As he had no
money to spare and a deep aversion to debt, he was not tempted into joining
in the time-wasting dissipations that were now open to him. He worked hard
at his profession and, when he left the office, usually went direct to his
rooms to read until far into the morning. He was often busy sixteen hours
out of the twenty-four. His day at reporting was long--from noon until
midnight, and frequently until three in the morning. But the work was far
different from the grind which is the lot of the young men striving in
other professions or in business. It was the most fascinating work
imaginable for an intelligent, thirsty mind--the study of human nature
under stress of the great emotions.
His mode of thought and his style made Mr. Bowring and Mr. King give him
much of this particular kind of reporting. So he was always observing love,
hate, jealousy, revenge, greed. He saw these passions in action in the
lives of people of all kinds and conditions. And he saw little else. The
reporter is a historian. And history is, as Gibbon says, for the most part
"a record of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind."
For many a man this has been a ruinous, one-sided development. Howard was
saved by his extremely intelligent, sympathetic point of view.
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