three o’clock in the morning
`` Oh , there must be many directions in which the paper is free to express honest opinions . '' Howard began that very night . As soon as he reached his club where he was living for a few days he sat down to the file of the _ News-Record _ and began to study its editorial style and method . He had learned a great deal before three o'clock in the morning and had written a short editorial on a subject he took from the news . In the morning he read his article again and decided that with a few changes -- adjectives cut out , long sentences cut up , short sentences made shorter and the introduction and the conclusion omitted -- it would be worth handing in . With the corrected article in his hand he knocked at the door of the editor 's room . It was a small , plainly furnished office -- no carpet , three severe chairs , a revolving book case with a battered and dusty bust of Lincoln on it , a table strewn with newspaper cuttings .