Dart’s observations about the birthing of a daily newspaper are so droll, I thought I’d share them with you verbatim.
There surely doesn’t seem to be much of a rush about getting a newspaper out. The deadlines come and go, and people sit around and read stories and write stories and tell stories and yell ‘BOY!’; and the boys chase around collecting stories and getting photographs and getting proofs; and then suddenly, without anybody hurried and without any fanfare, a morning paper rolls from the presses.
No blustering action to speak of. No ‘Stop the presses!’ Nobody works very long at a time, nobody worries about anything. It amazes me to see the comparative tranquility with which the paper is collected, composed and issued.
The composing room is an interesting place I’ll have to tell you about sometime.
It sounds to me like what Dart is witnessing is the working of a well-oiled system of seasoned professionals who could do their jobs in their sleep with the confidence that, if everyone pulls their own weight, everything will come out the way it’s supposed to.
He asks if Dot remembers that letter he wrote a bout a well-rounded education – the one in which he discusses (at length) the relative merits of a specialized vs a general college curriculum. He thinks it will form the skeleton of this week’s prose workshop assignment. The “suggestive word,” (how Dart hates that term!) is Why? Students can pose that question in any context they choose and then answer it in essay, article, or short story form.
He’s happy to say that his mother wrote Dot a letter today – at least she had planned to. He neglected to tell Dot that Helen did get that job at the Singer store and is due to start tomorrow.
Dart finally had a talk with his industry prof, Mr. Wood, about what he should be reading or doing in order to learn more about the subject. The man is a very nice fellow to talk to, but he ended up asking Dart what he thought he could be doing. Dart is discouraged because the majority of the class are business majors and they know all the stuff that’s in the book. Dart is finding it terribly challenging to get through the dry, dull textbook. He must retain at least a C in that class because he thinks he’s still on academic probation and a D would really cause a problem for him.
Yes, he is saving all his papers from this semester. If the postage isn’t too much, he may put them all into a binder and send them to Dot at the end of the term so that she can read them all and return them to him.
His interview at McGraw-Hill was not very encouraging. Mainly, the man advised Dart to avoid the writing side of the business, stay out of the publishing end of things for several years. “Nope. There must be some other way.”
He finds himself to be very curious about why Dot was such a man-hater in her earlier years. Is it because someone in her early dating years wasn’t a perfect angel? Was it a holdover from the adolescent years when typical teens are disinterested in the opposite sex? He’d love to hear her thoughts on the subject.
It looks like Dot may get few letters from Dart this week. He hates to skip too many days because he knows how lonely and forgotten he feels when a day comes with no letter from her.
Since she brought up the subject of Xs and Os, he asks what they should use for the rest? He suggests **** and !!!!. “That would represent just about everything, I guess. Of course, we don’t rate much more than XXs and OOs right now, although the **s have been more than thought, a couple of times. I’m looking forward to the !!s, as I guess you are, too. Naturally, I’m looking forward to a whole lifetime of XXs and OOs and !!s”
It is with trepidation that he broaches the subject of the wedding, even though he knows it’s really all the bride’s prerogative. He’s always imagined getting married in a tux or in tails, and he still would like to do so. Still, his bigger concern is the cost. He doesn’t want to go into marriage in debt because of overspending on a wedding. Plus, there’s the question of whether or not Burke will be able to afford to come to Connecticut or if Dart will have to pay for him. Frankly, I’m not exactly clear what point he was trying to make, but is seems something like: I want you to have all that you and I want, but I don’t want it to cost anything. I acknowledge that this is your realm, but I fear that you’ll make foolish choices. I trust you completely. I wonder what sensible Dot will have to say in response. We may never know exactly, but perhaps we’ll get a clue from Dart’s reaction to her response.
He suggests she get one of those books that is used to plan a wedding. When she finds one she likes, he will buy the same one so that as she fills in what her plans are, he can know exactly what she’s referring to and can weigh in.
“And speaking of sentimental dreams, fellows have them too. A young man isn’t thoroughly married until he can finance the honeymoon himself. It’s something I’ve always looked forward to, and expected to do; a week-long date with my best, and henceforth, only girl. How ’bout that?”
Finally, he wraps it up in a pretty package, which – had he started here – would have saved him several sheets of paper. “I view of what I’ve said, I do hope we can get married in formal attire, you in a really nice wedding dress and me in a tuxedo or full dress. The rest of it – number of attendants, posy-gal and ring-carrier, etc., where we’re married, spiked punch or no spike, and all the rest, is your problem. My wanting a formal wedding may seem paradoxical to my wanting to keep expenses down to where we won’t be sorry, but above all, LET’S GET MARRIED!”