“I’m going to be a reporter,” Larry decided one day, when he had been on the paper three weeks. “I’m going to study and fix myself for a place on the Leader.”
He began to see the importance that a really good and conscientious reporter holds in a community. He heard the newspaper men telling of the well-known public men they interviewed, the events of the day they took part in, and all this fired his ambition to be one of the Leader’s reporters.
He spoke to his mother about it that evening and said he was going to attend night school.
“There’s a teacher in one of those schools who lives on the floor above,” said Mrs. Dexter. “I heard his wife talking to Mrs. Jackson the other day, and she mentioned it. His name is Professor Carlton.”
“I’m going up and ask him about it,” decided Larry, who, of late, had been getting in the habit of doing things quickly, as they did in the newspaper office.
Professor Carlton was at home, and Larry, after introducing himself, stated the object of his call.
“What do you want to study for?” asked the teacher.
“To be a reporter,” replied Larry.
“I’m afraid it will take more than study to make you that,” said Mr. Carlton. “You have to have a ‘nose for news’ I’m told.”
“I know,” said Larry, nodding gravely, “that’s what Mr. Emberg, the city editor, says.”