"
"It would be a small matter to bribe him off, Jack, of course, you do
not need the money now, but that is no sign you may not in the days to
come. I have known many journalists; they were ever improvident. I
want to make an exception in your case. You understand; the money is
for your old age."
"Let me tell you why a newspaper man is improvident. He earns money
only to spend it. He has a fine scorn for money as money. He cares
more for what a dollar spent has bought than what five saved might buy."
"Poor creditors!" was the melancholy interpolation.
I passed over this, and went on: "It is the work which absorbs his
whole attention. He begins at the bottom of the ladder, which is in
the garret. First, he is running about the streets at two and three in
the morning, in rain and snow and fog. The contact with the lower
classes teaches him many things. He becomes the friend of the
policeman and the vagabond. And as his mind grows broader his heart
grows in proportion. It is the comparing of the great and small which
makes us impartial and philosophical. Well, soon the reporter gets
better assignments and shorter hours.
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