It is his task so to
portray it that we can all see its meaning, or at all events catch
the human drift of it, not merely the foulness and the reek of
blood. If he can do that, he has performed a signal service, and
his murder story may easily come to speak more eloquently to the
minds of thousands than the sermon preached to a hundred in the
church on Sunday.
[Illustration: "In which lay dying a French nobleman of proud and
ancient name"]
Of the advantages that smooth the way to news-getting I had none.
I was a stranger, and I was never distinguished for detective
ability. But good hard work goes a long way toward making up for
lack of genius; and I mentioned only one of the opportunities for
getting ahead of my opponents. They were lying all about us. Any
seemingly innocent slip sent out from the police telegraph office
across the way recording a petty tenement-house fire might hide a
fire-bug, who always makes shuddering appeal to our fears; the finding
of John Jones sick and destitute in the street meant, perhaps, a
story full of the deepest pathos.
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