em in an uncolored, impersonal way that makes the items
interesting only to those who are directly connected with them. The
story may vary from a single sentence to half a column, but it always
begins in the same way and elaborates only the same details. Before
trying to write up social entertainments, a reporter should always be
sure of the use of the various words he employs--"chaperon,"
"patroness," etc. For instance, can we say that "Mr. and Mrs. Smith
acted as chaperons"?

=5. Social Announcements.=--Social announcements of any kind are
usually, like the wedding and engagement announcements, confined to a
single sentence. They tell only the name of the host and hostess, the
name of the guest of honor or the occasion for the event, the time, and
the place. Thus:

| Mrs. Charles P. Jones will give a dance|
|this evening at her home, 181 Nineteenth |
|street, to introduce her sister, Miss |
|Elsie Holt. |

A study of the foregoing sections on society stories shows how
definitely a reporter is restricted in the facts that he may include in
his social items--how conventional social stories have become. This very
restraint in the matter of facts makes it the more necessary for a
reporter to exercise his originality in the diction of social items. He
must guard against the use of certain set expressions, like
"officiating," "performed the ceremony," and "solemnized." While
restricted in the facts that he may give, he must try to present the
same old facts in new and interesting ways--he may even resort to a
moderate use of "fine writing," if he does not become florid or
frivolous.

=6. Unusual Social Stories.=--Just as soon as any of these stories
contains a feature that is of interest to the general public in an
impersonal way it leaves the general class of social news and becomes a
news story to be written with the usual lead. Even the presence of a
very prominent name will make a news story out of a social item. For
instance, the wedding of Miss Ethel Barrymore was written by many papers
as a news story. On the other hand, an unusual marriage, an unusual
elopement, or anything unusual and interesting in a wedding gives
occasion for a news story. Here is one:

| Because their 15-year-old daughter, |
|Sarah, married a man other than the one |
|they had chosen, who is wealthy, Mr. and