I heard about a man who was an obituary writer for the newspaper. He took the job because you have to start somewhere, and he wanted very much to be a writer. He even dropped out of college because he figured that if you are going to write, then you ought to start writing.

An obituary writer's status became immediately apparent to him. He was assigned to the city desk, which was a large working area, shaped like a horseshoe. The city editor was at the apex, and his desk was clear down at the bottom of the left leg, the humblest position in the room.

They gave him other writing assignments, but whenever a mortuary would call with the name of somebody who had deceased, his job was to call the next of kin and get the facts. Of course, the obituaries of prominent people were given to senior …