“Gladly,” replied Herbert.
From that day he felt an added importance, although he did not show it by act or word. He must have had a natural instinct for the newspaper business, for everything moved along with remarkable smoothness and despite the fact that he had to labor incessantly he was fond of his work.
Subscribers noticed an improvement in the Banner. The local paragraphs became more numerous and were filled with human interest. The editorials also were crisp and to the point. Indeed they became a decided feature of the paper whereas they were formerly accepted as a painful necessity. One day an old reader of the paper who came in to renew his subscription to the paper, said:
“I want to congratulate you on the good paper you are getting out. This is especially true of the editorial columns. I find the comment on the news to be short and snappy. This is much better than the long articles which used to be more or less instructive, but generally as dull as sermons. How do you do it? You must have some secret method. What is it?”
Herbert smiled at this sweeping praise. He pointed to a little motto which hung over his desk.
“I don’t know,” he said, “unless it is because I follow the advice on that card.”
The little inscription to which he pointed said simply:
“Brevity is the soul of wit.”
“That is as true to-day,” he remarked, “as when it was first penned by the great poet.”
Herbert did not tell his caller one of the means he had used to arrive at such a desirable end. When he began writing editorials he found himself almost unconsciously padding them out to a half column and a column in length. He pondered long and earnestly over the means of breaking himself of the habit. Finally he hit on a plan which was as simple as it was effective. He cut his copy paper in such a length that it would not hold more than eight or ten lines. When he got an idea for an editorial comment, he endeavored to express it clearly and pointedly in the number of words that would go on the small sheet of paper. At first it was a very difficult task, but practice makes perfect, and at length he found that he could do it with comparative ease and eventually reached the state of things which had won him unstinted praise.