He meets the noted men and women
of the city. Suddenly from the city editor's desk his ambition turns
to Washington. He succeeds there. He now comes into the presence of
distinguished ambassadors, ministers and diplomatists. He acquires a
polish and a smattering of the languages. His work becomes a feature
of his paper. The president chooses him for a friend; he comes and
goes as he wills. Presently his eye furtively wanders to Europe. The
highest ambition of a journalist, next to being a war correspondent, is
to have a foreign post. In this capacity he meets the notable men and
women of all countries; he speaks to princes and grand dukes and
crowned heads. In a way he becomes a personage himself, a man whom
great men seek. And he speaks of the world as the poet did of the fall
of Pompeii, 'Part of which I was and all of which I saw.' Ah," as my
mind ran back over my own experiences, "what man with this to gain
would care for money; a thing which would dull his imagination and take
away the keen edge of ambition, and make him play a useless part in
this kingly drama of life!"
"I like your frankness," said Pembroke.
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