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 Practical Playscript
Writing procedure manuals that people can use
ALSO BY ROBERT BARNETT

Managing Business Forms

Forms for People: designing forms that people can use
The Form Designer’s Quick Reference Guide
Writing procedure manuals
that people can use

Practical Playscript
Robert Barnett

Third Edition 2008

© 1993, 2003, 2008 Robert Barnett

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or

transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise—without written permission from the author.

Published by Robert Barnett and Associates Pty Ltd

A.C.N. 002 941 120
PO Box 95, Belconnen ACT 2616, Australia

www.RBAinformationdesign.com.au

Printed in Canberra, Australia

ISBN 978-0-9586384-3-2
 Contents

Acknowledgments ix
v
Chapter 1 The Role of Procedure Manuals 1
Why have a procedure manual? 2
Functions of a manual 5

Chapter 2 Content of Procedure Manuals 7

Types of material 7
Putting the facets together 12
An overview of Playscript 14
The advantages and uses of Playscript 14

Chapter 3 Rules of Structure 19

Changing the format 19
Procedures versus other material 20
Using a standard layout form 20
Procedure layout 23
Sequence of steps 29
 Practical Playscript

Chapter 4 Subroutines and Side Channels 33

Short side channel involving one person 33
Short side channel involving more than one person 35
Two short alternative channels with multiple steps 35
Major branch into two separate activities 36
The rare problem exceptions 37
Choices within a choice 38
Handling multiple decisions 40

Chapter 5 Task Outlines 41

The basic structure 41
What to include 42
Special cases 43

Chapter 6 Writing Style 47

Start with a clear structure 48
Avoid confusion 48
Writing procedures as part of a team 56
Slanting the language to one department 58
vi
Chapter 7 The Writing Cycle 59
What makes up a procedure? 59
Writing the procedures 61
Rewriting existing procedures in a new format 64
Writing procedures for a new system 66
Documenting current unwritten procedures 67

Chapter 8 Usability Testing 69

Some common approaches to testing 69
Observational usability studies 75
How to conduct the usability study 78
 Practical Playscript

Chapter 9 Implementing Playscript 81

Teaching users about Playscript 81
Teaching users about a new procedure or a change 82
Gaining acceptance 83
Encouraging revision 84
Manual production 84
Making changes 86
One final matter 87

Appendix 1 Suggested Reading 89

Appendix 2 Decision Tables 91

Appendix 3 Subject Index 99

vii
 Practical Playscript

viii
 Practical Playscript

Acknowledgments

M
ost books on management include ideas and principles gathered
by the author from predecessors and restructured to suit the ix
author’s aims. This book is no exception.
The primary acknowledgment goes to Leslie H. Matthies whose books,
The New Playscript Procedure and Documents To Manage By, have been my
primary inspiration in writing pro­cedure manuals. I have drawn heavily
on his work and have endeavoured to keep the Playscript format as close as
possible to his original concepts.
I have also drawn much inspiration from Clyde Jackson’s book Verbal
Information Systems and from numerous other writers whose works are
mentioned in the footnotes and in Appendix 1.
I would also like to thank the many people who have contributed
positive comments about the earlier editions. This encouraged me to retain
the same format and writing style, while reducing the page size in keeping
with our other publications.
Most of all I would like to thank my wife Patricia for her never-ending
support and patience, and for her tireless efforts at rekeying all my old
course notes.

Robert Barnett
 Practical Playscript

x
 Chapter 1
The Role of Procedure Manuals

It has been said that ‘behind every business activity there lies a piece of paper’
and, even with today’s emphasis on computers, this adage is still true. In addition 1
to such practical office work tools as forms, reports, correspondence and memos,
there is a vast range of other administrative paper—much of it essential—but
much of it superfluous.
This book deals with documentation that comes under the general heading
of procedure manuals. Although it is primarily concerned with procedures, we
need to consider all manuals briefly because other material is often included in
procedure manuals, either through ignorance or because the writer cannot think
of anywhere else to put it. Administrative documentation covers a wide range of
subject matter such as:
Policy statements Organisation charts
Job/position specifications Standards
Lists of authorities Appointment announcements
Departmental functions lists Memos
Circular letters Temporary announcements
Form-filling instructions Forms catalogues
In addition to general administrative paper, we have a whole range of
computer systems documentation.
You need to write and structure each type of documentation to suit the
particular needs of its users, so you need to think carefully about what you are
including in each manual. Only some of this material comes under the general
category of procedures.
 Practical Playscript

Why have a procedure manual?

In considering the role of manuals and how to produce them, you need to ask
some fundamental questions.
• What type of people will use it?
• What does each user need to get from the manual?
• What benefit should each type of user get from it?
• How much detail is needed?
• If we give it to the operators, will they actually use it?
• Is there some legal reason for having the procedures documented?
I have often found procedures and related forms left till last and treated as
unimportant, especially by computer people who forget that the best programs
in the world are useless in business if people don’t know how to use them. As one
writer put it, ‘effective procedure writing is the means to humanise systems’. So
let us go back to the first question and have a look at each type of user in turn,
remembering that manuals are for people to use.

Procedures Analysts or Business Systems Analysts

These people often have a primary interest in people, workflow and efficiency.
But, together with Computer Systems Analysts, they are also interested in such
matters as origin of data, distribution and processing of reports and possible
sources of clerical errors. Their analytical need is for a detailed record of the work
2 that management requires and hopefully, is carried out.
The Procedures Analyst needs to see the total logical flow of work in the
system as well as a method of checking that the work is carried out.
The Analyst also needs a quick and efficient method of documenting
previously unwritten procedures, or alternatively, a method that can be taught
easily to staff so that they can write up their own tasks with a reasonable degree of
accuracy and completeness.

Computer Systems Analysts

All analysts have a great interest in the function of the system as a whole. In the
case of computer systems, it is most likely that the analyst’s primary concern will be
systems or project oriented. It is important for future system development on those
projects that they document the conceptual ideas behind them. So, somewhere in
the documentation there will need to be a project or system description.
Your manuals need to clearly distinguish the information needed for future
system development and programming changes from the information that is
required by the ‘users’ of the system. Clyde W. Jackson1, speaking as a representative
of the computer systems fraternity, had this to say:
“For much too long people who do not work in the systems/data processing section have held
the computer in awe almost as a mythological being. Because they communicate with the

1 Jackson, Clyde (1974) Verbal Information Systems, Association for Systems Management, Cleveland Ohio.
 Chapter 1 • The Role of Procedure Manuals

computer through us, they have seen us almost as the ‘high priests’. And, generally we love
every moment of it. Let’s quit putting ourselves and them on. The computer is a machine.
That’s all. Granted, it is complex and sophisticated, but it is still a machine. It can only do
what people tell it to.”
However, the extent to which you should include this type of material in
a user’s procedure manual is debatable. It has been my experience that many
computer people think of their work in terms of projects or programming products
rather than overall efficiency of the organisation. But general office workers don’t
necessarily think in terms of systems or projects unless the content of those
systems coincides with the content of their day-to-day work. This can happen,
but it is wrong to assume that it is always the case. The structure of a computer
system tends to be machine-oriented and it is rare for the human component of
the system to follow the same form.
Keith London2 described this with a matrix based on the Blake Management
Grid as shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 Keith London Systems Matrix

2 London, Keith (1976) The People Side of Systems, McGraw Hill Book Company (UK).
 Practical Playscript

Line Managers and Supervisors

Unlike 19th Century sole proprietors, modern managers cannot make
decisions on work processes according to the whims and fancies of the moment.
Workers need instructions on how management wants each task carried out and
it is often the supervisors who make these decisions and write up day-to-day work
instructions and procedures. But supervisors and managers also need procedures.
Every manager should have a clear picture of the channels through which the
department’s work flows and they should know all the processing steps located
along those channels irrespective of whether the people report direct to them.
Supervisors are in the ‘firing line’. If an operative doesn’t know how to do
something, it is the supervisor who is supposed to know the answer and who gets
the blame if that answer is not forthcoming. On the other hand, senior management
expects the supervisor to see that the operative gets the job done. The supervisor
needs to know both the fine detail and the policy.
The supervisor or some other delegated person will usually have to work with
the systems/procedures analysts in the development of any new systems. With
this in mind, there is probably a need for a certain amount of computer system
documentation to be kept in the department as well as clerical procedures. But
only one copy of this is usually necessary and, even then, it may only need to be
part of the system documentation.

Operatives
4 The operatives are at the opposite end of the scale to management. They
certainly need to have a broad understanding of what management expects of
them, but their primary interest is in the fine detail. They want to know:
‘How do I do my job?’
‘What happens next?’
‘What do I do with this paper when it lands on my desk?’
‘How do I make these calculations?’
‘How do I evaluate this application?’
‘What do I enter into this computer?’
‘Where do I send this piece of paper?’
‘Do I have the authority to make a decision on this problem or should I refer it to my
supervisor?’
Clyde Jackson3 said that:
“the impact of a procedure manual is either:
(1) To help solve operational and management problems, or:
(2) To help create operational and management problems.”
If you don’t write with the users in mind, then the manuals will create their
own additional problems.

3 Jackson, Clyde (1974) Verbal Information Systems, Association for Systems Management, Cleveland Ohio.
 Chapter 1 • The Role of Procedure Manuals

Senior and Middle Management

The needs of senior and middle management are different to those of
supervisors. Except in small organisations, senior people are rarely interested in
the fine detail of the operating procedures. They may be involved in the writing
of them, but after implementation their interest is often only limited to matters of
dispute. They may only be interested in the policy aspects since this is what they
are responsible for. So it should be quite easy for them to refer to these matters
without wading though masses of step-by-step detail.

Functions of a manual
In the next chapter we’ll be looking at the types of material included in
manuals. But first we need to consider in more detail why we need manuals.
Clyde Jackson lists six important functions of manuals. While it would
be possible to add even more to his list, I believe that his descriptions are
comprehensive enough to be quoted without further comment.
“INSTRUCTION. A manual instructs people in all levels of the company.
• It teaches line personnel facts about their jobs, as well as providing step-by-step
instructions about performing their jobs.
• It provides supervisory personnel with the knowledge required to manage the
productivity of their people.
• It gives management a concise overview, plus the details of operations, depending on
how thoroughly management reads the manual.
5
• It provides a training guide for new personnel.
REFERENCE. No one can remember everything about a system or a particular function
within the system. The manual is a valuable reference containing detailed information
about a system.
• It is a source for solutions to non-routine problems. If a person can find the answer in a
manual, he saves his superior’s time, and he is more independent.
• It refreshes a person’s knowledge of his job when he reviews the manual periodically.
• It provides authoritative answers to operational questions.
REVIEW. A manual allows a review of operations. Putting operations down on paper
allows several levels of criticism.
• It allows overall criticism, to see if the overall operation accomplishes its objectives.
• It allows a more efficient sequencing of activities or assignments of personnel if needed.
• It asks the question, “Is this the best way to do it?” of every function.
CONTROL. A manual, when well developed, has important control functions on several
levels.
• It allows supervisory personnel to assign and evaluate their people more effectively.
 Practical Playscript

• It gives control departments such as auditing, quality, safety, etc., the information they
need to perform their functions.
• It enables management to more intelligently allocate resources and set objectives.
STANDARDS. A manual is important for establishing and enforcing work standards.
• Where required, it will help see that the same job is done the same way each time.
• It defines the acceptable level of performance and instructs the personnel in the method
to achieve it.
• It serves as an objective basis of evaluating either an individual’s or a department’s
performance by stating the criteria for measurement in advance of the evaluation. The
“evaluator” and the “evaluatee” will both benefit by knowing the ground rules.
DOCUMENTATION. Stated simply, a manual is a record of how a particular company
does a certain function. It is a record of what they do. While this statement is a gross
oversimplification, it accurately describes the documentation function of a manual.”

6
 Chapter 2
Content of Procedure Manuals

In the first chapter I covered the range of material that people include in
procedure manuals. We can now break this down into specific categories and this 7
will help us to arrive at the optimum structure.

Corporate policy
This is one of the most difficult areas to define because it varies greatly from
one organisation to another. I’m not getting embroiled in the argument about
whether or not such a policy should exist. Writers such as Tom Peters1 and Robert
Townsend2 have strong words against it, while others sing its praises. My point in
this chapter is simply to define what we mean by corporate policy statements as a
component of manuals. To begin, here is what various writers have said.
Stephen Page3 defines policy as “a predetermined course of action established as a
guide toward accepted business strategies and objectives.”
George Terry4 defines policy as “a basic guide to action. It prescribes the overall
boundaries within which activities are to take place and hence reveals broad man­agement intentions
or forecasts broad courses of managerial action likely to take place under certain conditions. …
Knowing the policies of an enterprise provides the main framework around which all actions are
based. Policies furnish the background for an understanding of why things are done as they are.”

1 Peters, Tom (1987) Thriving on Chaos, Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

2 Townsend, Robert (1970) Up The Organization, Coronet Books, London.
3 Page, Stephen Butler (1984) Business Policies and Procedures Handbook, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey.
4 Terry, George R. (1970) Office Management and Control, Richard D Irwin Inc., Illinois.
 Practical Playscript

Leslie Matthies5 described the characteristics of policy this way:

“ 1. It does not tell people how to proceed.
2. It reflects a decision that can be used rather widely.
3. It is what management wants.
4. It helps supervisors and operating people to make sound decisions at the operating level.
5. It provides for fair treatment of all people. (This is extremely important.)
6. It brings consistency into numerous operations.
7. It provides a unity of purpose. It points all segments of the organization in a single,
goal-seeking direction.
8. It tends to point to the definite objective of the organization to its goals.
9. It relieves top executives from the job of making routine decisions repeatedly.
10. It can be applied in most similar situations.
11. With policy, good decisions can be made at the operating level.
12. It answers the what to do part of a question.
…Of course most policy statements will not have all 12 characteristics. But if a document
has seven or eight of the characteristics it probably is a statement of policy.”
It is important that you clearly distinguish policy from procedures and other
types of documentation. Many business systems analysts combine them as if they
are the same thing, or just different versions of the same thing. For the purpose
8 of this book I will treat it as an overview of what management wants done as
distinct from procedures that tell us how to put it into action.
Policy statements will usually include one or more of the following:
• Purpose or objective
• People or areas affected
• Policy statement
• Definitions
• Responsibilities
• Summary of the procedures that will be used to implement the policy
• Exceptions.
Figure 2.1 shows an example of a Corporate Policy Statement.

System objectives/narrative
If your procedures are part of a computer system, you will usually need a
general description or narrative for the benefit of people who need an overview.
The narrative usually describes such features as:
• the concepts behind the system
• descriptions of the way in which each subsystem operates
• descriptions of the functions and workings of each computer program
• description of each report produced.

5 Matthies, Leslie H. (1982) Documents to Manage By, Office Publications Inc., Stamford.
 Chapter 2 • Content of Procedure Manuals

I have seen many computer systems where this was the only user document.
It was left to the individual managers and operatives to work out how to put it into
action. This doesn’t help productivity. Good system documentation should go way
beyond the electronic aspects and deal with the people side of systems.

Figure 2.1 A Corporate Policy Statement

Forms Management Policy

1. Objective
The objective of the company’s Forms Management Program is to provide all
departments with essential forms at minimum cost.

2. Functions
The Forms Management Department will specify the design of all printed forms used
throughout the company, in order to achieve:
2.1 Systems compatibility and efficiency in use
2.2 Economy in ordering and procurement
2.3 Prevention of redundant forms.
Accordingly, all requests for new or revised forms/screen layouts will require the
approval of the Forms Management Department.

3. Responsibilities

3.1 FORMS MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT will maintain a central activity to

provide the following services:
• Review and approval/disapproval of all requests for new or revised forms
• Design of new forms 9
• Redesign of existing forms
• Assignment of form numbers
• Determination of the best method of producing forms
• Preparation of printing specifications
• Review of printers’ proofs
• Simplification and consolidation of forms
• Periodic review and elimination of obsolete forms
• Control of order levels and stocking levels (minimum/maximum) for forms
• A central record of all company forms.
3.2 STATIONERY STORE will:
• Send all new forms requisitions to the Forms Management Department for
approval
• Notify Forms Management Department and the user departments of all
reorders originated
• Maintain forms stock levels as directed by the Forms Management
Department.

3.3 PURCHASING DEPARTMENT will accept requisitions for outside-printed

forms only from the Stationery Store.

3.4 REPRODUCTION DEPARTMENT will reproduce only those forms identified

by a regular company form number unless specially approved by the Forms
Management Department.
 Practical Playscript

Procedure/task objectives
This is similar to system objectives but broken down to the individual task
level. It can be helpful for staff to understand the objectives or reasons behind each
particular task, together with any organisational policy that specifically refers to
that item. These may be just very brief comments, or in the case of very important
matters, they could run into a number of pages.
Some writers object to any form of policy statement being included in a
procedure, but over the years I have come across many people doing jobs and not
having any idea why they were doing it. These people just go about their jobs as
a matter of daily routine and without any real enthusiasm for the task. I’m a great
believer that workers need to be really involved in their jobs. The more they are
personally motivated, the happier they will be.

Procedure
Throughout this book I will be using the definition of proce­dure given by
Leslie Matthies6 to distinguish it from a task outline.
“It is a write-up that reflects the system. It is a document that spells out clearly how an
activity flow proceeds from one work group to the next, down through the system channel
from start to finish.”
It is a step-by-step instruction concentrating on the flow of work between
people. The main emphasis is on what is done rather than the how to. It may
10 include the how to but usually not in the same detail as a tack outline.
The procedure’s emphasis is on teamwork telling all the team members how
their work fits into the overall process—or how the work proceeds from step to
step. Where you need a great amount of fine detail, you would cross-reference it to
a task outline. Figure 2.2 shows a typical Playscript procedure.

Task outline
This tells how to perform a certain task. It covers all the step-by-step detail,
usually leaving nothing out, and covering every alternative and optional course of
action. It describes the method of doing the job with the how to do it having
the greatest emphasis rather than what is done. You could call it a one-person
procedure. Figure 2.3 shows a typical task outline.
The task outline should be so comprehensive and straight forward that a new
person can follow it with little or no outside help. The intent of the task outline is to
give an employee all the information they need to perform the task.
Remember, if you can explain a task to someone in person, you should be
able to explain it in writing.

Form usage specification

This is similar to a task outline, describing each data field in detail and

6 Matthies, Leslie H. (1977) The New Playscript Procedure, Office Publications Inc., Stamford.
 Chapter 2 • Content of Procedure Manuals

how to fill it in. My experience is that while possibly being of use in a system
description, or as part of the form’s History File, it is usually a waste of time in
user documentation. Such a specification should be unnecessary if the form is well
designed and the procedures and task outlines are well written.

Supplementary data
This would include lists of codes, glossaries, error messages, etc. These are
often vital parts of a computer system that must be made known to the user.

Index and Table of Contents

All the good writing and sound structure is useless if people can’t find what
they are looking for. Each manual certainly needs a good Table of Contents at the
front, listing all the procedures, task outlines and other documents in the manual.
An alphabetic subject index can also be a great help, but will require much effort
to prepare it effectively and especially to keep it up to date. The key question is: do
you really want to update the subject index every time you change a procedure?
If you hold the procedures on a computer then you probably won’t need a
detailed index. A good computer system should allow you to search for keywords
or synonyms.

Figure 2.2 Page from a Playscript procedure

Subject
Action by
Purchasing items for the Association
Step Action performed
PPU020
11
Purchaser 1. PHONE the Association office and ask for a purchase order
number.
2. DESCRIBE the item and the total amount of money that
will be required.
Secretary 3. CHECK the “Authorisation to buy” list issued by the Branch
Council.
If the purchaser is on the list
3a GIVE the person the next order number.
If not on the list
3b ADVISE the person who has authority to order.

4. ENTER details into the Purchase Log.

Purchaser 5. GIVE the Purchase Order number to the vendor and ask
that the number be shown on the invoice.
If paying by cash
5a. OBTAIN the signature of the person receiving the
money plus the word ‘PAID’ on the invoice.
If it is a credit purchase
5b INSTRUCT vendor to send the invoice to the
Association, marked ‘Attention Treasurer’.

Vendor 6. SHOW the Order Number on the Invoice.

-----------------------------
 Practical Playscript

Figure 2.3 Page from a Task Outline

Subject New File Allocation TRM003

Performed by: Records Manager

Frequency: Whenever a new file is requested

1. COLLECT all relevant information about the file subject.

2. DETERMINE whether there is a keyword allocation that covers the subject.

If not arrange allocation of new Keyword (see Task Outline No TRM 001).
3. EXAMINE the numeric keyword index to find out if special file subdivisions are
used.

If so DETERMINE category.

Note: If the subject doesn’t fit into an existing subdivision and it appears necessary
to open a new group, check with the manager of the department concerned before
allocating.
4. ALLOCATE next available file number.
5. SELECT appropriate descriptors(see Task Outline No TRM 002).
6. ENTER details onto “Index Maintenance” form (No. 765).
7. DETERMINE the file retention periods for the record type in accordance with the
needs of the user department.
8. ENTER “Active” file retention period on “Record Location Maintenance” form (No.
12 767).
-----------------------

Putting the facets together

Many systems and administrative people try to combine all the different
facets of documentation in one single format—a narrative—but it just doesn’t
work effectively. To complicate matters, they are usually written in poor English
with long, verbose sentences that leave the reader bewildered. How many times
have you read such a procedure and found that you needed to read it again to
understand what it was getting at? Some writers take great pride in their lengthy
discourses and seem to be more impressed by volume than clarity.
Leslie Matthies calls narrative procedures ‘jellyfish’ procedures with no struc­
ture, no pattern and no skeleton. Figure 2.4 shows a typical example. They usually
miss out on two essential components:
1. A clear starting point
2. A clear ending point.
This is the most fundamental issue when learning to write effective procedures.
Every procedure and task outline is triggered by some event—be it a phone call,
paper arriving in an in-tray or an e-mail. This is where the task starts. But the
operative also has to know when the task is finished so that they aren’t left hanging,
wonding if there’s anything else to do.
 Chapter 2 • Content of Procedure Manuals

Figure 2.4 A Typical Narrative Procedure

Word Processing Request

When work of any kind (excluding photocopying) is sent to the Word Processing Ser-
vices Centre by other than the Telephone Dictation System, it MUST be accompanied
by a Word Processing Request.
It is important that the Word Processing Request be completed clearly and correctly
to ensure that staff in the Word Processing Services Centre can meet the requirements
of Centre users.
To complete a Word Processing Request, insert the originator’s name, department or
title, extension number and the date and time originated (to nearest quarter-hour) at
the top of the form. If copies are required, state the number of copies in addition to
the original to be produced (e.g. an original plus two copies should be stated as “2”
and not “1 + 2” or “3”. Tick the appropriate box in the “Category of Work” section
and insert any Standard Letter number(s) and/or form number(s). Indicate if there are
any “Special Instructions” (e.g. urgent, confidential, draft, extended retention, special
format or stationery), details of the signatory (if not the originator, etc.).
NOTE: If the work is urgent a “required by” time must also be shown.
When requesting typing of a large volume of work, which it is not possible to type or
which is not required within the processing time for routine work, Centre users should
specify in the special instructions section the date and/or time the work is required.
Insert the originator’s name in the box at the bottom of the form.
When relevant for standard work, record the variable details on the back of the form. 13
Note that if the details of two different standard letters are shown on a Word Process-
ing Request, it is necessary to indicate clearly on the back of the form the Standard
Letter number clearly to which each group of variables applies.

Many writers produce a highly structured version of the narrative—sometimes

called ‘Outline’ format, and not to be confused with a Playscript task outline—in
which each section, subsection and paragraph is clearly labelled and numbered to
aid identification of material and to show the outline structure. This is the method
I use for system descriptions and policy statements. But its use for procedures has
a number of disadvantages.
In the mid 1960’s I was introduced to a different approach for procedure
writing. It listed the steps in a procedure in the exact sequence in which they
were to be done. Each step was numbered and started with a verb to highlight the
action to be performed. It was easy to write, simple for users to understand, and
great for seeing the overview of the system.
The most well known version of this approach is Playscript, developed by
Leslie H. Matthies, yet it is one of the least understood. Some writers have been
highly critical of it, but I believe that most of their criticism is unjustified and
based on insufficient knowledge of its operation. Some have based their critical
comments on the first edition of Matthies’ book. It has since been updated and
 Practical Playscript

readers are advised to evaluate any criticism in the light of his later findings.
Its main thrust is to cull policy and general descriptive material leaving
behind the step-by-step detail of how to carry out the procedure. Having culled
this material, Matthies further breaks down the content into two separate types of
documents, ‘Procedures’ and ‘Task Outlines’.

An overview of Playscript
I have been writing procedures for over forty years and have seen and tried
a great variety of systems. Some of them have been complete failures while others
have been reasonably successful.
When I was introduced to Playscript, we found problems with the way it
was being used and tried various ways to get around them. Later, we discovered
that we had not been given the full story. Matthies covered many of the prob­lems
we encountered and it became clear that our criticisms were not justified. It was
we who were wrong; we weren’t using Playscript as intended to be used. Part of
this came about because Leslie Matthies’ book was written primarily to “sell” the
method, rather than to explain the fine detail of how it worked.
• We didn’t differentiate policy from step-by-step detail.
• We didn’t make provision for complex decision-making instructions.
• We tried to write everything the same way when we should have used
different methods for different types of material.
14 The following five guidelines are what I use to produce effective user
manuals.
1. Write up any procedural and system policy or objectives in narrative or
Outline format.
2. Use Playscript Procedures to describe the overall workflow procedures
for every system and subsystem within the organisation. These explain
what is done.
3. Write detailed task outlines using the Playscript format where there is a
need for fine step-by-step detail for an individual employee. These explain
how to carry out each task.
4. Incorporate brief task-oriented policy and objectives at the top of task
outlines wherever there is a need for the individual to know them. These
explain why the task is being carried out.
5. Write up system descriptions and similar documentation as captioned
narratives.

The advantages and uses of Playscript

I have sometimes been accused of thinking too narrowly when recommend­ing
Playscript. In some cases this has been because the client didn’t want to be locked
into a single writing system. But my choice comes from many years experience as
an analyst, writer and user. The following points summarise its main advantages.
 Chapter 2 • Content of Procedure Manuals

It establishes and clarifies responsibility

People who want to keep the work pattern vague so that they can ‘pass the
buck’ may not like the method and this can be the real reason behind some people’s
objections. Playscript establishes exactly who is responsible for each action in a
system or procedure. Employees can readily see if they are involved in a particular
procedure. Likewise, managers can see the relationship of their departments to the
others involved in the flow of work.

It is a tool for getting agreement

Getting people to agree on what actually happens in an undocumented
system can be a problem. Even if you document the system using a narrative style,
the meaning can be muddy and agreement all but impossible.
Playscript clarifies the procedure. Either a specific step happens or it doesn’t. It
helps the people to ‘see’ the system clearly and not have to go searching through the
text for the unexpected. It also forces decisions to be made on work responsibilities
since these have to be clearly spelled out and the people identified.

It helps management
It is a great advantage to management whenever there is any dispute about the
way to do something. Management time is usually scarce and managers appreciate
having a procedural system that enables them to quickly locate troublesome
areas.
15
Playscript simplifies writing
While using a standard format such as this places restrictions on writers,
it is so simple that anyone who can write in plain language can use it effec­
tively, and professional writers are not necessary. It helps to force writers to use
simple language. While the best results are going to come about if the writers
are professional analysts, I have had a great deal of success in training staff
to write their own Playscript procedures and task outlines. Leslie Matthies found
that most people learned to write clearly after only 5 or 6 hours of training and
practice. In my own consulting work, I have had similar results with procedure
writers being able to produce clear and logical procedures after only a few short
review sessions.

It forces brevity
Experience shows that any writer using Playscript automatically shortens the
statements and cuts out excessive description. The direct nature of the lan­guage,
using action verbs, brings this about.

It simplifies the finding of information

Because the content of a Playscript procedure is in step-by-step time sequence,
users find it easy to look up work details and locate relevant information.
 Practical Playscript

It provides a uniform format

A formal method such as this forces a uniform format on the organisation
so that no matter where a person is working, the procedures can be clearly
followed. They are the organisation’s procedures, not those of the individual
manager or section. So a standard approach is going to bring rewards throughout
the organisation. In fact, the larger the organisation, the better the results. As
people move around from one job to another, they find they are familiar with the
approach and understand the procedures far more readily than when each section
has its own approach.

It provides for easier handling of non-routine procedures

Most organisations have unusual or non-routine procedures that raise their
heads only occasionally. These are the ones that are often forgotten. Playscript
is most effective in this area as users can refer to the procedure and carry it out
successfully and efficiently without the need to ask someone else what to do.
This is the area that causes so many probems for writers of procedure manuals
and has been one of the causes of much criticism of the PlayScript method by
people who didn’t understand it fully.
Even though Playscript as developed by Leslie Matthies handles non-routine
procedures, they can still be very troublesome for the writer. Since the first edition
of Practical Playscript was written, we have been able to apply the results of modern
questionnaire-design research to the writing of procedures.
16 Over the past 20 years I have done a great deal of work with questionnaire design,
initially when working as a Senior Research Associate with the Communication
Research Institute of Australia and later in our own consulting business. Much of
the latter work has been with complex application forms for government and the
insurance and finance industries. The more I worked with these application forms,
the more I realised the similarity with the structure of Playscript procedures and
this has simplified the construction of complex routines.
Chapter 4 of this edition includes the application of that research to procedure
manuals.

It simplifies the introduction of change

It is particularly beneficial when you change a procedure. Users can see at a
glance just what the new procedure requires. Even experienced users need this
type of assistance. It is so easy to follow, that people who have been used to reading
procedures written in this style can readily write up their own new pro­cedures in
roughly the right format.

It makes procedure linkage easy

The format makes it easy to link procedures. Other systems can certainly
do the same, but Playscript forces the linking together since no procedure series
should end with the reader left hanging with nowhere to go. If the procedures are
produced in electronic format, this linkage becomes even easier.
 Chapter 2 • Content of Procedure Manuals

It helps the training of new employees

One of the most difficult tasks in inducting new employees into an organisa­
tion is training them in their day-to-day work. Even after the oral description of
how to carry out a task, a new employee will usually want to look up any writ­ten
procedures. If these are in ‘narrative’ format, it can be a long, tedious task to find
relevant information. My experience is that well-written Playscript procedures
are so easily followed that new employees can usually understand them with little
need to seek clarification from a supervisor.

It assists systems analysis

It is particularly valuable for analysts working on systems changes as it enables
them to clearly see exactly what happens at each step. It also helps analysts, when
they are developing new systems, to analyse those procedures that are too long. It
shows up duplication of effort or procedures where there is a constant flow of work
backwards and forwards between particular employees. Often, you can simplify a
procedure by having all these tasks combined so that paper moves less frequently.
An effective paper flow diagram will show up the same problem. Software such
as Business Process Charting from The Ben Graham Corporation can automatically
produce output to Playscript format (see www.worksimp.com).
Analysts find it a great help in sifting out unwanted material during system
development. I have found it a great interview time-saver because it helps to control
the direction of the interview. The person with a tendency to waffle can be brought
back to the point very quickly by being directed to the step under discussion.
17
It provides an effective audit trail
Its detailed step-by-step approach helps the systems auditor work through
the procedure from the point of view of theoretical controls and the prac­tical
application by the workers.

It can be used in any organisation

I have used it successfully in a small organisation with only 15 employees and
in large government departments. It is ideally suited to a very large organisation
since it organises and simplifies the writing process and it works in government as
well as in private enterprise.

Suitability for on-line documentation

Playscript’s structure means that you can easily use it for on-line procedure
manuals. This is particularly valuable in large organisations such as banks and
insurance companies where most workers have access to a computer terminal. Its
simple format, originally developed for typewriters, makes it ideal for text-based
systems. Text systems that can link documents can take advantage of Playscript’s
built-in cross-referencing.
 Practical Playscript

18
 Chapter 3
Rules of Structure

If you intend to use Playscript, or are already using it, I recommend that
you read Leslie Matthies’ books Documents To Manage By and The New Playsript 19
Procedure for a useful and entertaining background to the method.
However, I have written this book as a training tool and have structured the
content in a straight through sequence, starting at the top of a procedure and
working down through the body with its various components and physical layout.
The basic rules of simple procedures are covered first with the more complex
subroutines dealt with in more detail later.

Changing the format

Matthies is very specific when it comes to physical layout, getting down
to specifying exactly how wide columns should be and so on. Bearing in mind
that he is writing for the US market, these would need to change when using
International Standard paper sizes with metric measurements, or with the use of
word processors and modern computers with proportional spacing. There may
also be other specific needs in your organisation that require you to override his
suggestions. On the other hand, there is no point in changing the basic approach
just for the sake of being different. As he says:
“Most modifications of Playscript that I have seen are a form of backsliding. People go back
to experiment and use variations that we tried and abandoned years ago. Usually these
people are making the same mistakes and performing the same experiments that we did.
They are reinventing the wheel.
 Practical Playscript

… If you try to modify a proven, effective technique, all you’re doing is improving
backwards. Fifteen years of research has developed a format that works. Another twelve
years of application in organizations of every type has convinced us that this is THE
format.”

Procedures versus other material

This is the area where most people fall down in their understanding of Playscript.
They don’t separate policy statements and other systems documentation.
Procedures are different to other typs of business documents—they are
written for a different purpose—and they are necessarily structured differently. I
have covered this in Chapters 1 and 2, but it needs repeating because it is such an
important concept. Playscript just doesn’t work unless this is understood.

Using a standard layout form

In the larger organisation there is a strong case for using a standard layout
form. Figure 3.1 shows two examples I have encountered, but I’m not suggest­
ing either of these is ideal. You should develop what is most practical for your
organisation. It is not just a matter of dressing up the procedures to make them
look pretty, but is of practical value in giving them an official appearance. They
become a standard document that is more likely to gain acceptance.
Some people like to add the name of the function or using department to
20 the word ‘procedure’, but this may be redundant. They are the procedures for the
organisation, so you may only need to preprint the organisation’s name and/or
logo. This provides for standardisation throughout the organisation.

Page title
People call procedures by an incredibly wide variety of names. One of the
more common names that I have encountered—and one that Matthies also
mentions—is ‘Standard Practice Instruction’. On the other hand, some organi­
sations use the word ‘procedure’ when they aren’t procedures at all.
We are talking specifically about ‘procedures’ here, so why not use the word?
It makes sense and everyone will know what it means.

The subject
Every procedure should state the subject. This is the key to indexing the
procedures and, although brief, should state clearly what the procedure deals with.
If you are indexing them using a keyword system then you will need to carefully
select every word in the subject. You will also need to make sure that no two
procedures in the organisation use the same subject.
If you are producing an index using an automatic indexing program such as
that in Microsoft Word® or Adobe InDesign®, then you will be able to add additional
hidden index words. If so, I suggest using the approach that I use when developing
an alphabetic index for a book such as this. Read through the procedure and ask
 Chapter 3 • Rules of Structure

what people would look up in the index if they were searching for the proce­dure.
Remember that people don’t all think alike and will not necessarily look for the
same words that you would use. The subject should reappear at the top of each
separate procedure sheet. The matter of multiple pages is covered in more detail
under Page number.

Figure 3.1 Examples of preprinted headings

Procedure
Section Subsection Section No.

Procedure No.

Procedure No.
21
Subject Date

Date of the procedure

There can be many dates associated with the writing and publishing of a
procedure but I strongly support the idea that only one should appear on it—the
effective date. All other dates such as approval date, distribution date, printing
date and draft dates should be kept on the relevant procedures file or work folder,
not on the procedure itself.

Procedure number
Like its counterpart, the form number, this is one of those controversial
aspects of procedures. Yet, I have found that most people have little real basis for
 Practical Playscript

their opinions. The way in which you number the procedures will depend on the
size and type of organisation for which they’re written and especially the number
of different types of manuals in use.
Some organisations number their procedures by department or section, but
procedures reflect business functions that can cross over departmental bound­
aries. Categorising your procedures by department or section may be breaking
them down artificially and often to no advantage.
Another method is to categorise them by systems project. Now, we might
think that since procedures are system-based that this is the way to go, but
experience shows that, in the long term, this method doesn’t work either. System
project groupings are usually chosen arbitrarily to reflect the work being carried
out at a specific period of time. On the other hand, the systems staff may have
chosen them because that particular group of procedures was all that they could
handle at any one time with the staff available. The development staff usually think
of tasks that have to be done to make the computer system work.
Added to both these problems is the matter of change. As soon as there is a
change to a system, or a regrouping of departments or sections, the old boundaries
may cease to exist and the total numbering system may have to change.
The solution is to categorise procedures by business function. In many cases
such functions will coincide with departmental boundaries and computer systems,
but I want to stress that this may be just coincidence. As many people have found
when they tried to number procedures by department or system, just because
22 function coincides with department or system at the time it is introduced, it is no
guarantee that it will continue into the future. I suggest that it should be corporate
policy that manuals are to be structured by function, unless there is a strong case
for doing otherwise in your organisation.
As for the numbering of the manuals, there are many approaches. Some
procedures analysts suggest that the best method is to number sequentially from
“1” with a good alphabetic index. This is the same approach recommended by
most profes­sional forms analysts for form numbering. It definitely works with
forms, but they are not like procedures. The practical use and reading process is
different. A form may be a part of the overall business system, but it is generally
used in isolation. Users often have to read a procedure in conjunction with related
procedures so that they can understand the whole system. The procedure is a
reference document, not a one-at-a-time resource.
My preference is to follow a system such as that given by Jean d’Agenais &
John Curruthers1. From my experience it is more appropriate to large organi­
sations. It breaks manuals up by business function rather than computer system or
department. Although d’Agenais & Curruthers don’t suggest it, I would give each
type of manual a two (or three) character alphabetic code starting at “AA” and
working sequentially to “ZZ”. Note that the codes themselves have no functional

1 d’Agenais, Jean & Carruthers, John (1985) Creating Effective Manuals, South-Western Publishing Company,
Cincinnati Ohio.
 Chapter 3 • Rules of Structure

significance—they are solely for identification and indexing. You would then break
each Manual down into “Section”, “Subsection” and “Subject”, each with a two-digit
code separated by spaces or dashes. The intro­ductory pages would normally be in
Section 00. For example, you could classify the procedure for applying for annual
leave in the Human Resources Manual (Code HR) as HR-02-05-01:
SECTION 02 Leave
SUBSECTION 05 Annual
SUBJECT 01 Application
Following the same pattern, the document giving an overview of the
company’s Annual Leave policy could be HR-02-05-00:
This construction allows for greater flexibility for the user. Related proce­
dures are close to one another and save the user looking up indexes when the
whole function is being studied.

Page number
A well-planned Playscript procedure will usually have a maximum of about 25
work statements. This means that the average procedure could go on the front and
back of a single sheet of paper. Some people claim that short procedures don’t need
page numbers. However, if you are using word processing software it is usually an
advantage to auto­matically number the pages. You may also find that it is helpful
to have the subject and page number on every page so that they don’t get mixed up
in reproduction and filing. However, don’t number the pages continuously for the
whole manual. Start each procedure at page 1. 23
Procedure layout
Playscript is written like a play and each step has four main ingredients:
1. action by (person performing the action)
2. logical step sequence number
3. action word (verb)
4. action performed
A normal Playscript page is laid out in columns as shown in Figure 3.2. Since
Playscript was devised, the introduction of International Standard paper sizes (e.g.
A4) and the use of computers for word processing has changed the way procedures
can be laid out. While it is possible to use a fixed pitch typeface such as Courier,
you would be more likely to use proportionally spaced type such as Times New
Roman. The amount of space you use will depend on the typeface and size you
have chosen. For space reasons in this book, the following example uses 8 point
New Century Schoolbook. On a full-size page, I would increase this to 10 point,
or 11 point if using Times New Roman (since it is a smaller typeface) and vary the
column width accordingly.
 Practical Playscript

Figure 3.2 Layout of a Playscript page

Action by Step Action performed

Secretary 1. SORT time cards by department, placing in Time Summary En-

velope (Form 683), entering department designation.
2. DELIVER to time clerks.
Time Clerk 3. PREPARE time cards as instructed in procedure
02-04-04, Daily Time Tickets.
Employee (all) 4. SIGN time card at start of each day, writing department number
after signature, enclosing in parentheses, such as (12), (15), (17),
etc.

The margins you leave will depend on your binding mechanism and the
method you use for production. If you are using a typewriter or similar mechanical
device, you will probably need at least 25 mm (1 inch) at the bottom for a gripper.
If using a laser printer, you could reduce this. Figure 3.3 shows a suggested spacing
for each column. Note that the inch measurement only approximates the metric
measurement.

Figure 3.3 Suggested spacing for a Playscript page

A4 page 81/2 x 11 inch page

24
Left hand margin 25 mm 1 inch
Action By column 40 mm 11/2 inches
Sequence Number column 10 mm 1/3 inch
Action Performed column 110 mm 41/3 inches
Right hand margin 25 mm 1 inch

Column headings
Some people prefer the column headings to be over the centre of the columns.
My preference is to align them to the left as this is an easier typing action and may
also provide for greater reading clarity. This is another of those points that should
not be a major issue.

The ‘Action by’ column

This shows who is responsible for carrying out the particular action. Some
users prefer the column to be headed with the word ACTOR although I believe
this is somewhat puerile. Others use terms such as Performed by, Doer, Person or
Action by. Using Person could be limiting as some actions could be left open to be
performed by any person in a section. I prefer Action by, but the wording is not a
major issue. Use whatever suits your organisation.
 Chapter 3 • Rules of Structure

The white space around each Action by title clearly shows where the person
“comes on and off the stage” and how each action fits with the activities of other
people in the workflow.
Only the first word of the person’s work position needs a capital initial letter
unless it is an official position title. In this case, each word would normally be
capitalised.
If you have a long title that must be written in full, then use two lines. You
could align the second line to the right or left, although the left takes less typing
activity. Alternatively, you could indent the second line a few spaces. Figure 3.4
shows three examples of the same step showing how it would appear. Note that the
last example has the Action performed starting on the same line as the second line
of Action by. If you are using a typewriter, this will probably be easier, but takes up
more space. My preference is for the first version.

Figure 3.4 Variations of multiline Action by descriptions

Plant and 5. INDICATE on the form when preliminary action
Facilities Engineer will be taken to investigate the matter.

Plant and 5. INDICATE on the form when preliminary action

Facilities Engineer will be taken to investigate the matter.

Plant and
Facilities Engineer 5. INDICATE on the form when preliminary action
25
will be taken to investigate the matter.

‘Step’ column
The step number is the logical sequence of the steps in time order and always
starts at 1 at the beginning of every procedure. The numbers would often be right
aligned so that where the number of steps reaches 10 or more, all numbers will be
aligned for neatness. Step sequence is covered later in the chapter.

‘Action performed’ column

Each action step normally begins with a verb as described later in this chap­
ter, although there are some exceptions, notably when you have to give a timing
instruction. Where these timing notes represent a break in the action, I prefer to
use capital letters and underline them as shown in Step 8 in Figure 3.5. In this
example, there has been a break in the activity while the Association waits for the
vendor to send in the invoice.
Some users of Playscript disagree with the use of such a statement, saying
that it is redundant. I agree that this procedure makes sense without it since the
checking cannot take place until the Invoice has been received, but it highlights
the delay and makes it easier for the user to find the relevant place in the pro­
cedure. Of course, you could logically argue that a break such as this should not
 Practical Playscript

occur and that the Secretary’s step, being a ‘trigger’ action, should be the start of
a separate procedure. In fact, in a longer procedure, there would be a total break
here and a new procedure started. In this case it is only short, but the Secretary
needs to be able to pick up the flow easily at the point where it starts again, and I
have found underlining ideal for achieving this.
You can also use highlighting and underlining for branching activities and
alternative paths. This is covered in detail in Chapter 4.

Figure 3.5 Action column with timing break

Action by Step Action performed

-----------------
Purchaser 5. GIVE the Purchase Order number to the vendor and ask
that the number be shown on the invoice.
6. INSTRUCT vendor to send the Invoice to the Association,
marked ‘Attention Treasurer’.
Vendor 7. SHOW the Order Number on the Invoice and send it to
the Association as requested.
ON RECEIPT OF INVOICE
Association 8. CHECK with purchaser to make sure that items have
Secretary been received and note this on the Invoice.
26 -----------------

Highlighting verbs
Even before using Playscript, I found it very profitable to start each step of a
procedure with a verb and to highlight it.
In one company, we wrote the verb in a separate column but I found this
to be a waste of space and it makes reading unnatural. It is better to keep the
verb in the sentence context, maybe highlighting it in bold type. With modern
word processing systems this is an easy operation. You could use capital letters or
underlining in addition to bold type, or as an alternative to it. I have found this
approach advantageous for the following reasons:
1. Outline
The bold verbs provide an instant outline of the task outline or procedure.
2. Fast location
They help the reader go to a specific point in a procedure without the need to
read through from the start.
3. Memory assistance
They can assist a user who is working directly from the procedural text to carry
out a task. They assist the user to find the next step in the pro­cedure once they
come back to it after completing the preceding step.
 Chapter 3 • Rules of Structure

Verb tense
The verb is always in the present tense and may be in either the second or
third person. In the example in Figure 3.6, it is in the second person, which is my
preference since it is an instruction, but it is not wrong to use the third person.
For example: 2nd person 3rd person
SORT or SORTS
DELIVER or DELIVERS
SIGN or SIGNS
The third person may be better for straight through reading, but the second
person is more direct as an instruction.
This system relies on every sentence beginning with a verb—something
that isn’t always practical. For example, a step may begin with timing or other
information that shows when it is to commence. Figure 3.6 shows part of a
procedure using this approach. But note that the layout isn’t compatible with
normal Playscript.

Figure 3.6 An action step with built-in timing instructions

Action by Step Action performed

Secretary 1. Upon receipt of time cards,

SORT by department, place in Time Summary Envelope

2.
Form 683, entering department designation.
DELIVER to time clerks.
27
Time Clerk 3. DISTRIBUTE time cards to all personnel.
Employee (all) 4. PREPARE time cards as instructed in procedure 02-04-
04, Daily Time Tickets.
5. SIGN time card at start of each day, writing department
number in parentheses after signature.
-----------------

A way around this is to turn the timing instruction into a subheading so that
the actual steps do begin with a verb immediately after the step number as shown
in Figure 3.7.

Combining actions in one step

Normally each separate action verb begins a new step, but sometimes this can
be confusing. For example, step 2 in Figure 3.8 uses two verbs.
On the other hand, it could have been written in two steps as shown in Figure
3.9. This approach may imply that they are two totally separate steps, whereas they
actually happen consecutively while the file is in front of the Records Officer. In
this case, you may prefer the original method.
 Practical Playscript

Figure 3.7 Timing instructions removed from action step

Action by Step Action performed

UPON RECEIPT OF TIME CARDS

Secretary 1. SORT by department, place in Time Summary Envelope
Form 683, entering department designation.
2. DELIVER to time clerks.
Time Clerk 3. DISTRIBUTE time cards to all personnel.
Employee (all) 4. PREPARE time cards as instructed in procedure 02-04-04,
Daily Time Tickets.
5. SIGN time card at start of each day, writing department
number in parentheses after signature.
-----------------

Figure 3.8 Step 2 combines two actions in one step (‘examine’ and ‘note’)

Action by Step Action performed

Requestor 1. PHONE the Records Office to determine whether or not

the required Security File is available.
Records 2. EXAMINE the Security File Reference Record (Form No.
28 Officer 354) to ensure that the file has been cleared by the request-
Second action or, and note on the form the name of the requestor, the date
of the request and the fact that the question was asked.
-----------------

Figure 3.9 Separating a combined action into two steps

Action by Step Action performed

Requestor 1. PHONE the Records Office to determine whether or not

the required Security File is available.
Records 2. EXAMINE the Security File Reference Record (Form No.
Officer 354) to ensure that the file has been cleared by the re-
questor.
3. NOTE on the form the name of the requestor, the date of
the request and the fact that the question was asked.
-----------------
 Chapter 3 • Rules of Structure

Figure 3.10 contains two totally separate actions included together as if they
happen at the same time. Figure 3.11 is a better arrangement.

Figure 3.10 Step combining two totally different actions

Action by Step Action performed

Supervisor -----------------
4. ASK Department Head for approval. Tell the employee
that the official leave will be granted by personnel and that
a note will be sent to that effect.

Figure 3.11 Step rewritten to show the two actions

Action by Step Action performed

Supervisor -----------------
4. ASK Department Head for approval.
5. TELL the employee that the official leave will be granted
by personnel and that a note will be sent to that effect.

Spacing between lines and steps

The action steps should be single spaced (or with one or two points of leading)
so that the action forms a block as shown in Figure 3.12. The steps themselves 29
should have extra space between them.

Figure 3.12 Action step forming a block

Action by Step Action performed

Requestor 1. PHONE the Records Office to determine whether or not

the required Security File is available.
2. EXAMINE the Security File Reference Record (Form No.
354) to ensure that the file has been cleared by the request-
or, and note on the form the name of the requestor, the date
of the request and the fact that the question was asked.
-----------------

Sequence of steps
To determine the sequence of steps, think in terms of time. A procedure is a
series of activities being carried out by people in a logical sequence. Except where
there is a branching activity and two things are happening at the one time, the
steps take place in strict time sequence—one after the other.
 Practical Playscript

As Matthies2 says:
“…some people write their procedures as though this logical time sequence didn’t exist.”
For example, if an employee is applying for leave, the steps could occur as
follows:

MONDAY 9.00 a.m. Employee fills in Leave Application Form.

MONDAY 10.30 a.m. Supervisor signs application form.
MONDAY 11.00 a.m. Manager approves time allocation for leave.
TUESDAY 3.00 p.m. Personnel Manager approves leave.
TUESDAY 4.30 p.m. Personnel Manager advises Paymaster the person’s leave
is approved.
FRIDAY 3.30 p.m. Paymaster pays leave pay.
FRIDAY 5.00 p.m. Employee goes on leave.

This is the sequence in which the steps occur, so unless there are exceptions
this is the sequence in which the procedure will be written. Branching activities
and alternative paths are dealt with in Chapter 4.
The main work sequence follows the action, not the piece of paper. The
following is a summary of the process. Chapter 7 covers it in more detail and
explains how to identify the work channels.

The starting point

30 The starting point for each procedure is a trigger action. Something
happens in the organisation to make an activity take place. Perhaps an order has
arrived in the mail, or a telephone call has been received, or a person has decided
to apply for leave. Each procedure should start with this event.
Figure 3.13 shows some typical trigger actions.

Figure 3.13 Some typical trigger actions

Insured 1. PHONE to advise that car has been in an accident and

person that a claim will be forthcoming.

Cashier 1. RECEIVE cash from customer, count amount and place to

one side on counter.

Mail Clerk 1. OPEN mail bag and empty onto sorting table.

Employee 1. FILL IN Leave Application form and take it to Supervisor

for approval.

2 Matthies, Leslie H. (1977) The New Playscript Procedure, Office Publications Inc., Stamford.
 Chapter 3 • Rules of Structure

The work cycle

Matthies3 make a very important point about this subject that needs stress­ing
here.
“Cycle selection is not a technique or an exact science. It is an art.”
There are no clear-cut rules to establish where one work cycle finishes and
another starts, but I can give some guidelines.
First, select the start point (trigger) and the end point (result). If your proce­
dure has 20 to 30 steps then you can probably leave it as it is. On the other hand,
if it has 100 steps you may need to see if you can break it down into two or three
separate procedures.
But breaking it down into smaller procedures just for the purpose of conve­
nience is not the prime consideration. You need to ask why the procedure has so
many steps. Does it contain any long series of steps for one person? If it does, it is
likely that these should be extracted and made into a task outline.
Assuming that the steps are necessary, look for breaks or delay points in the
procedure—those points where the activity stops for a time, waiting for some­thing
else to happen. The next step is a new trigger because whatever we were waiting
for takes place. This is the logical place to break a procedure. Figures 3.14 and 3.15
show two examples of break points resulting from delays.

Figure 3.14 Procedure with built-in break

Action by Step Action performed

31
Claims Controller -----------------
23. ADVISE the insurer of the claim.
24. ESTABLISH the insurer’s requirements for lodging
the claim.
25. ARRANGE for an assessor to visit the client.
Assessor 26. VISIT the client and assesses the damage.

Delay
27. REPORT to the Claims Controller on the assessment
of the damage.
Claims Controller 28. COMPLETE claim form.
29. send completed claim form to insurer.

Subroutines and side channels

These are the most complex part of procedures and the area where most
people go wrong in using Playscript. Because of their complexity I have dealt with
them separately in Chapter 4.

3 Matthies, Leslie H. (1977) The New Playscript Procedure, Office Publications Inc., Stamford.
 Practical Playscript

Figure 3.15 Break into two procedures at delay point

Action by Step Action performed

Claims Controller -----------------

23. ADVISE the insurer of the claim.
24. ESTABLISH the insurer’s requirements for lodging
the claim.
25. ARRANGE for an assessor to visit the client.
Assessor 26. VISIT the client and assesses the damage.

It is at this point that a delay occurs while the damage is assessed.

Delay This is a logical point to divide the procedure into two parts with a
new procedure starting at step 1.

Action by Step Action performed

Claims Controller 1. RECEIVE report from Assessor on the assessment of

the damage.
2. COMPLETE claim form.
3. send completed claim form to insurer.

32 Gaps in the action sequence

Playscript is ideal for detecting gaps in the action sequence. This is an impor­
tant part of procedure development and one of the main problems with narra­tive
formats. Each step must lead logically to the next step, or to a branching step in the
same procedure, or to another procedure altogether.

Inclusion of functions/policy
I agree very much with Leslie Matthies when he says that you should keep
matters such as departmental functions and systems separate. But I have found
a few occasions when it was helpful for the user to read a brief description of
the task’s function first. Statements of timing can be included under separate
subheadings. This is covered in more detail in Chapter 5.

Signatures and initials

It is unnecessary to publish approval signatures with each procedure. If
approvals are necessary then they can be recorded in the procedure file. The same
applies to initials of the approving authority.
There is also a tendency in some organisations to include the name, signa­ture
or initials of the person who wrote up the procedure. Again, you should have this
information in the procedure history file but I have doubts about its value on the
procedure itself.
 Chapter 4
Subroutines and Side Channels

These are the most difficult parts of any procedure and Playscript is no excep­
tion. Subroutines occur whenever there is a decision-making point in a pro­cedure. 33
In some cases there can even be decision-making points within a subroutine.
There are no firm rules for handling them, as you need to deal with each
procedure on its merits. The following principles provide guidelines for subroutines
of different complexities. As I’ve mentioned in earlier chapters, in this edition of
Practical Playscript I’ve added additional material based on more recent research
in human communication. The technique is based on the extensive success that has
been achieved through the use of questionnaires in the design of business forms.
It occurred to me that there is little difference between a numbered sequence of
questions in a form and a series of steps in a procedure. Both involve step-by-step
progress with action at each step. The advantage of the approach is that it simplifies
complex decision making routines using questions with “Yes”/“No” answers and
routing to relevant steps. The approach is explained in more detail later in the
chapter.

Short side channel involving one person

This occurs where there is a separate path for a small number of steps (up
to 4 or 5 steps). For example, a procedure for a cashier receiving money might
require a couple of different steps for processing cheques to what is required for
processing credit cards. After the payment is processed through these different
steps, the procedure returns to the main channel and everything else is handled
the same way.
 Practical Playscript

Provided at least one of the two channels can be included in a single step,
indent the side channel using the same step number, but with lower case alpha
suffixes to indicate the substeps.
Figures 4.1 and 4.2 show two possible ways of handling the same side
channel.
Note that the second example highlights the alternative payments more
effectively and draws the cashier’s attention to the fact that there are two differ­ent
actions.
After the side channel is completed, the procedure returns to the normal
position and numbering sequence.

Figure 4.1 Handling a short side channel — alternative 1

Action by Step Action performed

Applicant -----------------
5. HAND payment and completed Application Form to the
Cashier.
Cashier 6. EXAMINE Application Form to verify amount to be paid
and, if paying with currency, enter amount into cash
register.
6a. If paying by cheque, EXAMINE “Stop List” to
determine whether cheques are acceptable from this
applicant.
34 6b. If cheques are not acceptable, TELL applicant to go to
the enquiry counter.
7. RECORD receipt on Application Form butt and return it
to the Applicant.

Figure 4.2 Handling a short side channel — alternative 2

Action by Step Action performed

Applicant -----------------
5. HAND payment and completed Application Form to the
Cashier.
Cashier 6. EXAMINE Application Form to verify amount to be paid.
if paying with currency
6a. ENTER amount into cash register.
if paying BY CHEQUE
6b. EXAMINE “Stop List” to determine whether cheques
are acceptable from this applicant.
6c. If cheques are not acceptable, TELL applicant to go to
the enquiry counter.

7. RECORD receipt on Application Form butt and return it

to the Applicant.
 Chapter 4 • Subroutines and Side Channels

Short side channel involving more than one person

This is essentially the same as the previous type but it involves another person
in the side channel. It can be handled as shown in Figure 4.3.
Note that the change in person occurs within step 5. Step 6 does not start
until the side channel has been completed.

Figure 4.3 Side channel involving more than one person

Action by Step Action performed

Purchaser -----------------
5. GIVE the Purchase Order number to the vendor and ask
that the number be shown on the Invoice.
if paying by cash
5a. OBTAIN the signature of the person receiving the
cash plus the word ‘PAID’ on the Invoice.
If credit purchase
5b. INSTRUCT the vendor to send the Invoice to the
Company marked ‘Attention Accounts’.
Vendor 5c. SHOW the order number on the Invoice and send it to
the company as requested.
Accountant 6. on receipt of invoice 35
check with purchaser to make sure that items have
been received and note this on the invoice.

Two short alternative channels with multiple steps

In this case, both channels have a number of steps. It doesn’t occur very
frequently in procedures, although I have found many situations where I could use
it in task outlines. It is better to start each channel with a separate Step Number
and underline the heading as illustrated in Figure 4.4. The steps in each channel
retain the same Step Number as the heading so as not to confuse the reader about
where the channels finish.
 Practical Playscript

Figure 4.4 Alternative channels with multiple steps

Action by Step Action performed

Account -----------------
Executive
7. SEND documents to Cover Note Clerk.
8. if invoice set has been produced
8a. ENTER Invoice Number in the Cover Note Control
Register.
8b. DELETE the entry from the Invoice Set Pending List.
8c. REMOVE photocopy of draft invoice from file and
destroy it.
9. if invoice set has not been produced
9a. ENTER Cover Note details in the Cover Note Control
Register.
9b. RECORD the Invoice in the Invoice Set Pending List.
9c. FILE photocopy of draft invoice in the Invoice Pending
File.
10. PREPARE Cover Expiry Record (Form No. 45) in
duplicate.
11. FILE original of the Cover Expiry Record in the Register
36 Box in expiry date sequence.

Major branch into two separate activities

Some procedures reach a point where a choice has to be made between
alternatives with the resultant activities being totally different for each. The
procedure divides into two courses of action that do not join again later.
Figures 4.5 and 4.6 show two ways you could handle it.

Referring to a separate procedure

The first method is to switch to a separate procedure for one of the channels
and continue in the same procedure for the other channel.
You should only use this where most of the activity goes though the main
channel. The act of continuing in one of the channels in the same procedure
implies that this is where most of the action is. See Figure 4.5.
 Chapter 4 • Subroutines and Side Channels

Figure 4.5 Switching out to a subroutine

Action by Step Action performed

Records -----------------
Controller
4. SORT documents by subject.
5. EXTRACT appropriate Keyword File from cabinet and
place documents in strict date order with latest date on
top.
5a. If there is no Keyword File in existence for the subject,
switch to subroutine
go to Procedure 09-08-13.
6. RETURN the Keyword File immediately to the cabinet
and process the next set of documents as outlined above.

Switch out to a separate procedure

The second method is to switch out of the procedure completely and refer to
separate procedures for the continuing actions. Use this where there are multiple
choices or where there is no predominant channel. See Figure 4.6.

Figure 4.6 Switching out to separate procedures

Action by Step Action performed

Cashier -----------------
37
10. CIRCULATE cash receipts to Account Managers.
Manager 11. RETRIEVE appropriate record from file.
11a. if renewal of policy

switch to separate Go to Procedure 10-02-01.

procedures
11a. if new business
Go to Procedure 10-03-01.

The rare problem exceptions

Rare problem exceptions occur in many procedures. No matter how carefully
we might docu­ment what happens, many systems cannot handle every exception
and ev­ery potential problem. In certain types of business, covering every problem
would make the procedures so involved that it would be impossible to follow them.
This is especially so when the exceptions are occasional occurrences.
In these cases it is usually best to refer the user to a person who can handle
the situation—a more knowledgeable person who has the authority to decide what
to do. See Figure 4.7.
 Practical Playscript

Figure 4.7 Handling problem exceptions

Action by Step Action performed

Spare Parts -----------------

Clerk 10. RETRIEVE Stock Card for each item and record details of
supply.

handling problem 9a. If the item cannot be identified from the description
exception given on the order, refer the matter to the Technical
Supervisor.

Choices within a choice

This is the area of procedure manuals where writers have their greatest
problems. How do you document complex choice situations, often when there are
choices within choices or perhaps multiple choices at a single branching point?
Over the last twenty five years there has been a lot of research into human
communication, especially with regard to business forms. Researchers have found
that form fillers can progress easily through a complex form if given questions with
“Yes”/“No” type answers followed by a routing device such as “Go to 8”. We have
applied this technique in complex forms for a number of years and consistently
found that people follow it with ease. My book Forms For People covers the topic in
detail as it relates to forms. In thinking through the problem of complex procedure
38 routing, it became very clear to me that there was little difference between a
questionnaire style form and a procedure. The only significant difference is that
with a form, the work is done directly on the document being read whereas with a
procedure, the work is separate to the written document. So why not use the same
technique? In the following examples, I’ve shown some of the issues that make
procedures difficult to follow and how they might be solved.
Figure 4.8 illustrates a complex set of choices that could confuse the readers
due to the number of choices within choices.
One solution to this problem would be to split the procedure into separate
task outlines depending on whether there is an Expiry Card. However, it would be
simpler to use the questionnaire technique as shown in Figure 4.9.
In a questionnaire type form it is generally best to have the “No” coming
before the “Yes”, since the latter often requires additional information and placing
the “No” first simplifies routing through the form. However, this is not relevant to
a procedure and it is more logical to place the “YES” first. Note that in most cases,
each “YES”/“NO” answer takes the user to a separate question for the subsequent
action.
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 Sometimes the police items, flecked with poetry, and presumably
written by Wisner, were tantalizingly reticent, as:

Maria Jones was accused of stealing clothing, and

committed. Certain affairs were developed of rather a singular
and comical nature in relation to her.

Nothing more than that. Perhaps Wisner rather enjoyed being

questioned by admiring friends when he went to dinner at the
American House that day.
Bright as the police reporter was, the ship-news man of that day
lacked snap. The arrival from Europe of James Fenimore Cooper,
who could have told the Sun more foreign news than it had ever
printed, was disposed of in twelve words. But it must be
remembered that the interview was then unknown. The only way to
get anything out of a citizen was to enrage him, whereupon he
would write a letter. But the Sun did say, a couple of days later, that
Cooper’s newest novel, “The Headsman,” was being sold in London
at seven dollars and fifty cents a copy—no doubt in the old-
fashioned English form, three volumes at half a guinea each.
The Sun blew its own horn for the first time on November 9,
1833:

Its success is now beyond question, and it has exceeded

the most sanguine anticipations of its publishers in its
circulation and advertising patronage. Scarcely two months
has it existed in the typographical firmament, and it has a
daily circulation of upward of two thousand copies, besides a
steadily increasing advertising patronage. Although of a
character (we hope) deserving the encouragement of all
classes of society, it is more especially valuable to those who
cannot well afford to incur the expense of subscribing to a
“blanket sheet” and paying ten dollars per annum.
 In conclusion we may be permitted to remark that the
penny press, by diffusing useful knowledge among the
operative classes of society, is effecting the march of
intelligence to a greater degree than any other mode of
instruction.

The same article called attention to the fact that the “penny”
papers of England were really two-cent papers. The Sun’s price had
been announced as “one penny” on the earliest numbers, but on
October 8, when it was a little more than a month old, the legend
was changed to read “Price one cent.”
 From the Collection of Charles Burnham

BARNEY WILLIAMS, THE COMEDIAN, WHO WAS THE FIRST

NEWSBOY OF “THE SUN”

The Sun ran its first serial in the third month of its existence.
This was “The Life of Davy Crockett,” dictated or authorized by the
frontiersman himself. It must have been a relief to the readers to get
away from the usual dull reprint from foreign papers that had been
filling the Sun’s first page. In those days the first pages were always
the dullest, but Crockett’s lively stories about bear-hunts enlivened
the Sun.
Other celebrities were often mentioned. Aaron Burr, now old and
feeble, was writing his memoirs. Martin Van Buren had taken
lodgings at the City Hotel. The Siamese Twins were arrested in the
South for beating a man. “Mr. Clay arrived in town last evening and
attended the new opera.” This was “Fra Diavolo,” in which Mr. and
Mrs. Wood sang at the Park Theatre. “It is said that Dom Pedro has
dared his brother Miguel to single combat, which has been refused.”
A week later the Sun gloated over the fact that Pedro—Pedro I of
Brazil, who was invading Portugal on behalf of his daughter, Maria da
Gloria—had routed the usurper Miguel’s army.
On December 5, 1833, the Sun printed the longest news piece it
had ever put in type—the message of President Jackson to the
Congress. This took up three of the four pages, and crowded out
nearly all the advertising.
On December 17, in the fourth month of its life, the Sun
announced that it had procured “a machine press, on which one
thousand impressions can be taken in an hour. The daily circulation
is now nearly FOUR THOUSAND.” It was a happy Christmas for Day
and Wisner. The Sun surely was shining!
The paper retained its original size and shape during the whole
of 1834, and rarely printed more than four pages. As it grew older, it
printed more and more local items and developed greater interest in
local affairs. The first page was taken up with advertising and
reprint. A State election might have taken place the day before, but
on page 1 the Sun worshippers looked for a bit of fiction or history.
What were the fortunes of William L. Marcy as compared to a two-
column thriller, “The Idiot’s Revenge,” or “Captain Chicken and
Gentle Sophia”?
The head-lines were all small, and most of them italics. Here are
samples:

INGRATITUDE OF A CAT.
PERSONALITY OF NAPOLEON.
WONDERFUL ANTICS OF FLEAS.
BROUGHT TO IT BY RUM.
The news paragraphs were sometimes models of condensation:

PICKPOCKETS—On Friday night a Gentleman lost $100 at

the Opera and then $25 at Tammany Hall.
The Hon. Daniel Webster will leave town this morning for
Washington.
John Baker, the person whom we reported a short time
since as being brought before the police for stealing a ham,
died suddenly in his cell in Bellevue in the greatest agony—an
awful warning to drunkards.
James G. Bennett has become sole proprietor and editor
of the Philadelphia Courier.
Colonel Crockett, it is expected, will visit the Bowery
Theater this evening.
RUMOR—It was rumored in Washington on the 6th that a
duel would take place the next day between two members of
 the House.
SUDDEN DEATH—Ann McDonough, of Washington Street,
attempted to drink a pint of rum on a wager, on Wednesday
afternoon last. Before it was half swallowed Ann was a
corpse. Served her right!
Bayington, the murderer, we learn by a contemporary,
was formerly employed in this city on the Journal of
Commerce. No wonder he came to an untimely fate.
DUEL—We understand that a duel was fought at Hoboken
on Friday morning last between a gentleman of Canada and a
French gentleman of this city, in which the latter was
wounded. The parties should be arrested.
LAMENTABLE DEATH—The camelopard shipped at
Calcutta for New York died the day after it was embarked.
“We could have better spared a better” crittur, as
Shakespeare doesn’t say.

The Sun, although read largely by Jacksonians, did not take the
side of any political party. It favoured national and State economy
and city cleanliness. It dismissed the New York Legislature of 1834
thus:

The Legislature of this State closed its arduous duties

yesterday. It has increased the number of our banks and fixed
a heavy load of debt upon posterity.

Nothing more. If the readers wanted more they could fly to the
ample bosoms of the sixpennies; but apparently they were satisfied,
for in April of 1834 the Sun’s circulation reached eight thousand, and
Colonel Webb, of the Courier and Enquirer, was bemoaning the
success of “penny trash.” The Sun replied to him by saying that the
public had been “imposed upon by ten-dollar trash long enough.”
The Journal of Commerce also slanged the Sun, which promptly
announced that the Journal was conducted by “a company of rich,
aristocratical men,” and that it would take sides with any party to
gain a subscriber.
The influence of Partner Wisner, the Abolitionist, was evident in
many pages of the Sun. On June 23, 1834, it printed a piece about
Martin Palmer, who was “pelted down with stones in Wall Street on
suspicion of being a runaway slave,” and paid its respects to
Boudinot, a Southerner in New York who was reputed to be a tracker
of runaways. It was he who had set the crowd after the black:

The man who will do this will do anything; he would

dance on his mother’s grave; he would invade the sacred
precincts of the tomb and rob a corpse of its winding-sheet;
he has no SOUL. It is said that this useless fellow is about to
commence a suit against us for a libel. Try it, Mr. Boudinot!

During the anti-abolition riots of that year the Sun took a firm
stand against the disturbers, although there is little doubt that many
of them were its own readers.
The paper made a vigorous little crusade against the evils of the
Bridewell in City Hall Park, where dozens of wretches suffered in the
filth of the debtors’ prison. The Sun was a live wire when the cholera
re-appeared, and it put to rout the sixpenny papers which tried to
make out that the disease was not cholera, but “summer complaint.”
Incidentally, the advertising columns of that day, in nearly all the
papers were filled with patent “cholera cures.”
The Sun had an eye for urban refinement, too, and begged the
aldermen to see to it that pigs were prevented from roaming in City
Hall Park. In the matter of silver forks, then a novelty, it was more
conservative, as the following paragraph, printed in November, 1834,
would indicate:
 EXTREME NICETY—The author of the “Book of Etiquette,”
recently printed in London, says: “Silver forks are now
common at every respectable table, and for my part I cannot
see how it is possible to eat a dinner comfortably without
them.” The booby ought to be compelled to cut his beefsteak
with a piece of old barrel-hoop on a wooden trencher.

Not even abolition or etiquette, however, could sidetrack the

Sun’s interest in animals. In one issue it dismissed the adjournment
of Congress in three words and, just below, ran this item:

THE ANACONDA—Most of those who have seen the

beautiful serpent at Peale’s Museum will recollect that in the
snug quarters allotted to him there are two blankets, on one
of which he lies, and the other is covered over him in cold
weather. Strange to say that on Monday night, after Mr. Peale
had fed the serpent with a chicken, according to custom, the
serpent took it into his head to swallow one of the blankets,
which is a seven-quarter one, and this blanket he has now in
his stomach. The proprietor feels much anxiety.

Almost every newspaper editor in that era had a theatre feud at

one day or another. The Sun’s quarrel was with Farren, the manager
of the Bowery, where Forrest was playing. So the Sun said:

DAMN THE YANKEES—We are informed by a

correspondent (though we have not seen the announcement
ourselves) that Farren, the chap who damned the Yankees so
lustily the other day, and who is now under bonds for a gross
outrage on a respectable butcher near the Bowery Theater, is
intending to make his appearance on the Bowery stage THIS
EVENING!
 Five hundred citizens gathered at the theatre that night, waited
until nine o’clock, and then charged through the doors, breaking up
the performance of “Metamora.” The Sun described it:
The supernumeraries scud from behind the scenes like quails—
the stock actors’ teeth chattered—Oceana looked imploringly at the
good-for-nothing Yankees—Nahmeeoke trembled—Guy of Godalwin
turned on his heel, and Metamora coolly shouldered his tomahawk
and walked off the stage.
The management announced that Farren was discharged. The
mayor of New York and Edwin Forrest made conciliatory speeches,
and the crowd went away.
The attacks of Colonel Stone, editor of the six-cent Commercial,
aroused the Sun to retaliate in kind. A column about the colonel
ended thus:

He was then again cowskinned by Mr. Bryant of the Post,

and was most unpoetically flogged near the American Hotel.
He has always been the slave of avarice, cowardice, and
meanness.... The next time he sees fit to attack the penny
press we hope he will confine himself to facts.

A month later the Sun went after Colonel Stone again:

The colonel ... for the sake of an additional glass of wine

and a couple of real Spanish cigars, did actually perpetrate a
most excellent and true article, the first we have seen of his
for a long time past. Now we have serious thoughts that the
colonel will yet become quite a decent fellow, and may
ultimately ascend, after a long course of training, to a level
with the penny dailies which have soared so far above him in
the heavens of veracity.
 It must be said of Colonel Stone that he was a man of literary
and political attainments. He was editor of the Commercial
Advertiser for more than twenty years.
The colonel did not reform to the Sun’s liking at once, but the
feud lessened, and presently it was the Transcript—a penny paper
which sprang up when the Sun’s success was assured—to which the
Sun took its biggest cudgels. One of the Transcript’s editors, it said,
had passed a bogus three-dollar bill on the Bank of Troy. Another
walked “on both sides of the street, like a twopenny postman,” while
a third “spent his money at a theatre with females,” while his family
was in want. But, added the Sun, “we never let personalities creep
in.”
The New York Times—not the present Times—had also started
up, and it dared to boast of a circulation “greater than any in the city
except the Courier.” Said the Sun:

If the daily circulation of the Sun be not larger than that

of the Times and Courier both, then may we be hung up by
the ears and flogged to death with a rattle-snake’s skin.

The Sun took no risk in this. By November of 1834 its circulation

was above ten thousand. On December 3 it published the President’s
message in full and circulated fifteen thousand copies. At the
beginning of 1835 it announced a new press—a Napier, built by R.
Hoe & Co.—new type, and a bigger paper, circulating twenty
thousand. The print paper was to cost four-fifths of a cent a copy,
but the Sun was getting lots of advertising. With the increase in size,
that New Year’s Day, the Sun adopted the motto, “It Shines for All.”
which it is still using to-day. This motto doubtless was suggested by
the sign of the famous Rising Sun Tavern, or Howard’s Inn, which
then stood at the junction of Bedford and Jamaica turnpikes, in East
New York. The sign, which was in front of the tavern as early as
1776, was supported on posts near the road and bore a rude picture
of a rising sun and the motto which Day adopted.
 In the same month—January, 1835—the bigger and better Sun
printed its first real sports story. The sporting editor, who very likely
was also the police reporter and perhaps Partner Wisner as well,
heard that there was to be a fight in the fields near Hoboken
between Williamson, of Philadelphia, and Phelan, of New York. He
crossed the ferry, hired a saddle-horse in Hoboken, and galloped to
the ringside. It was bare knuckles, London rules, and only thirty
seconds’ interval between rounds:

At the end of three minutes Williamson fell. (Cheers and

cries of “Fair Play!”) After breathing half a minute, they went
at it again, and Phelan was knocked down. (Cheers and cries
of “Give it to him!”) In three minutes more Williamson fell,
and the adjoining woods echoed back the shouts of the
spectators.

The match lasted seventy-two minutes and ended in the defeat

of Williamson. The Sun’s report contained no sporting slang, and the
reporter did not seem to like pugilism:

And this is what is called “sports of the ring!” We can

cheerfully encourage foot-races or any other humane and
reasonable amusement, but the Lord deliver us from the
“ring.”

The following day the Sun denounced prize-fighting as “a

European practice, better fitted for the morally and physically
oppressed classes of London than the enlightened republican citizens
of New York.”
As prosperity came, the news columns improved. The
sensational was not the only pabulum fed to the reader. Beside the
story of a duel between two midshipmen he would find a review of
the Burr autobiography, just out. Gossip about Fanny Kemble’s
quarrel with her father—the Sun was vexed with the actress because
she said that New York audiences were made up of butchers—would
appear next to a staid report of the doings of Congress. The attacks
on Rum continued, and the Sun was quick to oppose the proposed
“licensing of houses of prostitution and billiard-rooms.”
The success of Mr. Day’s paper was so great that every printer
and newspaperman in New York longed to run a penny journal. On
June 22, 1835, the paper’s name appeared at the head of the
editorial column on Page 2 as The True Sun, although on the first
page the bold head-line THE SUN, remained as usual. An editorial
note said:

We have changed our inside head to True Sun for reasons

which will hereafter be made known.

On the following day the True Sun title was entirely missing, and
its absence was explained in an editorial article as follows:

Having understood on Wednesday (June 21) that a daily

paper was about being issued in this city as nearly like our
own as it could be got up, under the title of The True Sun, for
the avowed purpose of benefitting the proprietors at our
expense, we yesterday changed our inside title, being
determined to place an injunction upon any such piratical
proceedings. Yesterday morning the anticipated Sun made its
appearance, and at first sight we immediately abandoned our
intention of defending ourselves legally, being convinced that
it is a mere catchpenny second-hand concern which (had it
our whole list and patronage) would in one month be among
the “Things that were.” It is published by William F. Short and
edited by Stephen B. Butler, who announces that his “politics
are Whig.”... Mr. Short, with the ingenuity of a London
pickpocket, though without the honesty, has made up his
paper as nearly like ours as was possible and given it the
name of The (true) Sun for the purpose of imposing on the
 public.... We hereby publish William F. Short and Stephen B.
Butler to our editorial brethren and to the printing profession
in general as Literary Scoundrels.

A day later (June 24, 1835) the Sun declared that in establishing
the True Sun “Short, who is one of the printers of the Messenger,
actually purloined the composition of his reading matter”; and it
printed a letter from William Burnett, publisher of the Weekly
Messenger, to support its charge of larceny.
On June 28, six days after the True Sun’s first appearance, the
Sun announced the failure of the pretender. The True Sun’s
proprietors, it said, “have concluded to abandon their piratical
course.”
Another True Sun was issued by Benjamin H. Day in 1840, two
years after he sold the Sun to Moses Y. Beach. A third True Sun,
established by former employees of the Sun on March 20, 1843, ran
for more than a year. A daily called the Citizen and True Sun, started
in 1845, had a short life.
When a contemporary did not fail the Sun poked fun at it:

MAJOR NOAH’S SINGULARITY—The Evening Star of

yesterday comes out in favor of the French, lottery, gambling,
and phrenology for ladies. Is the man crazy?

The editor whose sanity was questioned was the famous

Mordecai Manuel Noah, one of the most versatile men of his time.
He was a newspaper correspondent at fifteen. When he was twenty-
eight, President Madison appointed him to be consul-general at
Tunis, where he distinguished himself by his rescue of several
Americans who were held as slaves in the Barbary States. On his
return to New York, in 1816, he again entered journalism, and was
successively connected with the National Advocate, the Enquirer, the
Commercial Advertiser, the Times and Messenger, and the Evening
Star. In 1825 he attempted to establish a great Jewish colony on
Grand Island, in the Niagara River, but he found neither sympathy
nor aid among his coreligionists, and the scheme was a failure.
Noah wrote a dozen dramas, all of which have been forgotten,
although he was the most popular playwright in America at that day.
His Evening Star was a good paper, and the Sun’s quarrels with it
were not serious.
For their attacks on Attree, the editor of the Transcript, Messrs.
Day and Wisner got themselves indicted for criminal libel. They took
it calmly:

Bigger men than we have passed through that ordeal.

There is Major Noah, the Grand Mogul of the editorial tribe,
who has not only been indicted, but, we believe, placed at
the bar. Then there’s Colonel Webb; no longer ago than last
autumn he was indicted by the grand jury of Delaware
County. The colonel, it is said, didn’t consider this a fair
business transaction, and, brushing up the mahogany pistol,
he took his coach and hounds, drove up to good old
Delaware, and bid defiance to the whole posse comitatus of
the county. The greatest men in the country have some time
in the course of their lives been indicted.

A few weeks later, when Attree, who had left the Transcript to
write “horribles” for the Courier, was terribly beaten in the street,
the Sun denounced the assault and tried to expose the assailants.
In February, 1835, a few days after the indictment of the
partners, Mr. Wisner was challenged to a duel by a quack dentist
whose medicines the Sun had exposed. The Sun announced
editorially that Wisner accepted the challenge, and that, having the
choice of weapons, he chose syringes charged with the dentist’s own
medicine, the distance five paces. No duel!
 It would seem that the Sun owners sought a challenge from the
fiery James Watson Webb of the mahogany pistol, for they made
many a dig at his sixpenny paper. Here is a sample:

OUTRAGEOUS—The Courier and Enquirer of Saturday

morning is just twice as large as its usual size. The sheet is
now large enough for a blanket and two pairs of pillow-cases,
and it contains, in printers’ language, 698,300 ems—equal to
eight volumes of the ordinary-sized novels of the present day.
If the reading matter were printed in pica type and put in one
unbroken line, it would reach from Nova Zembla to Terra del
Fuego. Such a paper is an insult to a civilized community.

A little later, when Colonel Webb’s paper boasted of “the largest

circulation,” the Sun offered to bet the colonel a thousand dollars—
the money to go to the Washington Monument Association—that the
Sun had a circulation twice as great as that of the big sixpenny daily.
It must not be thought, however, that the Sun did not attempt to
treat the serious matters of the day. It handled them very well,
considering the lack of facilities. The war crisis with France, happily
dispelled; the amazing project of the Erie Railroad to build a line as
far west as Chautauqua County, New York; the anti-abolitionist riots
and the little religious rows; the ambitions of Daniel Webster and the
approach of Halley’s comet—all these had their half-column or so.
When Matthias the Prophet, the Dowie of that day, was brought
to trial in White Plains, Westchester County, on a charge of having
poisoned a Mr. Elijah Pierson, the Sun sent a reporter to that then
distant court. It is possible that this reporter was Benjamin H. Day
himself. At any rate, Day attended the trial, and there made the
acquaintance of a man who that very summer made the Sun the talk
of the world and brought to the young paper the largest circulation
of any daily.
 CHAPTER III
RICHARD ADAMS LOCKE’S MOON HOAX

A Magnificent Fake Which Deceived Two Continents, Brought to

“The Sun” the Largest Circulation in the World and, in Poe’s
Opinion, Established Penny Papers.

T HE man whom Day met at the murder trial in White Plains was
Richard Adams Locke, a reporter who was destined to kick up
more dust than perhaps any other man of his profession. As he comes
on the stage, we must let his predecessor, George W. Wisner, pass into
the wings.

Wisner was a good man, as a reporter, as a writer of editorial

articles, and as part owner of the paper. His campaign for Abolition
irritated Mr. Day at first, but the young man’s motives were so pure and
his articles so logical that Day recognized the justice of the cause, even
as he realized the foolish methods employed by some of the
Abolitionists. Wisner set the face of the Sun against slavery, and Day
kept it so, but there were minor matters of policy upon which the
partners never agreed, never could agree.
When Wisner’s health became poor, in the summer of 1835, he
expressed a desire to get away from New York. Mr. Day paid him five
thousand dollars for his interest in the paper—a large sum in those
days, considering the fact that Wisner had won his share with no
capital except his pen. Wisner went West and settled at Pontiac,
Michigan. There his health improved, his fortune increased, and he was
at one time a member of the Michigan Legislature.
 When Day found that Locke was the best reporter attending the
trial of Matthias the Prophet, he hired him to write a series of articles
on the religious fakir. These, the first “feature stories” that ever
appeared in the Sun, were printed on the front page.
A few weeks later, while the Matthias articles were still being sold
on the streets in pamphlet form, Locke went to Day and told him that
his boss, Colonel Webb of the Courier and Enquirer, had discharged
him for working for the Sun “on the side.” Wisner was about to leave
the paper, and Day was glad to hire Locke, for he needed an editorial
writer. Twelve dollars a week was the alluring wage, and Locke
accepted it.
Locke was then thirty-five—ten years senior to his employer. Let his
contemporary, Edgar Allan Poe, describe him:

He is about five feet seven inches in height, symmetrically

formed; there is an air of distinction about his whole person—
the air noble of genius. His face is strongly pitted by the
smallpox, and, perhaps from the same cause, there is a marked
obliquity in the eyes; a certain calm, clear luminousness,
however, about these latter amply compensates for the defect,
and the forehead is truly beautiful in its intellectuality. I am
acquainted with no person possessing so fine a forehead as Mr.
Locke.

Locke was nine years older than Poe, who at this time had most of
his fame ahead of him. Poe was quick to recognize the quality of
Locke’s writings; indeed, the poet saw, perhaps more clearly than
others of that period, that America was full of good writers—a fact of
which the general public was neglectful. This was Poe’s tribute to
Locke’s literary gift:

His prose style is noticeable for its concision, luminosity,

completeness—each quality in its proper place. He has that
method so generally characteristic of genius proper. Everything
 he writes is a model in its peculiar way, serving just the
purposes intended and nothing to spare.

The Sun’s new writer was a collateral descendant of John Locke,

the English philosopher of the seventeenth century. He was born in
1800, but his birthplace was not New York, as his contemporary
biographers wrote. It was East Brent, Somersetshire, England. His early
American friends concealed this fact when writing of Locke, for they
feared that his English birth (all the wounds of war had not healed)
would keep him out of some of the literary clubs. He was educated by
his mother and by private tutors until he was nineteen, when he
entered Cambridge. While still a student he contributed to the Bee, the
Imperial Magazine, and other English publications. When he left
Cambridge he had the hardihood to start the London Republican, the
title of which describes its purpose. This was a failure, for London
declined to warm to the theories of American democracy, no matter
how scholarly their expression.
Abandoning the Republican, young Locke devoted himself to
literature and science. He ran a periodical called the Cornucopia for
about six months, but it was not a financial success, and in 1832, with
his wife and infant daughter, he went to New York. Colonel Webb put
him at work on his paper.
Locke could write almost anything. In Cambridge and in Fleet
Street he had picked up a wonderful store of general information. He
could turn out prose or poetry, politics or pathos, anecdotes or
astronomy.
While he lived in London, Locke was a regular reader of the
Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, and he brought some copies of it
to America. One of these, an issue of 1826, contained an article by Dr.
Thomas Dick, of Dundee, a pious man, but inclined to speculate on the
possibilities of the universe. In this article Dr. Dick suggested the
feasibility of communicating with the moon by means of great stone
symbols on the face of the earth. The people of the moon—if there
were any—would fathom the diagrams and reply in a similar way. Dr.
Dick explained afterward that he wrote this piece with the idea of
satirizing a certain coterie of eccentric German astronomers.
Now it happened that Sir John Frederick William Herschel, the
greatest astronomer of his time, and the son of the celebrated
astronomer Sir William Herschel, went to South Africa in January, 1834,
and established an observatory at Feldhausen, near Cape Town, with
the intention of completing his survey of the sidereal heavens by
examining the southern skies as he had swept the northern, thus to
make the first telescopic survey of the whole surface of the visible
heavens.
Locke knew about Sir John and his mission. The Matthias case had
blown over, the big fire in Fulton Street was almost forgotten, and
things were a bit dull on the island of Manhattan. The newspapers
were in a state of armed truce. As Locke and his fellow journalists
gathered at the American Hotel bar for their after-dinner brandy, it is
probable that there was nothing, not even the great sloth recently
arrived at the American Museum, to excite a good argument.
Locke needed money, for his salary of twelve dollars a week could
ill support the fine gentleman that he was; so he laid a plan before Mr.
Day. It was a plot as well as a plan, and the first angle of the plot
appeared on the second page of the Sun on August 21, 1835:

CELESTIAL DISCOVERIES—The Edinburgh Courant says

—“We have just learnt from an eminent publisher in this city
that Sir John Herschel, at the Cape of Good Hope, has made
some astronomical discoveries of the most wonderful
description, by means of an immense telescope of an entirely
new principle.”

Nothing further appeared until Tuesday, August 25, when three

columns of the Sun’s first page took the newspaper and scientific
worlds by the ears. Those were not the days of big type. The Sun’s
heading read:
 GREAT ASTRONOMICAL
DISCOVERIES.

LATELY MADE
BY SIR JOHN HERSCHEL, LL.D., F.R.S., &c.

At the Cape of Good Hope.

[From Supplement to the Edinburgh Journal of Science.]

It may as well be said here that although there had been an

Edinburgh Journal of Science, it ceased to exist several years before
1835. The periodical to which Dr. Dick, of Dundee, contributed his
moon theories was, in a way, the successor to the Journal of Science,
but it was called the New Philosophical Journal. The likeness of names
was not great, but enough to cause some confusion. It is also
noteworthy that the sly Locke credited to a supplement, rather than to
the Journal of Science itself, the revelations which he that day began to
pour before the eyes of Sun readers. Thus he started:

In this unusual addition to our Journal we have the

happiness of making known to the British public, and thence to
the whole civilized world, recent discoveries in astronomy which
will build an imperishable monument to the age in which we
live, and confer upon the present generation of the human race
proud distinction through all future time. It has been poetically
said that the stars of heaven are the hereditary regalia of man
as the intellectual sovereign of the animal creation. He may now
fold the zodiac around him with a loftier consciousness of his
mental supremacy.
RICHARD ADAMS LOCKE, AUTHOR OF THE MOON HOAX
 From an Engraving in the Possession of His Granddaughter, Mrs. F. Winthrop
White of New Brighton, S. I.

After solemnly dwelling on the awe which mortal man must feel
upon peering into the secrets of the sky, the article declared that Sir
John “paused several hours before he commenced his observations,
that he might prepare his own mind for discoveries which he knew
would fill the minds of myriads of his fellow men with astonishment.” It
continued:

And well might he pause! From the hour the first human
pair opened their eyes to the glories of the blue firmament
above them, there has been no accession to human knowledge
at all comparable in sublime interest to that which he has been
the honored agent in supplying. Well might he pause! He was
about to become the sole depository of wondrous secrets which
had been hid from the eyes of all men that had lived since the
birth of time.

At the end of a half-column of glorification, the writer got down to

brass tacks:

To render our enthusiasm intelligible, we will state at once

that by means of a telescope, of vast dimensions and an entirely
new principle, the younger Herschel, at his observatory in the
southern hemisphere, has already made the most extraordinary
discoveries in every planet of our solar system; has discovered
planets in other solar systems; has obtained a distinct view of
objects in the moon, fully equal to that which the unaided eye
commands of terrestrial objects at the distance of one hundred
yards; has affirmatively settled the question whether this
satellite be inhabited, and by what orders of beings; has firmly
established a new theory of cometary phenomena; and has
solved or corrected nearly every leading problem of
mathematical astronomy.
 And where was the Journal of Science getting this mine of
astronomical revelation for its supplement? The mystery is explained at
once:

We are indebted to the devoted friendship of Dr. Andrew

Grant, the pupil of the elder, and for several years past the
inseparable coadjutor of the younger Herschel. The amanuensis
of the latter at the Cape of Good Hope, and the indefatigable
superintendent of his telescope during the whole period of its
construction and operations, Dr. Grant has been able to supply
us with intelligence equal in general interest at least to that
which Dr. Herschel himself has transmitted to the Royal Society.
For permission to indulge his friendship in communicating this
invaluable information to us, Dr. Grant and ourselves are
indebted to the magnanimity of Dr. Herschel, who, far above all
mercenary considerations, has thus signally honored and
rewarded his fellow laborer in the field of science.

Regarding the illustrations which, according to the implications of

the text, accompanied the supplement, the writer was specific. Most of
them, he stated, were copies of “drawings taken in the observatory by
Herbert Home, Esq., who accompanied the last powerful series of
reflectors from London to the Cape. The engraving of the belts of
Jupiter is a reduced copy of an imperial folio drawing by Dr. Herschel
himself. The segment of the inner ring of Saturn is from a large
drawing by Dr. Grant.”
A history of Sir William Herschel’s work and a description of his
telescopes took up a column of the Sun, and on top of this came the
details—as the Journal printed them—of Sir John’s plans to outdo his
father by revolutionary methods and a greater telescope. Sir John, it
appeared, was in conference with Sir David Brewster:

After a few minutes’ silent thought, Sir John diffidently

inquired whether it would not be possible to effect a transfusion
of artificial light through the focal object of vision! Sir David,
somewhat startled at the originality of the idea, paused a while,
 and then hesitatingly referred to the refrangibility of rays and
the angle of incidence. Sir John, grown more confident, adduced
the example of the Newtonian reflector, in which the
refrangibility was corrected by the second speculum and the
angle of incidence restored by the third.
“And,” continued he, “why cannot the illuminated
microscope, say the hydro-oxygen, be applied to render distinct
and, if necessary, even to magnify, the focal object?”
Sir David sprang from his chair in an ecstasy of conviction,
and, leaping half-way to the ceiling, exclaimed:
“Thou art the man!”

Details of the casting of a great lens came next. It was twenty-four

feet in diameter, and weighed nearly fifteen thousand pounds after it
was polished; its estimated magnifying-power was forty-two thousand
times. As he saw it safely started on its way to Africa, Sir John
“expressed confidence in his ultimate ability to study even the
entomology of the moon, in case she contained insects upon her
surface.”
Thus ended the first instalment of the story. Where had the Sun
got the Journal of Science supplement? An editorial article answered
that “it was very politely furnished us by a medical gentleman
immediately from Scotland, in consequence of a paragraph which
appeared on Friday last from the Edinburgh Courant.” The article
added:

The portion which we publish to-day is introductory to

celestial discoveries of higher and more universal interest than
any, in any science yet known to the human race. Now indeed it
may be said that we live in an age of discovery.

It cannot be said that the whole town buzzed with excitement that
day. Perhaps this first instalment was a bit over the heads of most
readers; it was so technical, so foreign. But in Nassau and Ann Streets,
wherever two newspapermen were gathered together, there was
buzzing enough. What was coming next? Why hadn’t they thought to
subscribe to the Edinburgh Journal of Science, with its wonderful
supplement?
Nearly four columns of the revelations appeared on the following
day—August 26, 1835. This time the reading public came trooping into
camp, for the Sun’s reprint of the Journal of Science supplement got
beyond the stage of preliminaries and predictions, and began to tell of
what was to be seen on the moon. Scientists and newspapermen
appreciated the detailed description of the mammoth telescope and the
work of placing it, but the public, like a child, wanted the moon—and
got it. Let us plunge in at about the point where the public plunged:

The specimen of lunar vegetation, however, which they had

already seen, had decided a question of too exciting an interest
to induce them to retard its exit. It had demonstrated that the
moon has an atmosphere constituted similarly to our own, and
capable of sustaining organized and, therefore, most probably,
animal life.
“The trees,” says Dr. Grant, “for a period of ten minutes
were of one unvaried kind, and unlike any I have seen except
the largest class of yews in the English churchyards, which they
in some respects resemble. These were followed by a level
green plain which, as measured by the painted circle on our
canvas of forty-nine feet, must have been more than half a mile
in breadth.”

The article had explained that, by means of a great reflector, the

lunar views were thrown upon a big canvas screen behind the
telescope.

Then appeared as fine a forest of firs, unequivocal firs, as I

have ever seen cherished in the bosom of my native mountains.
Wearied with the long continuance of these, we greatly reduced
the magnifying power of the microscope without eclipsing either
 of the reflectors, and immediately perceived that we had been
insensibly descending, as it were, a mountainous district of
highly diversified and romantic character, and that we were on
the verge of a lake, or inland sea; but of what relative locality or
extent, we were yet too greatly magnified to determine.
On introducing the feeblest achromatic lens we possessed,
we found that the water, whose boundary we had just
discovered, answered in general outline to the Mare Nubicum of
Riccoli. Fairer shores never angel coasted on a tour of pleasure.
A beach of brilliant white sand, girt with wild, castellated rocks,
apparently of green marble, varied at chasms, occurring every
two or three hundred feet, with grotesque blocks of chalk or
gypsum, and feathered and festooned at the summits with the
clustering foliage of unknown trees, moved along the bright wall
of our apartment until we were speechless with admiration.

A column farther on, in a wonderful valley of this wonderful moon,

life at last burst upon the seers:

In the shade of the woods on the southeastern side we

beheld continuous herds of brown quadrupeds, having all the
external characteristics of the bison, but more diminutive than
any species of the bos genus in our natural history. Its tail was
like that of our bos grunniens; but in its semicircular horns, the
hump on its shoulders, the depth of its dewlap, and the length
of its shaggy hair, it closely resembled the species to which I
have compared it.
It had, however, one widely distinctive feature, which we
afterward found common to nearly every lunar quadruped we
have discovered; namely, a remarkable fleshy appendage over
the eyes, crossing the whole breadth of the forehead and united
to the ears. We could most distinctly perceive this hairy veil,
which was shaped like the upper front outline of the cap known
to the ladies as Mary Queen of Scots cap, lifted and lowered by
means of the ears. It immediately occurred to the acute mind of
Dr. Herschel that this was a providential contrivance to protect
 the eyes of the animal from the great extremes of light and
darkness to which all the inhabitants of our side of the moon
are periodically subjected.
The next animal perceived would be classed on earth as a
monster. It was of a bluish lead color, about the size of a goat,
with a head and beard like him, and a single horn, slightly
inclined forward from the perpendicular. The female was
destitute of the horn and beard, but had a much longer tail. It
was gregarious, and chiefly abounded on the acclivitous glades
of the woods. In elegance of symmetry it rivaled the antelope,
and like him it seemed an agile, sprightly creature, running with
great speed and springing from the green turf with all the
unaccountable antics of the young lamb or kitten.
This beautiful creature afforded us the most exquisite
amusement. The mimicry of its movements upon our white-
painted canvas was as faithful and luminous as that of animals
within a few yards of a camera obscura when seen pictured
upon its tympan. Frequently, when attempting to put our fingers
upon its beard, it would suddenly bound away into oblivion, as if
conscious of our earthly impertinence; but then others would
appear, whom we could not prevent nibbling the herbage, say or
do what we would to them.

So, at last, the people of earth knew something concrete about the
live things of the moon. Goats with beards were there, and every New
Yorker knew goats, for they fed upon the rocky hills of Harlem. And the
moon had birds, too:

On examining the center of this delightful valley we found a

large, branching river, abounding with lovely islands and water-
birds of numerous kinds. A species of gray pelican was the most
numerous, but black and white cranes, with unreasonably long
legs and bill, were also quite common. We watched their
piscivorous experiments a long time in hopes of catching sight
of a lunar fish; but, although we were not gratified in this
respect, we could easily guess the purpose with which they
 plunged their long necks so deeply beneath the water. Near the
upper extremity of one of these islands we obtained a glimpse
of a strange amphibious creature of a spherical form, which
rolled with great velocity across the pebbly beach, and was lost
sight of in the strong current which set off from this angle of the
island.

At this point clouds intervened, and the Herschel party had to call it
a day. But it had been a big day, and nobody who read the Sun
wondered that the astronomers tossed off “congratulatory bumpers of
the best ‘East India particular,’ and named this place of wonders the
Valley of the Unicorn.” So ended the Sun story of August 26, but an
editorial paragraph assured the patrons of the paper that on the
morrow there would be a treat even richer.
What did the other papers say? In the language of a later and less
elegant period, most of them ate it up—some eagerly, some grudgingly,
some a bit dubiously, but they ate it, either in crumbs or in hunks. The
Daily Advertiser declared:

No article has appeared for years that will command so

general a perusal and publication. Sir John has added a stock of
knowledge to the present age that will immortalize his name
and place it high on the page of science.

The Mercantile Advertiser, knowing that its lofty readers were

unlikely to see the moon revelations in the lowly Sun, hastened to
begin reprinting the articles in full, with the remark that the document
appeared to have intrinsic evidence of authenticity.
The Times, a daily then only a year old, and destined to live only
eighteen months more—later, of course, the title was used by a
successful daily—said that everything in the Sun story was probable
and plausible, and had an “air of intense verisimilitude.”
The New York Sunday News advised the incredulous to be patient: