his advice to college students interested in the opportunities afforded
by writing as a profession:

A journalist or writer must have consuming curiosity about other
human beings--the most intense interest in their doings and motives
and thoughts. It comes pretty near being the truth to say that a
great journalist is a super-gossip--not about trivial things but
about important things. Unless a man has a ceaseless desire to learn
what is going on in the heads of others, he won't be much of a
journalist--for how can you write about others unless you know about
others?

In journalism men are needed who have a natural sense of wonder....
You must wonder at man's achievements, at man's stupidity, at his
honesty, crookedness, courage, cowardice--at everything that is
remarkable about him wherever and whenever it appears. If you
haven't this sense of wonder, you will never write a novel or become
a great reporter, because you simply won't see anything to write
about. Men will be doing amazing things under your very eyes--and
you won't even know it.

Ability to investigate a subject thoroughly, and to gather material
accurately, is absolutely necessary for any writer who aims to do
acceptable work. Careless, inaccurate writers are the bane of the
magazine editor's life. Whenever mistakes appear in an article, readers
are sure to write to the editor calling his attention to them. Moreover,
the discovery of incorrect statements impairs the confidence of readers
in the magazine. If there is reason to doubt the correctness of any data
in an article, the editor takes pains to check over the facts carefully
before publication. He is not inclined to accept work a second time from