Christ, the King of Glory,
Born for us to-day!
When all of them—and there must have been three or four hundred—had made the “Visit to the Manger,” and were back in their seats once more, so many orderly rows of Sunday school children, instead of little pilgrims wandering a road far older than that which leads to Canterbury, the service was resumed, and soon came the recessional “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”[Pg 183]
The service over, the congregation, a very much excited array, was marshalled to the parish house in the rear of the church where the great Christmas tree and a gorgeous feast were awaiting them. There were moving pictures, too, that showed the journey of the Wise Men from the East and the Star that guided them.
Writing Obituaries. News stories of deaths, with the biographical sketch, or obituary, which usually accompanies such announcements in the case of men of more or less prominence, constitute another type that differs somewhat from general news stories. The essential facts for the lead are the name of the person, his position, his address, the cause of his death and the duration of his illness, the names of the members of his family that survive him, and any important circumstances connected with his death. The significance of his career, or an estimate of his life work, may often serve to connect the lead with the biography that follows. Every well organized newspaper office files biographies of well-known men of the city, state, or nation, when these are published in newspapers or magazines, or are furnished by news bureaus, so that they may be ready for instant use when an obituary is to be written. To this “morgue,” or “graveyard,” as it is called, the reporter or editor goes to get whatever material is on hand concerning the person whose obituary he is to write. “Who’s Who,” biographical dictionaries, city, county, and state histories, and other similar books of reference, furnish valuable data for biographies.
How a biographical sketch of a well-known man may be written up in the newspaper office when the news of his death is received, is shown in the following story of Dr. Koch and his work, which appeared in the Boston Transcript:
Baden Baden, May 28.—Professor Robert Koch, the famous bacteriologist, died here yesterday afternoon from a disease of the heart. He was born at Klausthal, Hanover, Dec. 11, 1843.
The name of Dr. Robert Koch is one of the most illustrious in that comparatively small group of the world’s great medical specialists. He was one of the very few men who have demonstrated entirely new principles and developed them to practical results.
Dr. Koch’s investigation of anthrax, to which Pasteur had devoted a great deal of attention, first brought him into general recognition as an authority. A visitation of cholera at Hamburg afforded him scope for experiments in that direction, and to Koch undoubtedly belongs the distinction of specifying and demonstrating the cholera bacillus. He was placed at the head of the cholera commission, and subsequently visited Egypt and India, when those countries were scourged by a cholera epidemic, his services being recognized by various decorations of honor and by a substantial honorarium of 100,000 marks ($20,000).
In the course of his cholera investigations he exemplified the fact that the bacillus, or active organism of the disease, seldom enters deeper than the living membrane of the intestines. His discoveries in demonstrating separately and specifying the bacillus or micro-organism of disease, have also contributed most valuable knowledge of the cause of typhoid fever and erysipelas.