DOING “SPECIAL” WORK UPON THE EVENING PAPER--INTERVIEWS WITH FAMOUS
MEN--CALLS UPON OLD FRIENDS.
THERE was so much to tell Mr. Jennings and Mr. Van Bunting, that Archie
didn’t get away from the Enterprise office until seven o’clock in the
evening. And what a lot they did say to each other during the afternoon!
Archie told of all his experiences, and found them all anxious to hear
about them. He learned, to his joy, that everything he had sent had been
printed, and that the articles had made a great hit with the public. “We
would have liked to keep you there longer, but we knew you must be worn
out, and then we want you to stay right here, now, and see if you
cannot get us some good interviews and articles of various kinds for the
Evening Enterprise. The paper has been losing ground somewhat, of late,
and we need some new life for its pages. Of course the morning paper
profited greatly by your articles, but the evening edition seemed very
weak in comparison, and we think it only fair to Mr. Jennings to let
him have you on his staff for awhile now. So if you are willing, you can
start in to-morrow as a member of the staff. We will see that you are
well paid for what you write, or we will put you on salary, whichever
you like. You can think it over, and in the morning you can tell us
which plan you like best.”
Archie wanted to ask for a few days’ absence to return home, but he
felt, somehow, that he ought not to ask it just now. So he contented
himself with writing a long letter to his mother, in which he enclosed a
very large check, money which he had not used on his return to New York.
He told her that he would be home just as soon as he could get off for
any length of time, and he knew that she would now be looking forward to
the visit every day. She had written him about the enthusiasm displayed
by every one over his achievements, and how proud she was of what he
had accomplished. “I think I am the proudest mother in the country,” she
wrote one day, and this sentence made Archie very happy, of course, and
more anxious than ever to return home. He received a letter, too, from
Jack Sullivan, telling him how much the boys all thought of his success,
and how every member of the Hut Club had longed time and again to be
with him. “It all reads just like some book,” Jack wrote, “and we are
dying to have you come home and tell us all about it.” Then his mother
sent him clippings from the town papers, eulogising his efforts, and
calling him the “coming man of the State.” All this was very pleasant
and very encouraging, and Archie couldn’t help having a kindly feeling
for the townsfolk who thought so much of him.
New York was as delightful as ever. It was now the last of April, and
the trees were all green with fresh leaves, and the numerous little
parks scattered over the city were looking their very best. The asphalt
pavements looked clean and elegant when Archie thought of some other
streets he had seen, and the tall office buildings lifted their ornate
domes and cupolas into a sky of clear blue. “Surely,” he thought to
himself, “this is the most charming city in all the world.” Fifth
Avenue, with its crowds of fashionable folk, and its throng of vehicles,
was a delight of which he never tired, and when he went into the
Bowery, just to see how things were looking now, he found it quite as
interesting and as dirty as in the fall.
But the first place he visited was the dear little square away
down-town, where he had lived during those few happy days spent in New
York. It, too, looked the same, only the flowers and grass were fresher
now, and the fountain seemed to flow more joyously, now that spring was
here. The house where he had lodged was as clean as ever, and Archie
at once decided to engage a room here, where he could have his New York
home. So he called upon the motherly landlady, and was glad to learn
that the room he had first was still vacant, and that he could take
possession at once.
As before, when he came to this house, Archie was almost out of
clothing, so he went out and fitted himself with everything he needed.
And this time he felt able to buy the best to be had, for he thought he
had now earned the privilege to dress well if he liked. And then, when
he had everything he needed to wear, he went out and bought many pretty
things for his room, for he felt that he would like to have it just as
cosy and home-like as possible. He wasn’t able to do much at it this
first night, but in the succeeding days he furnished the place in a
charming way, so that the landlady said it was the “handsomest room in
the house, sir.” The dear old lady could hardly understand this great
change in her lodger’s circumstances. She worried about it very often,
and discussed the question with many of the neighbours. “He come here
last fall looking mighty poor-like, but, lawsy me, he’s as fine now as
any man on the avenue.” And she never did understand it until one day
she learned that her lodger was the “very young man who had been to the
war in the Philippines, and writ about his battles in the Enterprise.”
There was no ceremony when Archie began work on the evening paper. Mr.
Jennings told him that he thought they understood each other pretty
well, and that he could use his own discretion, very often, about
getting articles. “You can be as independent as you like, Archie,” he
said, “and use your own ideas as much as you like.” This pleased the boy
very much indeed. He was beginning to feel now that he had really won
his spurs, and that he was a full-fledged journalist. It seemed scarcely
possible that it had taken him little more than six months to make
this great advance in circumstances, and yet he could see himself a few
months previous, sleeping in the station-house. Now his days of poverty
were surely over, and he would have a clear path ahead of him to
accomplish his great ambition to be a successful author and writer of
books. For the present, it was good experience for him to be working
upon the Enterprise, and he felt that he ought to be very much
contented, since there were men old enough to be his father who were not
earning as much money.
He liked the work upon the evening paper very much. He didn’t have to
get down early in the morning, and at three o’clock in the afternoon
he was always through. He was very glad indeed that there was no night
work, for he now spent his evenings in studying shorthand, which he
thought might be helpful to him in many ways. He didn’t have much
routine work to do upon the paper in the beginning, but he told Mr.
Jennings that he would like to get as much experience as possible, so
the good editor gave him a lot of regular reporting to do, as well as
the special work which was daily featured in the paper. This special
work consisted of interviews with various successful men. Archie had
always felt a great admiration for men who had “done something,” and
as New York was simply filled with wealthy and successful men, who had
started as poor boys, he found a wide field for work. He found it very
interesting to meet these men of affairs, and have them tell him of
their early struggles, how they had begun on the farm or in the factory,
and had worked themselves up through industry and perseverance to the
high places they now occupied. He found it very easy to get access
to most of them, for they had all read of his experiences in the
Enterprise, and Archie found that his fame as the “Boy Reporter” was
quite general and widespread. Some of the great men were quite as much
determined to interview him as he was anxious to interview them, so
that he usually got along very well by telling them first of his own
experiences, and then asking them about their own boyhood days. It
was work that never became monotonous, for each day he saw a man quite
different in most respects from the man he had interviewed the day
before, and of course every one had something different to say.
These interviews proved very successful when published in the Evening
Enterprise, and Mr. Jennings had him continue them during all the weeks
Archie was connected with the paper. And of course he did other things,
too, work which took him into every part of the great city, looking
up this event, or investigating this reported disappearance or murder.
Archie was quite successful in this line, too, and, as he was being paid
by the column, his weekly income was something larger than he had ever
dared to hope for in all his life. He was now enabled to study his
stenography at the best school, and to indulge himself in many things
which had been denied him before. He could, for instance, attend the
performances of grand opera, and hear the great musical artists of the
world. He was able, too, to read the best literature, and he gradually
learned to appreciate all the many good things in life. He was very glad
to find himself broadening in such a way, for he realised that he
would not always want to be a “Boy Reporter,” and that he had better be
developing his mind in every possible way.
He had not been back long in New York before he met all his old friends.
One of the first upon whom he called was the good policeman who had been
so very kind to him when he had no place to sleep. The large-hearted man
was as enthusiastic over his success as if he had been his own son,
and Archie felt that here was one true friend upon whom he could always
depend. The policeman never tired of telling about that first night when
he found Archie walking up and down Broadway, and he always spoke of him
to the other officers as “that boy of mine.” So the boy, who was now a
full-fledged reporter, spent as much time with this friend as possible,
and many a time he sat at the station-house telling them all of his
adventures in the Orient.
Another friend whom he met was the great railway president with whom he
had travelled to Chicago on his way to San Francisco. Archie had liked
this man from the very first, and he felt that in him he would
always find a friend, because he had shown such interest in his first
undertaking. And when he called upon him in his elegant office, he
received a very cordial greeting.
“No, indeed,” said the great man of affairs, “I have never forgotten our
trip West together, and I have followed you with much interest through
the columns of the Enterprise. And I am glad that you are back again in
New York, for I hope to see a great deal of you. You must come up to my
house some evening and tell us all about yourself.”
Archie was naturally much surprised to receive an invitation of this
kind, but he resolved to accept it, nevertheless.
Bill Hickson was now employed in the Brooklyn navy yard. He had been
featured for several days in the Enterprise, and had enjoyed the
excitement of New York for awhile, but he decided he would like to be at
work. So one day Archie learned that he was working at the navy yard.
“I’ve got to be with Uncle Sam,” was all the reason Bill would give for
his action.