of the personality sketch may be (1) to give interesting
information concerning either prominent or little known persons, (2) to
furnish readers inspiration that may bear fruit in their own lives, (3)
to give practical guidance by showing how one individual has
accomplished a certain thing. Whether the aim is to afford food for
thought, inspiration to action, or guidance in practical matters, the
treatment is essentially the same.

The recognized methods of describing characters in fiction may be used
to advantage in portraying real persons. These are (1) using general
descriptive terms, (2) describing personal appearance, (3) telling of
characteristic actions, (4) quoting their words, (5) giving biographical
facts, (6) citing opinions of others about them, (7) showing how others
react to them. By a judicious combination of several of these methods, a
writer can make his readers visualize the person, hear him speak, watch
him in characteristic actions, and understand his past life, as well as
realize what others think of him and how they act toward him.

Material for a personality sketch may be obtained in one of three ways:
(1) from a more or less intimate acquaintance with the person to be
described; (2) from an interview with the person, supplemented by
conversation with others about him; (3) from printed sketches of him
combined with information secured from others. It is easier to write
personality sketches about men and women whom we know well than it is
about those whom we have never met, or with whom we have had only a
short interview. Inexperienced writers should not attempt to prepare
sketches of persons whom they know but slightly. In a single interview a
writer who is observant, and who is a keen judge of human nature, may be
able to get an impression sufficiently strong to serve as the basis of a
satisfactory article, especially if the material obtained in the
interview is supplemented by printed sketches and by conversations with
others. Personality sketches sometimes include long interviews giving
the person's opinions on the subject on which he is an authority. In
such articles the sketch usually precedes the interview.

EXAMPLES OF THE PERSONALITY SKETCH. The first of the following sketches
appeared, with a half-tone portrait, in the department of "Interesting
People" in the _American Magazine_; the second was sent out by the
Newspaper Enterprise Association, Cleveland, Ohio, which supplies
several hundred daily newspapers with special features.

(1)

"TOMMY"--WHO ENJOYS STRAIGHTENING OUT THINGS

BY SAMPSON RAPHAELSON

Six years ago a young Bulgarian immigrant, dreamy-eyed and shabby,
came to the University of Illinois seeking an education. He inquired
his way of a group of underclassmen and they pointed out to him a
large red building on the campus.

"Go there," they said gayly, "and ask for Tommy."

He did, and when he was admitted to the presence of Thomas Arkle
Clark, Dean of Men, and addressed him in his broken English as
"Mis-terr Tommy," the dean did not smile. Although Mr. Clark had
just finished persuading an irascible father to allow his reprobate
sophomore son to stay at college, and although he was facing the
problem of advising an impetuous senior how to break an engagement
with a girl he no longer loved, he adapted himself to the needs and
the temperament of the foreigner instantly, sympathetically, and
efficiently.

In five minutes the Bulgarian had a job, knew what courses in
English he ought to take, and was filled with a glow of hope,
inspiration, and security which only a genius in the art of
graciousness and understanding like "Tommy Arkle," as he is amiably
called by every student and alumnus of Illinois, can bestow.

This is a typical incident in the extremely busy, richly human daily
routine of the man who created the office of Dean of Men in American
universities. Slender, short, well-dressed, his gray hair smartly
parted, with kindly, clever, humorous blue eyes and a smile that is
an ecstasy of friendliness, "Tommy" sits behind his big desk in the
Administration Building from eight to five every day and handles all
of the very real troubles and problems of the four thousand-odd men
students at the University of Illinois.

He averages one hundred callers a day, in addition to answering a
heavy mail and attendance upon various committee, board, and
council meetings. He is known all over the country as an authority
on fraternities and their influence, and a power for making that
influence constantly better and finer. In business, farmer, and
school circles in the Middle West Mr. Clark is famous for his
whimsical, inspiring speeches. His quick, shaft-like humor, his
keen, devastating sarcasm, and his rare, resilient sympathy have
made him a personality beloved particularly by young persons.

They still tell the story on the campus of an ingenuous youngster
who walked into the dean's office one fall, set his suitcase on the
floor, and drawing two one-dollar bills and a fifty-cent piece from
his pocket, laid the money on the big desk, saying:

"That's all the money I have. I've come to work my way through. Will
you help me to get a job?"

In a flash "Tommy" noted the boy's eager, imaginative brown eyes,
his wide, compact lips and strong jaw. Reaching over, he took the
two bills and pocketed them, leaving the half-dollar.

"The traditional great men," said the dean, "started their
university careers with only fifty cents. I don't want you to be
handicapped, so I'll keep this two dollars. You can get work at ----
Green Street waiting on table for your meals, and the landlady at
---- Chalmers Street wants a student to fire her furnace in exchange
for room rent."

The boy earned his way successfully for several months. Then
suddenly he was taken sick. An operation was necessary. Mr. Clark
wired for a Chicago specialist and paid all expenses out of his own
pocket. The student recovered, and two years after he was graduated
sent "Tommy" a letter enclosing a check for five hundred dollars.
"To redeem my two dollars which you have in trust," the letter said,
"and please use the money as a medical fund for sick students who
need, but cannot afford, Chicago specialists."

The dean has an abnormal memory for names and faces. Every year he
makes a "rogues' gallery"--the photographs of all incoming freshmen
are taken and filed away. And many an humble, unknown freshman has
been exalted by the "Hello, Darby," or "Good morning,
Boschenstein"--or whatever his name happened to be--with which the
dean greeted him.

Mr. Clark once revealed to me the secret of his life. Fifteen years
ago he was professor of English and had strong literary ambitions,
with no little promise. There came the offer of the office of Dean
of Men. He had to choose between writing about peoples lives or
living those lives with people. And he chose, with the result that
at all times of the day and night it's "Tommy this, and Tommy that";
an accident case may need him at two A.M. in the hospital, or a
crowd of roystering students may necessitate his missing a night's
sleep in order to argue an irate sheriff into the conviction that
they are not robbers and murderers. He has been known to spend many
evenings in the rooms of lonesome students who "need a friend."

"Tommy Arkle" is one of the Middle West's finest contributions to
the modern ideal of human service.


(2)

TWO NEW MACHINE GUNS ARE INVENTED FOR THE U.S. ARMY BY THE "EDISON
OF FIREARMS"

BY HARRY B. HUNT

HARTFORD, CONN., NOV. 12.--"Well, Old J.M. has done it again."

That is the chief topic of conversation these days in the big shops
of Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport, where the bulk of the rifles,
pistols and machine guns for Uncle Sam's army is being turned out.

For in these towns to say that "Old J.M. has done it again" is the
simplest and most direct way of stating that John M. Browning has
invented a new kind of firearm.

This time, however, "Old J.M." has done it twice. He has invented
not one, but two new guns. Both have been accepted by the United
States government, contracts for immense numbers of each have been
signed, and work of production is being pushed night and day. The
new weapons will be put into the field against Germany at the
earliest possible day.

Who is John Browning? You never heard of him?

Well, Browning is the father of rapid-fire and automatic firearms.
His is the brain behind practically every basic small firearm
invention in the past 40 years. He has been to the development of
firearms what Edison has been to electricity.

"Unquestionably the greatest inventor of firearms in the world," is
the unanimous verdict of the gun experts of the Colt, Remington and
Winchester plants, whose business it is to study and criticise every
development in firearms.

But if Browning is our greatest gun inventor, he is the most
"gun-shy" genius in the country when it comes to publicity. He
would rather face a machine gun than a reporter.

A few years ago a paper in his home state--Utah--published a little
story about his success as an inventor, and the story was copied by
the Hartford Courant.

"I'd rather have paid $1,000 cash than have had that stuff printed,"
Browning says.

Friends, however, who believe that the world should know something
about this firearms wizard, furnish the following sidelights on his
career:

Browning comes from an old-stock Mormon family of Ogden, Utah. As a
young man he was a great hunter, going off into the woods for a
month or six weeks at a time, with only his gun for company. He was
only 24 when he worked out his ideas for a gun carrying a magazine
full of cartridges, which could be fired rapidly in succession. He
pounded out the parts for his first rapid-fire gun with hammer and
cold chisel.

Since that time, pump and "trombone" shotguns, automatic pistols,
rapid-fire rifles produced by the biggest firearms manufacturers in
the country have been Browning's products.

The United States army pistol is a Browning invention.

A Browning pistol manufactured by the Fabrique Nationale of Belgium
was made the standard equipment for the armies of Belgium, Russia,
Spain, Italy and Serbia.

On completion of the one-millionth pistol by the Fabrique Nationale,
King Albert of Belgium knighted the modest inventor, so he is now,
officially, "Sir" John Browning.

Browning is tall, slender, slightly stooped, 62, bald except for a
rim of gray hair, and wears a closely clipped gray moustache. His
face is marked by a network of fine lines.

Although Browning will not talk of himself or of his career as an
inventor, he can't help talking when the conversation is turned on
guns.

"I always think of a gun as something that is made primarily to
shoot," he says. "The best gun is the simplest gun. When you begin
loading a gun up with a lot of fancy contraptions and 'safety
devices,' you are only inviting trouble. You complicate the
mechanism and make that many more places for dirt and grit to clog
the action.

"You can make a gun so 'safe' that it won't shoot."

Of Browning's new guns it is not, of course, permissible to give any
details. One, however, is a light rapid-fire gun, weighing only 15
pounds, which can be fired from the shoulder like the ordinary
rifle. Each magazine carries 20 rounds and the empty magazine can be
detached and another substituted by pressing a button.

The heavier gun is a belt-fed machine, capable of firing 600 shots a
minute. Although it is water-cooled, it weighs, water jacket and
all, only 28 pounds. For airplane work, where the firing is in
bursts and the speed of the machine helps cool the gun, the jacket
is discarded and the gun weighs only 20 pounds.

Both guns are counted upon as valuable additions to the equipment of
our overseas forces.

THE NARRATIVE IN THE THIRD PERSON. Although the interview, the personal
experience article, and the confession story are largely narrative, they
are always told in the first person, whereas the term "narrative
article" as used in this classification is applied only to a narrative
in the third person. In this respect it is more like the short story. As
in the short story so in the narrative article, description of persons,
places, and objects involved serves to heighten the effect.

Narrative methods may be employed to present any
group of facts that can be arranged in chronological order.
A process, for example, may be explained by showing a man
or a number of men engaged in the work involved, and by
giving each step in the process as though it were an incident
in a story. The story of an invention or a discovery may
be told from the inception of the idea to its realization. A
political situation may be explained by relating the events
that led up to it. The workings of some institution, such
as an employment office or a juvenile court, may be made
clear by telling just what takes place in it on a typical
occasion. Historical and biographical material can best be
presented in narrative form.

Suspense, rapid action, exciting adventure, vivid description,
conversation, and all the other devices of the short story may be
introduced into narrative articles to increase the interest and
strengthen the impression. Whenever, therefore, material can be
given a narrative form it is very desirable to do so. A writer,
however, must guard against exaggeration and the use of fictitious
details.

EXAMPLES OF THE NARRATIVE ARTICLE. How narration with
descriptive touches and conversation may be effectively
used to explain a new institution like the community
kitchen, or the methods of recruiting employed in the
army, is shown in the two articles below. The first was
taken from the _New York World_, and the second from the
_Outlook_.

(1)

NOW THE PUBLIC KITCHEN

BY MARIE COOLIDGE RASK

The Community Kitchen Menu

+--------------------------------------------------+
| Vegetable soup pint, 3¢ |
| Beef stew half pint, 4¢ |
| Baked beans half pint, 3¢ |
| Two frankfurters, one potato and cup full of |
| boiled cabbage all for 7¢ |
| Rice pudding, 3¢. Stewed peaches 3¢ |
| Coffee or cocoa with milk half pint,3¢ |
+--------------------------------------------------+


"My mother wants three cents' worth of vegetable soup."

"And mine wants enough beef stew for three of us."

Two battered tin pails were handed up by small, grimy fingers. Two
eager little faces were upturned toward the top of the bright green
counter which loomed before them. Two pairs of roguish eyes smiled
back at the woman who reached over the counter and took the pails.

"The beef stew will be twelve cents," she said. "It is four cents
for each half pint, you know."

"I know," answered the youth. "My mother says when she has to buy
the meat and all and cook it and put a quarter in the gas meter,
it's cheaper to get it here. My father got his breakfast here, too,
and it only cost him five cents."

"And was he pleased?" asked the woman, carefully lowering the filled
pail to the outstretched little hand.

"You bet," chuckled the lad, as he turned and followed the little
procession down the length of the room and out through the door on
the opposite side.

The woman was Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, jr.

The boy was the son of a 'longshoreman living on "Death Avenue," in
close proximity to the newly established People's Kitchen, situated
on the southeast corner of Tenth Avenue and West Twenty-seventh
Street, New York.

So it is here at last--the much talked of, long hoped for, community
kitchen.

Within three days after its doors had been opened to the public more
than 1,100 persons had availed themselves of its benefits. Within
three years, it is promised, the community kitchen will have become
national in character. Its possibilities for development are
limitless.

Way was blazed for the pioneer kitchen by Edward F. Brown, executive
secretary of the New York school lunch committee.

The active power behind the cauldrons of soup, cabbage and
frankfurters, beans and rice pudding is vested in Mrs. James A.
Burden, jr., and Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, jr.

The evolution of the community kitchen is going to be of interest to
every housewife and to every wage earner in all classes of society.

First of all, let it be distinctly understood that the kitchen as
inaugurated is not a charity. It is social and philanthropic in
character, and it will ultimately reduce the cost of living by
almost 50 per cent. This much has been demonstrated already to the
extent that the Tenth Avenue kitchen has not only paid expenses, but
has so overrun its confines that plans are in preparation for the
establishment of other and larger kitchens in rapid succession.

The object is to give to the purchaser the maximum quantity of
highest grade food, properly cooked, at minimum cost. This cost
includes rent, light, heat, power, interest on investment,
depreciation, cost of food materials, labor and supervision. The
principle is that of barter and sale on an equitable business basis.

The project as now formulated is to establish for immediate use a
small group of public kitchens having one central depot. This depot
will be in constant operation throughout the twenty-four hours. Here
the food will be prepared and distributed to the smaller kitchens
where, by means of steam tables, it can be kept hot and dispensed.
The character of the food to be supplied each district will be
chosen with regard to what the population is accustomed to, that
which is simple and wholesome, which contains bulk, can be prepared
at minimum cost, can be conveniently dispensed and easily carried
away.

Opposite a large school building, in a small room that had been at
one time a saloon, the kitchen of the century was fitted up and
formally opened to the public.

Three long green tables with green painted benches beside them
encircle the room on two sides. Their use was manifest the second
day after the kitchen was opened.

At 4 o'clock in the morning, from various tenement homes near by,
sturdy 'longshoremen and laborers might have been seen plodding
silently from their respective homes, careful not to disturb their
wives and families, and heading straight for the new kitchen on the
corner. From trains running along "Death Avenue" came blackened
trainmen after their night's work. They, too, stopped at the corner
kitchen. By the time the attendant arrived to unlock the doors forty
men were in line waiting for breakfast.

Ten minutes later the three tables were fully occupied.

"Bread, cereal and coffee for five cents!" exclaimed one of the men,
pushing the empty tray from him, after draining the last drop of
coffee in his mug. "This kitchen's all right."

Noon came. The children from the school building trooped in.

"My mamma works in a factory," said one. "I used to get some cakes
at a bakery at noontime. Gee! There's raisins in this rice puddin',
ain't there?" He carried the saucerful of pudding over to the table.
"Only three cents," he whispered to the little girl beside him. "You
better get some, too. That'll leave you two cents for a cup of
cocoa."

"Ain't it a cinch!" exclaimed the little girl.

Behind the counter the women who had made these things possible
smiled happily and dished out pudding, beans and soup with generous
impartiality. The daughter of Mrs. Vanderbilt appeared.

"I'm hungry, mother," she cried. "I'll pay for my lunch."

"You'll have to serve yourself," was the rejoinder of the busy woman
with the tin pail in her hand. "There's a tray at the end of the
counter--but don't get in the way."

So rich and poor lunched together.

"Oh, but I'm tired!" exclaimed a woman, who, satchel in hand,
entered, late in the afternoon, "It's hard to go home and cook
after canvassing all day. Will you mind if I eat supper here?"

Then the women and children poured in with pails and dishes and
pans.

"We're getting used to it now," said one. "It's just like a store,
you know, and it saves us a lot of work--"

"And expense! My land!" cried another. "Why, my man has only been
working half time, and the pennies count when you've got children to
feed and clothe. When I go to work by the day it's little that's
cooked at home. Now--" She presented a dish as the line moved along.
"Beef stew for four," she ordered, "and coffee in this pitcher,
here."


(2)

GATHERING IN THE RAW RECRUIT

BY KINGSLEY MOSES

MEN WANTED FOR THE UNITED STATES ARMY

A tall, gaunt farmer boy with a very dirty face and huge gnarled
hands stood open-mouthed before the brilliant poster displayed
before the small-town recruiting office. In his rather dull mind he
pictured himself as he would look, straight and dignified, in the
khaki uniform, perhaps even with the three stripes of the sergeant
on his arm.

"Fifteen dollars a month," he thought to himself, "and board and
clothes and lodgings and doctor's bills. Why, that's more than I'm
gettin' now on the farm! I'd see the world; I might even get to
learn a regular trade." He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I
ain't gettin' nowhere now, that's sure," he concluded, and slowly
climbed the stairs.

This boy had not come to his decision in a moment. His untrained but
thoroughly honest mind worked slowly. He had been pondering the
opportunities of army life for many weeks. The idea had come to him
by chance, he thought.

Over a month ago he had been plowing the lower forty of Old Man
Huggins's farm. The road to the mountains lay along one side of the
field, and as the boy turned and started to plow his furrow toward
the road he noticed that a motor cycle had stopped just beyond the
fence. "Broke down," the boy commented to himself, as he saw the
tan-clad rider dismounting. Over the mule's huge back he watched as
he drew nearer. "Why, the rider was in uniform; he must be a
soldier!"

Sure enough, when the fence was reached the boy saw that the
stranger was dressed in the regulation khaki of Uncle Sam, with the
U.S. in block letters at the vent of the collar and two stripes on
the left sleeve.

"Broke down?" the boy queried, dropping his plow-handles.

The corporal grunted and continued to potter with the machine.

"You in the army?" the boy continued, leaning on the fence.

"You bet!" assented the soldier. Then, looking up and taking in the
big, raw-boned physique of the youngster, "Ever think of joinin'?"

"Can't say's I did."

"Got any friends in the army?"

"Nope."

"Fine life." The motor cycle was attracting little of the recruiting
officer's attention now, for he was a recruiting officer, and
engaged in one of the most practical phases of his work.

"Them soldiers have a pretty easy life, don't they?" Evidently the
boy was becoming interested.

The recruiting officer laid down his tools, pulled out a pipe, and
sat down comfortably under a small sycamore tree at the roadside.

"Not so very easy," he replied, "but interesting and exciting." He
paused for a minute to scrutinize the prospective recruit more
closely. To his experienced eye the boy appeared desirable. Slouchy,
dirty, and lazy-looking, perhaps; but there were nevertheless good
muscles and a strong body under those ragged overalls. The corporal
launched into his story.

For twenty minutes the boy listened open-mouthed to the stories of
post life, where baseball, football, and boxing divided the time
with drilling; of mess-halls where a fellow could eat all he wanted
to, free; of good-fellowship and fraternal pride in the
organization; of the pleasant evenings in the amusement rooms in
quarters. And then of the life of the big world, of which the boy
had only dreamed; of the Western plains, of Texas, the snowy ridges
of the great Rockies, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, the
Philippines, Hawaii, the strange glamour of the tropics, the great
wildernesses of the frozen North.

"It seems 'most like as I'd like to join," was the timid venture.

"What's your name?"

"Steve Bishop."

"All right, Steve, come in and see me the next time you're in town,"
said the corporal, rising. "We'll talk it over."

And, mounting his motor cycle, he was gone down the road in a whirl
of red dust. Nor did the farmer boy think to wonder at the sudden
recovery of the apparently stalled machine.

"Missionary work," explains the corporal. "We never beg 'em to join;
but we do sort of give 'em the idea. Like joinin' the Masons, you
know," he winked, giving me the grip.

So it happened that Steve Bishop mounted the stairs that day,
resolved to join the army if they would take him.

In the small, bare, but immaculately clean room at the head of the
stairs he found his friend the corporal banging away at a
typewriter. "How are you, Steve? Glad to see you," was the welcome.
"Sit down a minute, and we'll talk."

The soldier finished his page, lit his pipe again, and leisurely
swung round in his chair.

"Think you'll like to soldier with us?" he said.

Unconsciously the boy appreciated the compliment; it was flattering
to be considered on a basis of equality with this clean-cut, rugged
man of the wide world.

"I reckon so," he replied, almost timidly.

"Well, how old are you, Steve?"

"Twenty-one." The corporal nodded approval. That was all right,
then; no tedious formality of securing signed permission from parent
or guardian was necessary.

Then began a string of personal questions as to previous employment,
education, details of physical condition, moral record (for the army
will have no ex-jailbirds), etc., and finally the question, "Why do
you want to join?"

"They don't know why I ask that," says the corporal, "but I have a
mighty good reason. From the way a boy answers I can decide which
branch of the service he ought to be connected with. If he wants to
be a soldier just for travel and adventure, I advise the infantry or
the cavalry; but if he seriously wants to learn and study, I
recommend him to the coast artillery or the engineers."

Then comes the physical examination, a vigorous but not exacting
course of sprouts designed to find out if the applicant is capable
of violent exertion and to discover any minor weaknesses; an
examination of eyes, ears, teeth, and nose; and, finally, a cursory
scrutiny for functional disorders.

"I'll take you, Steve," the corporal finally says. "In about a week
we'll send you to the barracks."

"But what am I goin' to do till then? I ain't got a cent."

"Don't worry about that. You'll eat and sleep at Mrs.
Barrows's,"--naming a good, clean boarding-house in the town, the
owner of which has a yearly contract with the Government to take
care of just such embryo recruits; "in the daytime you can hang
around town, and the police won't bother you if you behave yourself.
If they call you for loafin' tell them you're waitin' to get into
the army."

In a week the district recruiting officer, a young lieutenant, drops
in on his regular circuit. The men who have been accepted by the
non-commissioned officer are put through their paces again, and so
expert is the corporal in judging good material that none of Steve's
group of eight are rejected.

"All right," says the corporal when the lieutenant has gone; "here's
your tickets to the training station at Columbus, Ohio, and
twenty-eight cents apiece for coffee on the way. In these boxes
you'll find four big, healthy lunches for each one of you. That'll
keep you until you get to Columbus."

One of the new recruits is given charge of the form ticket issued by
the railway expressly for the Government; is told that when
meal-time comes he can get off the train with the others and for
fifty cents buy a big pail of hot coffee for the bunch at the
station lunch-room. Then the corporal takes them all down to the
train, tells them briefly but plainly what is expected in the way of
conduct from a soldier, and winds up with the admonition: "And,
boys, remember this first of all; the first duty of a soldier is
this: do what you're told to do, do it without question, and _do it
quick_. Good-bye."

In twenty-four hours Steve and his companions are at the training
station, have taken the oath of allegiance, and are safely and well
on their way to full membership in the family of Uncle Sam.




CHAPTER VI

WRITING THE ARTICLE


VALUE OF A PLAN. Just as a builder would hesitate to erect a house
without a carefully worked-out plan, so a writer should be loath to
begin an article before he has outlined it fully. In planning a
building, an architect considers how large a house his client desires,
how many rooms he must provide, how the space available may best be
apportioned among the rooms, and what relation the rooms are to bear to
one another. In outlining an article, likewise, a writer needs to
determine how long it must be, what material it should include, how much
space should be devoted to each part, and how the parts should be
arranged. Time spent in thus planning an article is time well spent.

Outlining the subject fully involves thinking out the article from
beginning to end. The value of each item of the material gathered must
be carefully weighed; its relation to the whole subject and to every
part must be considered. The arrangement of the parts is of even greater
importance, because much of the effectiveness of the presentation will
depend upon a logical development of the thought. In the last analysis,
good writing means clear thinking, and at no stage in the preparation of
an article is clear thinking more necessary than in the planning of it.

Amateurs sometimes insist that it is easier to write without an outline
than with one. It undoubtedly does take less time to dash off a special
feature story than it does to think out all of the details and then
write it. In nine cases out of ten, however, when a writer attempts to
work out an article as he goes along, trusting that his ideas will
arrange themselves, the result is far from a clear, logical,
well-organized presentation of his subject. The common disinclination to
make an outline is usually based on the difficulty that most persons
experience in deliberately thinking about a subject in all its various
aspects, and in getting down in logical order the results of such
thought. Unwillingness to outline a subject generally means
unwillingness to think.

THE LENGTH OF AN ARTICLE. The length of an article is determined by two
considerations: the scope of the subject, and the policy of the
publication for which it is intended. A large subject cannot be
adequately treated in a brief space, nor can an important theme be
disposed of satisfactorily in a few hundred words. The length of an
article, in general, should be proportionate to the size and the
importance of the subject.

The deciding factor, however, in fixing the length of an article is the
policy of the periodical for which it is designed. One popular
publication may print articles from 4000 to 6000 words, while another
fixes the limit at 1000 words. It would be quite as bad judgment to
prepare a 1000-word article for the former, as it would be to send one
of 5000 words to the latter. Periodicals also fix certain limits for
articles to be printed in particular departments. One monthly magazine,
for instance, has a department of personality sketches which range from
800 to 1200 words in length, while the other articles in this periodical
contain from 2000 to 4000 words.

The practice of printing a column or two of reading matter on most of
the advertising pages influences the length of articles in many
magazines. To obtain an attractive make-up, the editors allow only a
page or two of each special article, short story, or serial to appear in
the first part of the magazine, relegating the remainder to the
advertising pages. Articles must, therefore, be long enough to fill a
page or two in the first part of the periodical and several columns on
the pages of advertising. Some magazines use short articles, or
"fillers," to furnish the necessary reading matter on these advertising
pages.

Newspapers of the usual size, with from 1000 to 1200 words in a column,
have greater flexibility than magazines in the matter of make-up, and
can, therefore, use special feature stories of various lengths. The
arrangement of advertisements, even in the magazine sections, does not
affect the length of articles. The only way to determine exactly the
requirements of different newspapers and magazines is to count the words
in typical articles in various departments.

SELECTION AND PROPORTION. After deciding on the length of his article,
the writer should consider what main points he will be able to develop
in the allotted space. His choice will be guided by his purpose in
writing the article. "Is this point essential to the accomplishment of
my aim?" is the test he should apply. Whatever is non-essential must be
abandoned, no matter how attractive it may be. Having determined upon
the essential topics, he next proceeds to estimate their relative value
for the development of his theme, so that he may give to each one the
space and the prominence that are proportionate to its importance.

ARRANGEMENT OF MATERIAL. The order in which to present the main topics
requires thoughtful study. A logical development of a subject by which
the reader is led, step by step, from the first sentence to the last in
the easiest and most natural way, is the ideal arrangement. An article
should march right along from beginning to end, without digressing or
marking time. The straight line, in writing as in drawing, is the
shortest distance between two points.

In narration the natural order is chronological. To arouse immediate
interest, however, a writer may at times deviate from this order by
beginning with a striking incident and then going back to relate the
events that led up to it. This method of beginning _in medias res_ is a
device well recognized in fiction. In exposition the normal order is to
proceed from the known to the unknown, to dovetail the new facts into
those already familiar to the reader.

When a writer desires by his article to create certain convictions in
the minds of his readers, he should consider the arrangement best
calculated to lead them to form such conclusions. The most telling
effects are produced, not by stating his own conclusions as strongly as
possible, but rather by skillfully inducing his readers to reach those
conclusions by what they regard as their own mental processes. That is,
if readers think that the convictions which they have reached are their
own, and were not forced upon them, their interest in these ideas is
likely to be much deeper and more lasting. It is best, therefore, to
understate conclusions or to omit them entirely. In all such cases the
writer's aim in arranging his material should be to direct his readers'
train of thought so that, after they have finished the last sentence,
they will inevitably form the desired conclusion.

With the main topics arranged in the best possible order, the writer
selects from his available material such details as he needs to amplify
each point. Examples, incidents, statistics, and other particulars he
jots down under each of the chief heads. The arrangement of these
details, in relation both to the central purpose and to each other,
requires some consideration, for each detail must have its logical place
in the series. Having thus ordered his material according to a
systematic plan, he has before him a good working outline to guide him
in writing.

PLANNING A TYPICAL ARTICLE. The process of gathering, evaluating, and
organizing material may best be shown by a concrete example. The
publication in a New York paper of a news story to the effect that the
first commencement exercises were about to be held in the only factory
school ever conducted in the city, suggested to a special feature writer
the possibility of preparing an article on the work of the school. To
obtain the necessary material, he decided to attend the exercises and to
interview both the principal of the school and the head of the factory.
In thinking over the subject beforehand, he jotted down these points
upon which to secure data: (1) the origin and the purpose of the school;
(2) its relation to the work of the factory; (3) the methods of
instruction; (4) the kind of pupils and the results accomplished for
them; (5) the cost of the school; (6) its relation to the public school
system. At the close of the graduation exercises, he secured the
desired interviews with the teacher in charge and with the head of the
firm, copied typical examples from the exhibition of the pupils' written
work, and jotted down notes on the decoration and furnishing of the
schoolroom. Since the commencement exercises had been reported in the
newspapers, he decided to refer to them only incidentally in his story.

After considering the significance of the work of the school and what
there was about it that would appeal to different classes of readers, he
decided to write his story for the magazine section of the New York
newspaper that he believed was most generally read by business men who
operated factories similar to the one described. His purpose he
formulated thus: "I intend to show how illiterate immigrant girls can be
transformed quickly into intelligent, efficient American citizens by
means of instruction in a factory school; this I wish to do by
explaining what has been accomplished in this direction by one New York
factory." He hoped that his article would lead readers to encourage the
establishment of similar schools as a means of Americanizing alien
girls. The expository type of article containing concrete examples,
description, and interviews he concluded to adopt as the form best
suited to his subject.

The average length of the special feature stories, in the magazine
section of the paper to which he intended to submit the article, proved
to be about 2000 words. In order to accomplish his purpose in an article
of this length, he selected five main topics to develop: (1) the reasons
that led the firm to establish the school; (2) the results obtained; (3)
the methods of instruction; (4) the cost of the school; (5) the
schoolroom and its equipment.

"What part of my material will make the strongest appeal to the readers
of this newspaper?" was the question he asked himself, in order to
select the best point with which to begin his article. The feature that
would attract the most attention, he believed, was the striking results
obtained by the school in a comparatively short time.

In reviewing the several types of beginnings to determine which would
best suit the presentation of these remarkable results, he found two
possibilities: first, the summary lead with a striking statement for the
first sentence; and second, a concrete example of the results as shown
by one of the pupils. He found, however, that he did not have sufficient
data concerning any one girl to enable him to tell the story of her
transformation as an effective concrete case. He determined, therefore,
to use a striking statement as the feature of a summary lead.

From his interview with the head of the firm, and from a formal
statement of the purpose of the school printed on the commencement
program, he obtained the reasons why the school had been established.
These he decided to give _verbatim_ in direct quotation form.

To show most interestingly the results of the teaching, he picked out
four of the six written exercises that he had copied from those
exhibited on the walls of the schoolroom. The first of these dealt with
American history, the second with thrift and business methods, and the
third with personal hygiene. For the fourth he selected the work of a
woman of forty whose struggles to get into the school and to learn to
write the teacher had described to him.

Figures on the cost of the school he had secured from the head of the
firm according to his preliminary plan. These covered the expense both
to the employers and to the city.

His description of the schoolroom he could base on his own observation,
supplemented by the teacher's explanations.

For his conclusion he determined to summarize the results of this
experiment in education as the firm stated them on the commencement
program, and to give his own impression of the success of the school.
Thus he sought to give final reinforcement to the favorable impression
of the school that he wished his article to create, with the aim of
leading readers to reach the conclusion that such schools should be
encouraged as invaluable aids to the Americanization of alien girls.

OUTLINING THE ARTICLE. Having selected the main topics and having
decided in a general way how he intended to develop each one, he then
fixed upon the best order in which to present them.

After his introduction giving the striking results of the school in a
summary lead, it seemed logical to explain the firm's purpose in
undertaking this unusual enterprise. He accordingly jotted down for his
second topic, "Purpose in establishing the school," with the two
sub-topics, "Firm's statement on program" and "Head of firm's statement
in interview."

The methods of-instruction by which the remarkable success was attained,
impressed him as the next important point. His readers, having learned
the results and the purpose of the school, would naturally want to know
by what methods these girls had been transformed in so short a time. As
his third topic, therefore, he put down, "Methods of instruction."

For his fourth division he had to choose between (1) the results as
shown by the pupils' written work, (2) the cost of the school, and (3)
the schoolroom and its equipment. From the point of view of logical
order either the results or the schoolroom might have been taken up
next, but, as all the explanations of the methods of instruction were
quoted directly in the words of the teacher, and as the pupils'
exercises were to be given _verbatim_, he thought it best to place his
own description of the schoolroom between these two quoted parts.
Greater variety, he foresaw, would result from such an arrangement. "The
schoolroom," then, became the fourth topic.

Since the pupils' work which he planned to reproduce had been exhibited
on the walls of the schoolroom, the transition from the description of
the room to the exhibits on the walls was an easy and logical one.

By this process of elimination, the cost of the school became the sixth
division, to be followed by the summary conclusion.

He then proceeded to fill in the details needed to develop each of
these main topics, always keeping his general purpose in mind. The
result of this organization of material was the following outline:

I. Summary lead
1. Striking results--time required
2. Commencement--when and where held
3. Graduates--number, nationality, certificates
4. School--when and where established
5. Example to other firms

II. Purpose of school
1. Firm's statement on commencement program
2. Head of firm's statement in interview

III. Methods of instruction
1. Practical education
2. Letter writing--geography, postal regulations, correspondence
3. Arithmetic--money, expense accounts, reports of work
4. Civics--history, biography, holidays, citizenship, patriotism
5. Personal hygiene--cleanliness, physical culture, first aid,
food
6. Cotton goods--growing cotton, spinning, shipping
7. Means of communication--telephone, directory, map of city,
routes of travel, telephone book
8. Study outside of classroom

IV. The schoolroom
1. Location--floor space, windows
2. Decorations--flowers, motto, photograph of Miss Jessie Wilson
3. Furnishings--piano, phonograph
4. Library--reading to the girls, _The Promised Land_, Mary Antin,
library cards

V. Results shown by pupils' work
1. Italian's theme and her remarkable progress
2. Russian's essay on saving
3. Polish girl's exercise about picture
4. Woman of forty and her work

VI. Cost of school
1. Expense to firm
2. Cost to Board of Education--salaries and supplies
3. Entire cost per pupil
4. Returns to firm outweigh cost, says employer

VII. Summary conclusion
1. Results quoted from program
2. Impression made by girls receiving diplomas

THE COMPLETED ARTICLE. Since the establishment of a school in a factory
was the novel feature of the enterprise, he worked out a title based on
this idea, with a sub-title presenting the striking results accomplished
by the school. The completed article follows, with a brief analysis of
the methods used in developing the outline.


TAKING THE SCHOOL TO THE FACTORY

HOW ALIEN GIRLS ARE BEING CHANGED INTO INTELLIGENT AMERICAN WORKERS BY
INSTRUCTION DURING WORKING HOURS

In from twenty to thirty-five weeks I. SUMMARY LEAD
an illiterate immigrant girl can be 1. Striking results
transformed into an intelligent, efficient Striking statement
American citizen, in this city, in two sentence to
without interfering with the daily work avoid unwieldy sentence.
by which she earns her living. Only
forty-five minutes a day in a factory
schoolroom is required to accomplish
such striking results.

This has just been demonstrated at 2. Commencement
the first commencement of the only Timeliness brought
school conducted in a New York factory. out immediately after
The classes have been held on striking statement
one of the upper floors of the white
goods factory of D. E. Sicher & Co.,
49 West 21st Street, where the graduation Address has local
exercises were held last Thursday interest
evening.

Forty girls--Italians, Poles, Russians, 3. Graduates
Hungarians, Austrians among Note concrete details
the number--received the first "certificates
of literacy" ever issued by the
Board of Education. Twenty weeks Striking results
ago many of these young women could emphasized by device
not speak English; many of them had of contrast
never been to school a day in their
lives. Every one present on Thursday Impression on audience
night felt that this was indeed a commencement of remarkable
for these girls. results

It is due to the instruction of Miss Teacher's name has
Florence Meyers, formerly a public local interest
school teacher, that the girls can now
speak English, write good letters, make
out money-orders, cash checks, and
send telegrams. They have also been Additional concrete
taught the principles of our government, details of striking
the importance of personal hygiene, results
and the processes by which cotton
goods used in their work are manufactured.

The school was organized this year 4. School
at the suggestion of Dudley E. Sicher,
head of the firm, in coöperation with
the Board of Education, and has been
under the supervision of Miss Lizzie E. Principal and school
Rector, Public School No. 4, Manhattan. have local interest.

What has been accomplished in this 5. Example to other
factory, which is the largest white firms
goods muslin underwear plant in the Veiled suggestion to
world, will doubtless serve as an example readers
to be followed by other firms.

Its purpose the firm expresses in II. PURPOSE OF SCHOOL
these words: "To hasten assimilation 1. Firm's statement
necessary to national unity, to promote
industrial betterment, by reducing Statement in general
the friction caused by failure to comprehend terms
directions, and to decrease the
waste and loss of wage incidental to the
illiterate worker."

"When a girl understands English 2. Head of firm's statement
and has been taught American business
and factory methods," says Mr.
Sicher, "she doesn't hesitate and Statement in concrete
blunder; she understands what she is terms
told and she does it.

"Intelligent employees do much better
work than illiterate ones, and since
we can afford to pay them better wages,
they are much more contented. From
a business point of view, the school is a
good investment."

The instruction that has accomplished III. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION
such remarkable results has
been eminently practical. "There 1. Practical education
was no time to spend in teaching the
girls anything but the most necessary Teacher's statement
things," explains Miss Meyers, "for I of her problem
could have each one of them for only
forty-five minutes a day, and there was
much to be done in that time.

"Here was a girl, for example, who Problem concretely
could hardly say 'good morning.' shown
Here was another who had never written
a word in her life, either in English
or in any other language. The problem
was how to give each of them what
she most needed in the short time allotted Statement of general
every day. This essentially plan
practical training I organized under
several subjects, each of which was
broadly inclusive.

"When I undertook to teach letter 2. Letter writing
writing, it meant teaching the English
language, as well as writing and spelling.
It meant teaching the geography
of the country, the postal regulations,
and the forms of business and personal
correspondence.

"In teaching arithmetic, I use money 3. Arithmetic
and show them how to make change by
means of addition, subtraction, and
division. I also ask them to keep personal
expense accounts and to make
out reports of the work that they do.

"Civics included American history, 4. Civics
the lives of our statesmen--for these
girls are so eager to be true Americans
that they want to know about our great
men--the origin of legal holidays, the
merits of our system of government,
the meaning of citizenship, and the essence
of patriotism.

"Hygiene is another important 5. Personal hygiene
subject. American standards of living,
personal cleanliness, and sanitary regulations
have to be emphasized. To
aid in counteracting the effects of long
hours at the sewing machines, we have
physical culture exercises. Instruction
in first aid measures is also given so
that they will know what to do in case
of an accident. The nutritive value of
different foods in relation to their cost
is discussed to enable them to maintain
their health by a proper diet.

"As these young women are engaged 6. Cotton goods
in making muslin underwear, it seemed
desirable for them to know where cotton
grows, how it is spun, where the
mills are and how it is shipped to New
York. After they understand the various
processes through which the material
goes before it reaches them, they
take much more interest in their work,
as a part of the manufacture of cotton
goods into clothing."

The use of the telephone, the telegraph, 7. Means of communication
the subway, surface lines, and
railways is another subject of instruction.
A dummy 'phone, telegraph Method of presentation
blanks, the city directory, maps with in this paragraph
routes of rapid transit lines, and the changed for
telephone book, are some of the practical variety
laboratory apparatus and textbooks
that are employed.

"We encourage them to learn for 8. Study outside of
themselves outside of school hours classroom
many of the necessary things that we
have not time for in the classroom,"
says the teacher.

To reach the schoolroom in which IV. THE SCHOOLROOM
this work has been carried on, you take 1. Location
the elevator to the last floor but one of Note effect of using
the factory building. There you find "you"
only a portion of the floor space cleared
for tables and chairs. It is a clean,
airy room with big windows opening
on the street, made gay with boxes of
flowers.

Flags of many nations about the 2. Decorations
room appropriately represent the many
nationalities among the pupils. On Note character of
one wall hangs a card with the legend: decorations selected

Four things come not back:
The spoken word
The sped arrow
The past life
The neglected opportunity.

A photograph of Miss Jessie Wilson,
now Mrs. Francis B. Sayre, occupies
the space between the two windows.
The picture was presented to the girls
by Miss Wilson herself, just before she This shows enterprising
was married, when a party of them with spirit on the
Miss Meyers went to Washington to part of teacher, girls,
give her a white petticoat they had and firm
made themselves, as a wedding present.
After Miss Wilson had shown them
through the White House and they had
seen her wedding presents, she gave
them this signed photograph.

A piano and a phonograph at one 3. Furnishings
end of the room make it possible for
the girls to enjoy dancing during the
noon hours on three days of the week,
and to have musicals on other occasions.

Shelves filled with books line the 4. Library
walls of a smaller office room opening
off the schoolroom. On two days of
the week during the noon hour, the
teacher read aloud to the girls until
they were able to read for themselves.
Then they were permitted to take
books home with them. Besides this,
they have been encouraged to use the
public libraries, after being shown how
to make out applications for library
cards.

"One girl is reading 'The Promised Concrete example
Land,' by Mary Antin," Miss Meyers has "human interest,"
tells you, "and thinks it is a wonderful as related in
book. She was so much interested in the teacher's own
it that I asked her to tell the others words
about it. Although a little shy at
first, she soon forgot herself in her eagerness
to relate Miss Antin's experiences.
She told the story with such
dramatic effect that she quite carried
away her classmates. If we had done
no more than to teach this girl to read a
book that meant so much to her, I believe
our school would have justified
its existence."

Mary Antin herself accepted the Is this paragraph
girls' invitation to attend the graduation out of logical order?
exercises, and made a short address.

The pupils' written work was exhibited V. RESULTS SHOWN BY
on the walls of the room on the occasion PUPILS' WORK
of the exercises, and showed conclusively
the proficiency that they have
attained.

The greatest progress made by any 1. Italian's theme and
of the pupils was probably that of an progress
Italian girl. Before coming to this
country, she had attended school and Example of greatest
besides this she had been teaching her progress is put
father at night whatever she had first
learned during the day. Her short
essay on her adopted country read:

This country is the United States Note use of narrow
of America. It is the land of freedom measure without
and liberty, because the people quotation marks for
govern themselves. All citizens love examples quoted
their country, because they know
that this freedom was earned by men
who gave their lives for it. The
United States is in North America.
North America is one of the greatest
divisions of the earth. North America
was discovered on October 12,
1492, by Christopher Columbus.

The fact that Columbus, one of her Is this comment by
countrymen, had discovered the country the writer effective?
in which she and her father had
found a new life, doubtless appealed to
her keen imagination.