Subheads. Besides writing headlines for stories, the copy-reader inserts subheads at intervals to break up the solid masses of type which are unrelieved except by paragraph division. These subheads make possible more rapid reading.
The subhead, which is set up either in bold face capitals or in bold face capitals and lower case, is like a cross-line head that does not fill the entire column width. The subhead should be an announcement in three or four words of the most significant point in the section of the story which it precedes. The same limitation as to the number of units exists as in any cross-line head. In a story of some length subheads are placed at intervals of about 200 words, and in shorter stories at intervals of from 100 to 150 words. The insertion of these subheads at comparatively regular intervals makes for symmetry of effect. Significant matter in the story, or an important change of topic, warrants a subhead, regardless of the regularity of the interval. It is generally considered preferable not to place a subhead immediately after a sentence ending with a colon and introducing a quotation, because the subhead interrupts the quotation and appears to be part of it. This difficulty can usually be avoided by placing the subhead just before the introductory sentence, thus:
NEW YORK, Dec. 14.—On the eve of his retirement from the post of British ambassador at Washington, which he has occupied with distinction for six years, James Bryce Saturday night paid an extraordinary tribute to the constitution of the United States. The occasion was the annual dinner of the Pennsylvania society of New York, and he spoke from the topic: “The Commemoration of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Framing of the Constitution of the United States.”
Work of Men of Genius.
The ambassador said in part:
“The constitution was the work of an extraordinary group of men such as has seldom been seen living at the same time in any country and such as had never been brought together in any other country to undertake the immensely difficult task of framing a fundamental instrument of government for a nation. The nation was then a small one, and it is one of the most striking tributes to the genius and foresight of the men that the frame of government which they designed for 37,000,000 people should have proved fitting to serve the needs of 93,000,000.”
Jump-Heads. When a story is continued from one page to another, a head called a jump-head, or “run-over” head, is placed above the continuation. This jump-head may be either the top deck of the head at the beginning set in the same type or in smaller type, or it may be a new head. Examples of jump-heads follow:
Two examples are provided. Each example is in two sections. The first section displays the head of a story from the first page and the second section displays the jump-head that is placed above the continuation of the story on another page.
The image above displays section | (1) | of the first example. It is the | First Page Head | of a story and is a conventional looking head made up of four decks of various forms. The decks say | FLAMES END LIVES OF TWO BABY BOYS |, | Children in Different Parts of City Meet Horrible Death at the Same Time. |, | BONFIRE IS FATAL TO ONE |, | The Other, Left With Sister, Is Found Blazing in Home by Passersby. |