"
Or he might say: "I hear a curious, sharp, incisive voice somewhere over
there on my right. There it is now--don't you hear it?--s s s s s, every
s like a hiss. Describe that man to me; tell me what kind of people he's
talking to; tell me what you think his profession is." Or it might be:
"There are some gabbling women over there. Describe them to me. How are
they dressed, are they painted, are they wearing jewels, how old are
they?"
In whatever form the request was made its fulfilment meant a description
covering everything which could be detected by the eye or surmised from
any available clew.
Describing people to J. P. was by no means an easy task. It was no use
saying that a man had a medium-sized nose, that he was of average
height, and that his hair was rather dark. Everything had to be given in
feet and inches and in definite colors. You had to exercise your utmost
powers to describe the exact cast of the features, the peculiar texture
and growth of the hair, the expression of the eyes, and every little
trick of gait or gesture.
Mr. Pulitzer was very sceptical of everybody's faculty of description.
He made us describe people, and specially his own children and others
whom he knew well, again and again, and his unwillingness to accept any
description as being good rested no doubt upon the wide divergence
between the different descriptions he received of the same person.
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