A good newspaper is likely to use almost all the important forms of prose. One of these forms - the news item - merits special attention because of its importance and the opportunity it gives for practice in prose construction. The news item is an account of some current event. It may deal with practically any subject, but it must be clear, terse, forcible, and lively. It may be narrative, description, or exposition. Sometimes the writer may wish to make a "story" from few facts, but usually the "maximum of thought in the minimum of words" is the safest guide in composing a news item. This does not mean that it is to be nothing but a bare statement of facts. The circulation of a paper depends upon the interest its readers have in everyday things, and the paper must tell about these things in an interesting way. Practice in writing news items, even when we expect never to write for a newspaper, will be excellent training, especially in narrative composition.

The following items clipped from a newspaper should be examined carefully:

Colorado Coldest For Years

From 15 to 32 Degrees below Zero for more than Two Weeks.

Sugar City, Col., Jan. 2. - With the mercury ranging from 15 to 32 degrees below zero for more than two weeks, and with from twelve to eighteen inches of snow covering the ground, southern and eastern Colorado are experiencing the most severe and prolonged period of cold weather that has been reported for many years. Cattle, it is said, are dying from hunger by the hundreds, owing to the deep snow covering the range grass.

Yale Defeats Cornell

Hockey Team springs a Surprise upon the Ithaca.

Aggregation.

About the greatest surprise of the hockey season to date, was the defeat of Cornell in Syracuse, N.Y., last evening, by the Yale seven. The score was 5 to 1, and it does not tell fully how marked was the superiority of Yale. Dean, who played at goal for Cornell, was the busiest man on the ice, trying to stop the many shots directed his way. The fact that he succeeded so many times in intercepting the puck was the only bright feature to Cornell's work.

First To Hear Mark Twain's Humor

James W. McDaniel, who was the first literary adviser of Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), died suddenly on Monday at his home in Hannibal, Mo. In a magazine article published a short time before Mark Twain's death, the author said when he first began to write humorous stories, he always tried them on McDaniel before he had them published. If the stories made McDaniel laugh, so the humorist wrote, he always felt assured they would please the public.

Exercises

495. (1) Criticize the first news item, showing whether it is clear, terse, forcible, and lively. (2) Write a similar news item.

496. Select the item you consider the best from the point of view of both expression and interest. Explain your choice.

497. Select from a newspaper six news items - three that you consider good, three that you consider poor. Rewrite the last three items, and be prepared to show how you have improved them.

498. Write brief news items suitable for the school paper on any three of the following subjects:

1. A Prominent Graduate of the School.

2. A Baseball Game.

3. The Mid-year Examination.

4. Lincoln Day Exercises.

5. A New Piano for the Hall.

6. The Number of Pupils in the Entering Class.