In Farm and Fireside was published “The Confession of a Timber Buyer,” an article exposing the methods employed by some unscrupulous lumber companies in buying timber from farmers.

“How I Cured Myself of Being Too Sensitive,” with the sub-title, “The Autobiography of a Young Business Man Who Nearly Went to Smash through Jealousy,” was the subject of a confession article in the American Magazine.

An exposure of the impositions practiced by an itinerant quack was made in a series of three confession articles, in Sunday issues of the Kansas City Star, written by a young man whom the doctor had employed to drive him through the country districts.

To secure confession features from readers, magazines have offered prizes for the best short articles on such topics as, “The Best Thing Experience has Taught Me,” “How I Overcame My Greatest Fault,” “The Day of My Great Temptation,” “What Will Power Did for Me.”

SUBJECTS FROM THE DAY’S NEWS.  In his search for subjects a writer will find numberless clues in newspapers.  Since the first information concerning all new things is usually given to the world through the columns of the daily press, these columns are scanned carefully by writers in search of suggestions.  Any part of the paper, from the “want ads” to the death notices or the real estate transfers, may be the starting point of a special article.  The diversity of topics suggested by newspapers is shown by the following examples.

The death of a well-known clown in New York was followed by a special feature story about him in the Sunday magazine section of a Chicago paper.

A newspaper report of the discovery in Wisconsin of a method of eliminating printing ink from pulp made from old newspapers, so that white print paper might be produced from it, led a young writer to send for information to the discoverer of the process, and with these additional details he wrote an article that was published in the Boston Transcript.

A news story about a clever swindler in Boston, who obtained possession of negotiable securities by means of a forged certified check, was made the basis of a special feature story in the Providence Journal on the precautions to be taken against losses from forged checks.

News of the energetic manner in which a New Jersey sheriff handled a strike suggested a personality sketch of him that appeared in the American Magazine.

The publication, in a newspaper, of some results of a survey of rural school conditions in a Middle Western state, led to two articles on why the little red schoolhouse fails, one of which was published in the Country Gentleman, and the other in the Independent.

From a brief news item about the success of a farmer’s widow and her daughter, in taking summer boarders in their old farmhouse, was developed a practical article telling how to secure and provide for these boarders on the ordinary farm.  The article appeared in Farm and Fireside.