DISTINGUISH HIMSELF
After he had been on the Argus for about a month, Herbert felt entirely
at home. He managed to get along very smoothly with all the members
of the staff. Blakeley, the city editor, was especially pleased with
the new addition to his local force. He found that he was punctual,
industrious and anxious to do his work to the very best of his ability.
The other reporters at the same time looked on him as an agreeable
fellow who was willing to do them a good turn whenever he had the
chance to do so. At the end of his second month on the paper he was
gratified at the receipt of an unsolicited increase in his salary. His
particular friend on the Argus, Francis Tomlin, obtained a promotion
at the same time; and the two young men put their heads together and
decided to seek a pleasant room near the office. After a search that
consumed nearly all the idle hours of a whole week, they finally
obtained an apartment which had the added advantage of a neat and well
kept bath-room. Herbert lost no time in removing his effects from the
modest quarters which he had occupied since his first arrival in New
York. The two young men were together very much, and the fact that they
were employed at night and had many hours of leisure during the day
gave them the chance of strolling about the city or seeking amusements
together at a time when most other men were busily engaged in their
trades and professions.
The new room, which was comfortably furnished in the first place,
rapidly grew more habitable through the skill and good taste of the
two reporters. The gift of a set of books from home first gave Herbert
the idea of accumulating a library. Tomlin joined with him, and in a
surprisingly short time they were the possessors of quite a valuable
little library which counted among its principal assets several
important books of reference.
One day Herbert was delighted to receive a visit from Mr. Anderson, who
had been his school-teacher for so many years in Cleverly. In honor of
the event he begged off from the office for the night, and secured a
similar privilege for Tomlin. The three men sat in the room till long
past midnight, chatting about books and newspapers and other topics of
a congenial nature. Mr. Anderson told the story of “barring out day” at
the school in Cleverly, and the recital was done so well that it filled
Tomlin with delight and caused him to laugh with such heartiness that
the tears fairly ran down his cheeks.
On another occasion a little later in the year Noah Brooks, the editor
of the Cleverly Banner, visited New York, and while in the city was
the guest of Herbert Harkins. The young man was very much pleased at
the thought of entertaining the veteran editor, who had been such a
good friend to him in Cleverly. He took Tomlin into his confidence,
and between them they planned a program which kept Mr. Brooks engaged
every minute of the day and night during his four days’ stay in the
metropolis. In fact Herbert exhausted his resources in showing the
visitor what he was pleased to call “the time of his life.” As the
three men walked along Broadway together, Mr. Brooks looking up at the
high buildings on either side of him, said musingly:
“Herbert, it’s been over forty years since I visited this town before,
and I want to say that there have been many changes since then.”
“I should say so,” replied Herbert, with a laugh; “in fact, although I
have been here only a few months I can see changes that are going on at
the present time.”
“Yes, many changes,” assented the old editor, nodding his head in
a reflective manner; “and these changes are not only in the big
buildings, but in the big men. I may be mistaken, but I don’t think
you produce the kind of men that we had in the days when I was in my
prime. However, I won’t insist on that. It may simply be the natural
thought of every old man.”
“Who would you regard as the most conspicuous man that was here when
you visited the city last?” asked Herbert, anxious to draw upon his
friend’s inexhaustible fund of recollections.
“Well,” he replied, “that’s a pretty hard question to answer after all
these years; but I think that perhaps good old Horace Greeley was the
best of them all. When I was here last I met him in the flesh. Now all
that you have of him is that statue in front of the Tribune Building
and the memory of his honest, old fashioned life.”
The old gentleman sighed at this as if he were not quite sure that the
good old times would ever come again. Indeed he was a type of man very
similar to the famous editor, whom he was accustomed to look upon as
the greatest man of his day and generation. Mr. Brooks was careless
in his dress, quaint in his manner and unyielding in his integrity.
Tomlin enjoyed the visit of the country editor, if anything, more than
Herbert; and he was really sorry when the trip came to an end, and he
went with Herbert to the depot to bid good-by to the whole-souled old
man.
In the meantime Herbert continued to make satisfactory progress in
the Argus office. He was receiving all kinds of assignments now, and
he soon had the reputation of being a man who did his work perfectly.
More than this, he was marked down as a reliable reporter, which is a
very important thing on any newspaper. The city editor felt that when
an assignment was placed in his hand it was sure to be covered and the
copy turned in at the earliest possible moment. One morning as they
were leaving the house together, Tomlin said to Herbert:
“Some day, old man, you will get a very big thing to do, and it may be
the means of either making or breaking you.”
The occasion came sooner than expected. That very morning the city
editor summoned Herbert to his private office, and said:
“See here, Harkins, I am going to give you a chance to show what there
is in you. I have here what I regard as a very delicate and difficult
piece of work. It requires perseverance, and I am willing to give you
the job if you will tell me that you will stick at it and never quit
until your efforts have been crowned with success. Can you give me that
promise?”
Herbert smiled at this vigorous presentation of the case, and said:
“Well, Mr. Blakeley, if it is a piece of newspaper work that comes
within my ability, I feel reasonably sure of coming out successful.”
“Well,” said the other, in his short, snappy tones, “here is a letter.
It’s a small clue as a starting point. Read it over, and then come back
to me.”
Herbert went to his desk and read the letter as directed. It was from a
poor woman who had been induced to send $2 of her hard earned money to
a concern which promised to teach her how to paint on china within two
weeks, and after that time to furnish her with steady employment which
would pay her anywhere from $10 to $20 a week, according to her speed
and ability. She said in her letter that she had sent the money, and
in return received a flimsy circular which gave some crude and utterly
impracticable directions of how to paint. The thing was worthless to
her and her $2 wasted.
When Herbert had finished reading this, he returned to Blakeley and
said:
“Have you any further directions?”
“No,” was the reply, “you will have to work on your own resources from
now on. I suppose that eventually the postal authorities will hear of
this swindle and refuse to permit this sort of thing to go through the
mails; but in the meantime we know about it and we want to get the
credit of stopping it at once. You take the address of this woman and
go ahead and see what you can make of it.”
Herbert called upon the woman that afternoon, and in less than an hour
had obtained a very good story from her, backed up by a sworn statement
of her experience with the concern. At the same time he learned the
names and addresses of ten other persons who had been swindled in a
similar manner. Altogether four days were consumed in visiting and
interviewing these persons. Some of them who had natural ability, had
learned to paint on china in spite of the bungling directions sent out
by the concern; but when they wrote to the company and asked for the
employment that was to pay them from $10 to $20 a week their letters
were ignored. Altogether the young reporter had what might be called a
first class story. When he had all of his facts in good shape he went
to the city editor again, and said:
“Mr. Blakeley, I want you to give me authority to employ a private
detective. I have everything in perfect condition at present, and all
I need is the climax, which I hope to bring about at noon to-morrow.
In other words, it is necessary to arrest someone connected with this
concern. If we do this, I will have plenty of witnesses, and we can
have the scoundrel held for court.”
“Capital! Capital!” shouted Blakeley. “I will give you the authority to
employ a detective at once. How do you propose going about it?”
“That is quite simple,” answered Herbert; “the company has a box in
the post office. I have sent a decoy letter, which should be placed
in the box between eleven and twelve o’clock to-morrow. They probably
employ a go-between, or a messenger, who gathers up the letters and
takes them to the head swindler. We must arrest this person, whoever
he is, and probably with a little ingenuity we may be able to extort
a confession from him, and then go after the other fellows. In the
meantime I am going back to my room and will start to typewrite the
story. I have it blocked out, so that we can make a full page scare
out of it. We ought to have a picture of the man who comes after the
letters, and then, if possible, a photograph of the head swindler, and
interviews with all the victims.”
Blakeley looked at the young man with admiration written in every line
of his countenance. He put out his short, pudgy hand, and slapped
Herbert on the back.
“Harkins, you are all right. You’ll do. Go ahead, my boy, and I wish
you luck in your undertaking.”