The much vaunted sense of news values commonly called a "nose for news,"
whether innate or acquired, is a prime requisite. Like the newspaper
reporter, the writer of special articles must be able to recognize what
at a given moment will interest the average reader. Like the reporter,
also, he must know how much it will interest him. An alert, responsive
attitude of mind toward everything that is going on in the world, and
especially in that part of the world immediately around him, will reveal
a host of subjects. By reading newspapers, magazines, and books, as well
as by intercourse with persons of various classes, a writer keeps in
contact with what people are thinking and talking about, in the world at
large and in his own community. In this way he finds subjects and also
learns how to connect his subjects with events and movements of interest
the country over.

Not only should he be quick to recognize a good subject; he must be able
to see the attractive and significant aspects of it. He must understand
which of its phases touch most closely the life and the interests of the
average person for whom he is writing. He must look at things from "the
other fellow's" point of view. A sympathetic insight into the lives of
his readers is necessary for every writer who hopes to quicken his
subject with vital interest.

The alert mental attitude that constantly focuses the writer's attention
on the men and women around him has been called "human curiosity," which
Arnold Bennett says "counts among the highest social virtues (as
indifference counts among the basest defects), because it leads to the
disclosure of the causes of character and temperament and thereby to a
better understanding of the springs of human conduct." The importance of
curiosity and of a keen sense of wonder has been emphasized as follows
by Mr. John M. Siddall, editor of the _American Magazine_, who directed