A Pirate of Parts

by Richard Neville

"Sure."

"Smith, did you ever look over a war map in any of the newspapers that had special correspondents on the spot?"

"Certainly I did."

"And read his description of the scene of action?"

"Yes, of course."

"And scan the scare headlines, telegraphic accounts of the battle, split up and continued into different parts of the paper?"

"Took in the whole shootin' match!"

"And after reading all this fine descriptive work did you chance to cast your eagle eye over the editorial columns?"

"Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't. Generally I give the editorial comments a rest."

"Now, then, let me ask you, after studying the war maps, and the diagrams, and the big heads, and telegraphic dispatches, and our own specials, etc., etc., and so forth, what conclusion did you come to on the subject?"