ries; now we
come to a story which makes no attempt to play up its news--in fact, it
may leave its most interesting content until the end and spring it as a
surprise in the last line. To be sure, most human interest stories have
and indicate a timeliness. The story may have no news value but it is
always concerned with a recent event and usually tells at the outset
when the event occurred. Almost without exception, the examples quoted
in this chapter show their timeliness by telling in the first sentence
when the event occurred. So much for the outward form of the human
interest story.

=1. Pathetic Story.=--One of the many kinds of human interest stories is
the pathetic story. Although it does not openly strive for pathos, it is
pathetic in that it tells the story of a human misfortune, simply and
clearly, with all the details that made the incident sad. It is the
story that attempts to put the reader into the very reality of the pain
and sorrow of every human life. Sometimes it makes him cry, sometimes it
makes him shudder, and sometimes it disgusts him, but it always shows
him misfortune as it really is. It looks down behind the outward actions
and words into the hearts of its actors and shows us motives and
feelings rather than facts. But just as soon as any attempt at pathos
becomes evident, the story loses its effectiveness. Its only means are
clear perception and absolute truthfulness. Here is an example of a
pathetic human interest story taken from a daily paper:

| Rissa Sachs' child mind yesterday |
|evolved a tragic answer to the question, |
|"What shall be done with the children of |
|divorced parents?" |
| |
| She took her life. |
| |
| Rissa was 14 years old. The divorce |
|decree that robbed her of a home was less |
|than a week old. It was granted to her |
|mother, Mrs. Mellisa Sachs, by Judge |
|Brentano last Saturday. |
| |
| When the divorce case was called for |
|trial Rissa found that she would be |
|compelled to testify. Reluctantly she |
|co