Newspaper Writing and Editing

by Willard Grosvenor Bleyer

The bewhiskered dog catcher is no respecter of persons or of dogs. The high and low are the same to him, and he recognizes no distinction between the poodle and the fice. And so Thursday afternoon he gathered in the little pet of the children of the Home of the Friendless.

True, it was the pet of these little unfortunates. True, that they had raised this little dog, and that now it was only seven months old—not old enough to know about Atlanta’s dog law. Still, Jerry had no tag, and tagless Jerry therefore must take his place in the blue wagon and must await his turn to be ducked to death.

The children had no money and so could not pay the dollar for the tag. Now that the dog was arrested, still less did they have the $2.25 necessary to save him from a watery grave.

One and all they went to bed with heavy hearts, and as they knelt down beside their beds they did not forget to put in a word for “Poor Jerry!”

Friday morning the pangs of sorrow were too great, and their grief burst forth in wails. Jerry had been a companion to them, a faithful friend and a source of solace and comfort. He had never deserted them—and then Jerry was theirs, had been fed by them, raised by them, taught by them.

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They knew it was not their fault he had not been tagged, and also they knew that Jerry was not to blame. And so they appealed to the superintendent. They begged, pleaded, cried. Nothing would suffice but the restoration of their fice.

The superintendent appealed to the mayor, the mayor to the probation officer, and now the probation officer is trying to touch the heart of the dog catcher.

All of the children are writing letters to city officials. “The cook got mad with Jerry,” writes little Ruth Wilson, “because he stole two of Mother Henry’s chickens, but Jerry didn’t mean any harm. Cook gave the dog to the dog catcher. We have got all the cats we want, but only one little dog—and that is Jerry. Please give him back to us, for we love him very much.”

5. With the facts given in the news story below as a basis, write a pathetic feature story.