"Can it
be," he thought, "that I cannot survive in a profession where the poorest
are so poor in intellect and equipment? Why am I so dull that I cannot
catch the trick?"
He set himself to study newspapers, reading them line by line, noting the
modes of presenting facts, the arrangement of headlines, the order in which
the editors put the several hundred items before the eyes of the
reader--what they displayed on each page and why; how they apportioned the
space. With the energy of unconquerable resolution he applied himself to
solving for himself the puzzle of the press--the science and art of
catching the eye and holding the attention of the hurrying, impatient
public.
He learned much. He began to develop the news-instinct, that subtle instant
realisation of what is interesting and what is not interesting to the
public mind. But the time was short; a sense of impending calamity and the
lack of self-confidence natural to inexperience made it impossible for him
effectively to use his new knowledge in the few small opportunities which
Mr. Bowring gave him. With only six days of his two weeks left, he had
succeeded in getting into the paper not a single item of a length greater
than two sticks. He slept little; he despaired not at all; but he was
heart-sick and, as he lay in his bed in the little hall-room of the
furnished-room house, he often envied women the relief of tears.
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