r a
particularly large story. But he gets his tips and runs down his facts
just as a reporter does. Just as much alertness and just as much ability
to write are required of him.

The correspondent's work is made more difficult by what is called news
values. Distance affects the importance of the facts that he secures and
the length of the stories he writes. He must weigh every event for its
interest to readers a hundred or a thousand miles away. What may be of
immense importance in his community may have no interest at all for
readers outside that community. He must see everything with the eyes of
a stranger, and this must influence his whole work of news gathering
and news writing. This matter will be taken up at greater length in the
next chapter.

=9. Correspondent's Relation to His Paper.=--The relations of a
correspondent to the paper or news association to which he is sending
news can best be learned by experience. Every paper has different rules
for its correspondents and different directions in regard to the sort of
news it wants. The rules regarding the mailing of copy and the sending
of stories or queries by telegraph are usually sent out in printed form
by each individual paper to its correspondents. But while gathering news
and writing stories for a distant paper, a correspondent must always
regard himself as a reporter and write his stories in the form in which
they are to appear in print if he wishes to remain correspondent for any
length of time. The following rules are taken from the "INSTRUCTIONS TO
CORRESPONDENTS" sent out on a printed card to the correspondents of the
St. Louis _Star_:

QUERY BY WIRE ON ALL STORIES you consider are worth
telegraphing, unless you are absolutely certain _The Star_
wants you to send the story without query, or in case of a big
story breaking suddenly near edition time. If you have not time
to query, get a reply and send such matter as might be ordered
before the next edition time; send the story in the shortest
possible number of words necessary to tell it, asking if
additional matter is desired.

Write your queries so they can be understood. Never send a
"blind" query. If John Smith, a confirmed bachelor, whose age is
80 years, elopes with and marries the daughter of the woman who
jilted him when he was a youth, say so in as few words as
possible, but be sure to convey the dramatic news worth of the
story i