of the special feature story--an entire volume might
be devoted to the subject--but this form of story is often seen in the
news columns of the daily papers and deserves a mention here. Ordinarily
the special feature story is not written by reporters, although there is
no reason why reporters should not use in this way many of the facts
that come to them. The story usually comes from outside the newspaper
office, from a contributor, from a syndicate, or from some other daily,
weekly, or monthly publication; however a word or two here may suggest
to the reporter the possibility of adding to his usefulness by writing
such stories for his paper.

The special feature story may be almost anything. The name is used to
designate timely magazine articles, timely write-ups for the Sunday
edition, and timely squibs for the columns of the daily papers. The last
use is the one that interests us and it interests us because it is very
closely related to the human interest story. The editors usually call it
a feature story because it is worth printing in spite of the fact that
it has no news value. In this and in its timeliness it is like the human
interest story. But it is not written for humor or pathos; its purpose
is to entertain the reader. Its method is largely expository and its
style may be anything; it may explain or it may simply comment in a
witty way. The utilizing of otherwise useless by-products of the news is
its purpose--in this it is very much like the animal story.

Subjects for feature stories may come from anywhere and may be almost
anything. A very common kind of feature story is the weather story that
many newspapers print every day. The weather is taken as the excuse for
two or three stickfuls of print which explain and comment upon weather
conditions, past, present and future. Growing out of this, there is the
season story which deals with any subject that the season may suggest:
the closing of Coney Island, the spring styles in men's hats, the first
fur overcoat, Commencement presents, Easter eggs--anything in season.
Further removed from the human interest story is the timely write-up
which has no other purpose than to explain, in a more or less serious or
sensible way, any interesting subject that comes to hand. The story
purports not only to entertain but to inform as well. It has no news
value and yet it is usually timely. Here are a few subjects selected at
random from the daily papers: "He'll pay no tax