In an American Newspaper Office
1
Hunt was the night-editor of the respectable Dawn. This knowing journal declared that "business men desire a news paper which they can take home to their families," and, with the immodest confidence of virtue, asserted that it "filled this longfelt want." Its columns were carefully kept unspotted from sensational crime. It was edited with the most solicitous regard for the proprieties. Its proofs were reported to be read by Mrs. Grundy herself. "The duty of the press," said the Dawn, "is to conserve the public morals. The editor, with a high ideal of the function of journalism, will not follow the almost universal and highly regrettable fashion of the times, and sacrifice decency to dollars." This truly disinterested paper sacrificed indecency on the same altar, without a blush, and, with a pride that aped humility, posed as the Dawn of a Better Day. By the same token, Hunt occupied a position of eminence.
When he reached the editorial rooms in the evening he usually found Master, his assistant, already seated at the big night-desk hard at work. Hunt had not been so many years in existence, as Master had been in journalism; and his superiority in rank made
