“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?”