wordy, give the
pith of what is said in one or two brief sentences, then fall into
direct quotation again when his words become interesting. As a rule,
however, it is well as far as possible to quote his exact language all
through the interview, since the interest of an interview frequently
rests not only in what a man says, but in the way he says it. This does
not mean a cut-and-dried story consisting of a series of questions and
answers, but a succession of sparkling, personal paragraphs containing
the direct statements of the speaker.

=187. Mannerisms.=--The report may be livened up greatly with bits of
description portraying the speaker and his surroundings, particularly
when they harmonize or contrast with his character or the ideas
expressed. An excellent device for presenting the spirit of an
interview--giving an atmosphere, as it were--is to interpolate at
intervals in the story personal eccentricities or little mannerisms of
speech of the one interviewed. Mention of pet phrases, characteristic
gestures, sudden display of anger, unexplainable reticence in answering
questions, etc., will sometimes be more effective than columns of what
the speaker actually said. Indeed, it is often of as much importance to
pay as close attention to incidentals as to the remarks of the one
talking.

=188. Persons Refusing to Talk.=--In nine cases out of ten it is the
reporter's duty both to keep himself out of the story and to suppress
the questions by which the man interviewed has been induced to talk. But
when he has failed entirely in gaining admission to one he wishes to
interview, or, having gained admission, has not succeeded in making him
talk, the would-be interviewer may still present a good story by
narrating his foiled efforts or by quoting the questions which the great
man refused to answer. One of the most brilliant examples that the
present writer has seen of the foiled interview was one by Mr. John
Edwin Nevin the day before Mr. William Jennings Bryan surrendered his
portfolio as Secretary of State in President Wilson's cabinet. The
nation was at white heat over the contents of the prospective note to
Germany and the possibility of the United States being drawn into the
war. Not a word of what the note contained had leaked from any source
and there had been no hint of a break in the Wilson cabinet. Supposedly,
all was harmony. Yet this correspondent, judging from the excited manner
of the Secretary of State, the