A big thank you to GypsyRuth and Cards for being my sole two reviewers this
time around! It means a lot. Hope you enjoy the latest installment.
Before entering the imposing offices of the New York Sun, Katie carefully pinned a hat on her head and smoothed her dress the best she could. She didn't want to walk into Brian Denton's office looking like the naïve newcomer she most certainly was. She kept her eyes down and avoided the questioning glances of the newsmen as she sought out Brian Denton's office. The haggard looking men were obviously not used to seeing attractive young women in their dingy smoke-clouded lair. Brian's office, as it turned out, was not really an office, so much as a desk with a typewriter and a wastepaper basket pushed against one of the walls, slightly apart from the other desks in the long room. His colleagues were on their way to lunch in some similarly gloomy diner a block away from the office and Denton looked ready to join them after organizing one last time the stacks of paper on his desk when Katie approached him, trying to look confident with her heart in her throat.
He looked up at the sound of her footsteps and smiled warmly to see his friend's sister again. "Well Katie, how nice to see you again." He motioned to a chair on the other side of the desk and Katie sat down, smiling nervously. "How's your brother holding up? I'm so sorry I wasn't able to find a job for him here; I know how badly he wants to get working again." He looked at her sympathetically.
"Thank you so much for your concern Mr. Denton." He held his hand up in a warning gesture. "Brian," she corrected herself. "We're getting by just fine."
"I had a feeling," he said, smiling. "So, what can I do for you today?" His friendly tone and relaxed attitude put her at ease, and although she still fervently hoped he would accept her story, she no longer felt so nervous that the prospect of emptying the contents of her stomach onto his desk seemed imminent.
"Well," she began, clearing her throat, "I was hoping you'd take a look at something I've written."
"Why of course; I'd love to."
She hastily removed a sheet of paper from her pocket and handed it to the man across the desk. He glanced at it and whistled through his teeth.
"You wrote my newsboy follow-up for me?"
"Yes, I was hoping that.well, I was hoping." she realized for the first time just how foolish what she had been hoping for was. How could she, a young girl who couldn't even hold down a job at a knitting mill, possibly even hope to be published in a paper like the Sun? Brian impatiently held up his hand to silence her stammering as he read what she had written.
How Newsboys Changed the World by Katie Smith
Joseph Pulitzer's multimillion-dollar enterprise has not been left unscathed in the aftermath of the newsboys' strike of last spring. In the wake of the public's uprising in defense of the working children of New York City, supported largely by Governor Theodore Roosevelt, the New York World has taken various measures to improve the working conditions of its underage employees. In addition to revoking his earlier price augmentation of one tenth of a cent per paper to each working newsboy, aides to Mr. Pulitzer have also commissioned vaudeville performances free of charge for the newsboys to celebrate most major holidays. The first of these charity events will take place December 24 at Manhattan's Irving Hall and will be spearheaded by the building's proprietress, Miss Medda Larkson, locally known as the Swedish Meadowlark and a woman who, ironically, was strongly linked to the newsboy's cause during their brief but effective battle against Pulitzer and his newspaper empire. If all goes well with the Christmas performance, other engagements may follow to celebrate Easter and Independence Day.
When asked to comment on the recent reforms made by Pulitzer and his staff, many newsboys expressed suspicion as to their employer's motives. A newsboy known as Kid Blink expressed his widely held opinion in an interview granted to this reporter in the November following the strike. "Pulitzer would never do anything good for nobody unless he could see something good for himself in the bargain. If you ask me, the guy's just as ready to stab us in the back as he is to give us something for nothing." Although a few newsboys, including one referred to as Crutchy, seem to be willing to believe that Joseph Pulitzer is truly attempting to change for the better after the realization of his moral misdeeds, the prevailing opinion among the young workers seems to be that of Kid Blink. Larkson expressed a similar opinion and gave the newsboys themselves, in particular a certain Jack Kelly, who declined to comment for this article, a great deal of credit for changing their own working conditions. During an interview, the star of the vaudeville stage was quoted as saying, "Those boys certainly did stop the World in its tracks and made sure Pulitzer knew the sun wasn't rising again without the help of the newsies." Joseph Pulitzer and the administrative staff at the New York World declined to comment on their reforms.
"Hmm," he said when he had finished, leaning back in his chair and chuckling softly.
She held her breath, waiting for his reaction. A little put-off by his chuckling, she leaned forward and asked, with her brow furrowed, "What? What is it? Is it that bad?" hoping she didn't sound too eager for his approval.
"Bad? No. On the contrary, it's quite a good newspaper article. I especially like the way you stuck it to old Joe Pulitzer in the end. Declined to comment." He chuckled again. She smiled in relief. "However, a good newspaper article is not at all what I expected from you. Just recounting the news, it lacks the real passion for the written word that I got a glimpse of the other night in your apartment. When you just stick to the facts, you don't get a chance to express the feelings, the emotions that I know you have." Her smile faded, thinking of the pages and pages of raw emotion she had poured into her little writing tablet that she had deemed unacceptable for a news article, and rapidly seeing her dreams of a byline in the Sun fading. "Nonetheless," he continued, "it is a well written article." Her mood brightened. "I'm going to talk to my editor and see what I can do to get this published. Now I can't promise you much of a paycheck."
"No, of course not," she babbled excitedly.
".but maybe he'll consider it since it didn't exactly involve him paying any of his staff writers to do the grunt work. It is really a very well written piece Katie, but keep in mind what I said about expressing yourself. Ideally, that's what a real writer does. I'll be in touch. Now, I'm sorry to rush off, but if you'll just excuse me, I have an interview to get to across town in thirty minutes."
"Of course! Oh, thank you so much Brian!" She had to fight off her sudden urge to hug him harder and tighter than she'd ever hugged anyone before in her life.
Turning to go, Brian stopped her with a question. "Katie, did Jack really refuse to answer your questions for this article?"
She smiled in response. "No, I just didn't think the public would be very interested to hear more of his self-adulation." She shrugged as Brian barked with laughter.
As she stepped out of the Sun building into the chill wind, Katie couldn't restrain her ear-to-ear grin as the vision of her story on the front page rushed back into her mind's eye with startling clarity.
Before entering the imposing offices of the New York Sun, Katie carefully pinned a hat on her head and smoothed her dress the best she could. She didn't want to walk into Brian Denton's office looking like the naïve newcomer she most certainly was. She kept her eyes down and avoided the questioning glances of the newsmen as she sought out Brian Denton's office. The haggard looking men were obviously not used to seeing attractive young women in their dingy smoke-clouded lair. Brian's office, as it turned out, was not really an office, so much as a desk with a typewriter and a wastepaper basket pushed against one of the walls, slightly apart from the other desks in the long room. His colleagues were on their way to lunch in some similarly gloomy diner a block away from the office and Denton looked ready to join them after organizing one last time the stacks of paper on his desk when Katie approached him, trying to look confident with her heart in her throat.
He looked up at the sound of her footsteps and smiled warmly to see his friend's sister again. "Well Katie, how nice to see you again." He motioned to a chair on the other side of the desk and Katie sat down, smiling nervously. "How's your brother holding up? I'm so sorry I wasn't able to find a job for him here; I know how badly he wants to get working again." He looked at her sympathetically.
"Thank you so much for your concern Mr. Denton." He held his hand up in a warning gesture. "Brian," she corrected herself. "We're getting by just fine."
"I had a feeling," he said, smiling. "So, what can I do for you today?" His friendly tone and relaxed attitude put her at ease, and although she still fervently hoped he would accept her story, she no longer felt so nervous that the prospect of emptying the contents of her stomach onto his desk seemed imminent.
"Well," she began, clearing her throat, "I was hoping you'd take a look at something I've written."
"Why of course; I'd love to."
She hastily removed a sheet of paper from her pocket and handed it to the man across the desk. He glanced at it and whistled through his teeth.
"You wrote my newsboy follow-up for me?"
"Yes, I was hoping that.well, I was hoping." she realized for the first time just how foolish what she had been hoping for was. How could she, a young girl who couldn't even hold down a job at a knitting mill, possibly even hope to be published in a paper like the Sun? Brian impatiently held up his hand to silence her stammering as he read what she had written.
How Newsboys Changed the World by Katie Smith
Joseph Pulitzer's multimillion-dollar enterprise has not been left unscathed in the aftermath of the newsboys' strike of last spring. In the wake of the public's uprising in defense of the working children of New York City, supported largely by Governor Theodore Roosevelt, the New York World has taken various measures to improve the working conditions of its underage employees. In addition to revoking his earlier price augmentation of one tenth of a cent per paper to each working newsboy, aides to Mr. Pulitzer have also commissioned vaudeville performances free of charge for the newsboys to celebrate most major holidays. The first of these charity events will take place December 24 at Manhattan's Irving Hall and will be spearheaded by the building's proprietress, Miss Medda Larkson, locally known as the Swedish Meadowlark and a woman who, ironically, was strongly linked to the newsboy's cause during their brief but effective battle against Pulitzer and his newspaper empire. If all goes well with the Christmas performance, other engagements may follow to celebrate Easter and Independence Day.
When asked to comment on the recent reforms made by Pulitzer and his staff, many newsboys expressed suspicion as to their employer's motives. A newsboy known as Kid Blink expressed his widely held opinion in an interview granted to this reporter in the November following the strike. "Pulitzer would never do anything good for nobody unless he could see something good for himself in the bargain. If you ask me, the guy's just as ready to stab us in the back as he is to give us something for nothing." Although a few newsboys, including one referred to as Crutchy, seem to be willing to believe that Joseph Pulitzer is truly attempting to change for the better after the realization of his moral misdeeds, the prevailing opinion among the young workers seems to be that of Kid Blink. Larkson expressed a similar opinion and gave the newsboys themselves, in particular a certain Jack Kelly, who declined to comment for this article, a great deal of credit for changing their own working conditions. During an interview, the star of the vaudeville stage was quoted as saying, "Those boys certainly did stop the World in its tracks and made sure Pulitzer knew the sun wasn't rising again without the help of the newsies." Joseph Pulitzer and the administrative staff at the New York World declined to comment on their reforms.
"Hmm," he said when he had finished, leaning back in his chair and chuckling softly.
She held her breath, waiting for his reaction. A little put-off by his chuckling, she leaned forward and asked, with her brow furrowed, "What? What is it? Is it that bad?" hoping she didn't sound too eager for his approval.
"Bad? No. On the contrary, it's quite a good newspaper article. I especially like the way you stuck it to old Joe Pulitzer in the end. Declined to comment." He chuckled again. She smiled in relief. "However, a good newspaper article is not at all what I expected from you. Just recounting the news, it lacks the real passion for the written word that I got a glimpse of the other night in your apartment. When you just stick to the facts, you don't get a chance to express the feelings, the emotions that I know you have." Her smile faded, thinking of the pages and pages of raw emotion she had poured into her little writing tablet that she had deemed unacceptable for a news article, and rapidly seeing her dreams of a byline in the Sun fading. "Nonetheless," he continued, "it is a well written article." Her mood brightened. "I'm going to talk to my editor and see what I can do to get this published. Now I can't promise you much of a paycheck."
"No, of course not," she babbled excitedly.
".but maybe he'll consider it since it didn't exactly involve him paying any of his staff writers to do the grunt work. It is really a very well written piece Katie, but keep in mind what I said about expressing yourself. Ideally, that's what a real writer does. I'll be in touch. Now, I'm sorry to rush off, but if you'll just excuse me, I have an interview to get to across town in thirty minutes."
"Of course! Oh, thank you so much Brian!" She had to fight off her sudden urge to hug him harder and tighter than she'd ever hugged anyone before in her life.
Turning to go, Brian stopped her with a question. "Katie, did Jack really refuse to answer your questions for this article?"
She smiled in response. "No, I just didn't think the public would be very interested to hear more of his self-adulation." She shrugged as Brian barked with laughter.
As she stepped out of the Sun building into the chill wind, Katie couldn't restrain her ear-to-ear grin as the vision of her story on the front page rushed back into her mind's eye with startling clarity.