is excitement. Telegrams
have just come in telling of the wreck of an ocean steamer, and men are
just being dispatched to the steamer's office to learn all the
particulars possible, and to get, if it may be, a list of the passengers
and crew. And now, just in the midst of this, a fire-alarm strikes, and
in a few moments the streets are as light as day with the flames of a
burning warehouse in the heart of the business part of the city. More men
are sent off to that; and, what with the fire and the wreck, every
reporter, every copy-editor, every type-setter and proof-reader are put
to their hardest work until the last minute before the last page of the
paper must be sent down to the press-rooms. Then, just at the last,
perhaps the best writer in the office dashes off a "leader" on the wreck
sending a few lines at a time to the type-setters--a leader which, though
thought out, written, set, corrected, and stereotyped in forty minutes,
by reason of its clearness, its wisdom, and its brilliancy, is copied far
and wide, and leads the public generally to decide where to fix the
blame, and how to avoid a like accident again. There is the work of the
"_editorial articles, reviews, and notes_"--to comment on events which
happen, and to influence the minds of the public as the editorial
management of the paper regards to be wise. There is all sorts of this
editorial writing--fun, politics, science, literature, religion--and he
who says, with his pen, the say of such a newspaper, wields an influence
which no mind can measure.

[Illustration: A BAD MORNING FOR THE NEWS-BOYS.]

Well, the fire, and the wreck, have thoroughly awakened even little Nell.
And so down, down we go, far under ground, to the Press-rooms. There the
noise is deafening. Two or three presses are at work. At one end of the
press is a great roll of paper as big as a hogshead and a mile or more
long. This immense roll of paper is unwinding very fast, and going in at
one end of the machine; while at the other end, faster than you can
count, are coming out finished papers--the papers printed on both sides,
cut up, folded, and counted, without the touch of a hand--a perfect
marvel and miracle of human ingenuity. The sight is a sight to remember
for a lifetime. Upon what one here sees, hinges very much of the thinking
of a metropolis and of a land.

And now, here come the mailing clerks, to get their papers to send
off--with great accuracy and speed of directing and