|

This is a pathetic human interest story in that it attempts to give the
human significance of an incident which in itself would have little news
value. Perhaps, in the matter of words, there is a slight straining for
pathos. The form, it will be noted, is decidedly different from that of
a news story on the same incident and, although the timeliness is given
in the first line, there is no attempt to present the gist of the story
in a formal lead. The source of the news is indicated in the last
paragraph.

=2. Humorous Story.=--Another kind of human interest story is the
humorous story. Its humor, like the pathos of a pathetic story, does not
come from an attempt to be funny, but from the truthful presentation of
a humorous incident, from the incongruity and ludicrousness of the
incident itself. The writer tries to see what elements in a given
incident made him laugh and then portrays them so clearly and truthfully
that his readers cannot help laughing with him. The subject may be the
most trivial thing in the world, not worth a line as a news story, and
yet it may be told in such a way that it is worth a half-column write-up
that will stand out as the gem of the whole edition. But after all the
effectiveness depends upon the humor in the original subject and the
truthfulness of the telling. The following humorous human interest
story, which occupied a place on the front page, was built up out of an
incident almost devoid of news value:

| One of Johnnie Wilt's original ideas |
|for entertaining his twin sister |
|Charlotte is to build a big bonfire on |
|the floor of their playroom. |
| |
| Johnnie, who is 4 years old, carried his |
|plan into execution at the Wilt home, 2474 |
|Lake View avenue, for the first time |
|yesterday afternoon, with results that |
|made a lasting impression upon his mind |
|and the finishings of the interior of the |
|house. |
| |
| The thing was suggested to him by a |
|bonfire he saw a man build in the street. |
|Charlotte hadn't seen the other fire. For |
|some reason Charlotte's feminine