r to the beginning. This may be done by
selecting the most interesting parts of the story--by picking out the
high spots, as it were. In this story the high spots are the attempted
robbery, the pursuit, and the arrest. The details that fill in between
are interesting, but not so interesting as these high spots. Hence these
high spots of interest must be pushed forward toward the beginning.
After the lead the story would begin at the beginning and tell the
affair briefly by high spots in their proper order. It might be
something like this:

| As Charles Young was closing his |
|grocery last evening a young man came in |
|and asked for a pound of butter. Young |
|turned to get it and his customer struck |
|him over the head with a chair. The |
|grocer grappled with his assailant and |
|they fell through the front door. In the |
|scramble, the robber broke away and ran |
|down Sixth street. A young woman who was |
|passing screamed and ran after him until |
|he disappeared into a saloon. |
| |
|The young woman called Policeman Smith, |
|who was standing nearby on Grand avenue, |
|and the latter found the would-be robber |
|on the roof of the saloon. After a |
|struggle, Smith arrested the man, with |
|the aid of another policeman. |

The above account tells us briefly the most interesting parts of the
story. A copyreader might not find it perfect, for the assault is
allotted too much space and the pursuit too little, but it tells the
story in its baldest aspect. This, with the lead, could be run alone.
However, perhaps the story is worth more space; at any rate, many
interesting details have been omitted. If so, go back to the most
interesting part of the story--the assault, perhaps, or the pursuit--and
tell it with more details. Then retell some other part with more
details. If your readers are interested enough to read beyond the first
three paragraphs they want details and will not be so particular about
the order--for they already know how the story is going to end.

This is one way of meeting the requirements of logical order and
dwindling interest. This is a particularly hard story to arrange in