“It’s all right, Commissioner,” said Pattison. “We must expect such things in our business.”
When they heard he was to leave the hospital yesterday his comrades in the West Thirtieth Station determined he should see there were other things in “our business” and that “our business” wasn’t entirely the suppression of emotion.
So last night the men of the Tenderloin Station made up a purse. Some of it was set aside to pay for a taxicab for the long trip from the hospital to the policeman’s home in New Brighton, Staten Island, and the rest went to Broadway florists. Inspector George McClusky and Captain Samuel McElroy rode in the flower-filled cab to the hospital. There they were met by Miss Mary Lynch, who will be married to the policeman as soon as he is fully recovered.
She led them to Pattison and they told him everybody in the department knew he was a man and that Miss Lynch would never regret her marriage to him. And he needn’t worry about his future, for his pay would be the same, though he would be a clerk at Headquarters when he was able to go to work again.
There were tears in Pattison’s eyes as he tried to thank everybody for the good feeling displayed. Then he was helped down the stairs. When he found the taxicab was almost filled with flowers he didn’t trust himself to speak, but wrung the hands of his friends.
Then, with his fiancée among the flowers, he started for his mother’s home, while inspector and captain waved their caps.
IV. Write a feature story of not more than 1,000 words, on any topic that you believe people would like to read about. The following are given as suggestive of the possibilities of a small town: The oldest house in town; how the streets were named; an interview with the railroad station agent on the people he meets; if a college town, a story of the students who earn their own expenses; organized charities--get the human side; hunters’ licenses--number--revenue from--women hunters, if any--possibly talks with some of the hunters; birth rate for a given period compared with the death rate; marriage licenses--minors who have been married--the favorite month for weddings; collections of antiquities; recent improvements, such as street paving; condition of the city jail; the oldest man; the oldest woman; persons in town above the age of 90; women’s clubs; the public schools--how the attendance compares with that of previous years--talks with the superintendent and teachers on their work and plans; former citizens who have become famous; the moving picture shows--how many attend daily--talks with the show managers about the growth of the moving picture business; any unusual industry, such as the making of corn-cob pipes; number of automobiles in town--condition of the country roads--farmers who own automobiles; the public library--what books are most read--effect of the seasons on the number and character of the books read; the post office--amount of stamp sales--odd addresses on letters--hardships of rural route carriers. The list might be extended indefinitely.