(Editor's note: The following column appeared originally in the Sunday, July 27, 1997, edition of the Herald Democrat.)

Sometimes a kind word goes a long way. A pat on the back or a sincere compliment uplifts a person. It pumps up the self esteem, restores one's confidence and broadens the vision.

This is a true story:

In the early 1920s, the students in an English class in high school turned in their theme papers in response to the teacher's instructions. After she read the papers, the teacher singled out one among them as being well written. She read it to the class and talked about how good it was.

A feeling of exhilaration surged through the young writer's mind. He had never given any thought to writing as a career. In the warm glow of this praise, however, he still remembers thinking, "If you think that's good, just wait!" From then on, he said, "I wrote themes like nobody's business."

In his senior year they established a little high school paper, and he was selected editor-in-chief. He said many years later that no one had told him this, but he knows in his own mind that when the faculty met to set up the new school paper, that same English teacher suggested his appointment.

The faculty advisor to the new high school paper had worked a couple of summers at the local city newspaper as a reporter, and he told the editor of the city daily about this kid who wanted to be a reporter. He also arranged for the young man to go and see the editor (who was also the owner) of the city paper.

The young high school editor-in-chief in later years was able to look back and laugh at himself. He said, "By that time I was getting to be a pretty smart boy. Our little school paper had won some district recognition, and I'd won third place in the Texas Interscholastic League editorial writing contest. I thought, 'That paper ought to be glad to get a bright young chap like me.'"

It was on a Sunday morning that he went down for his interview with the brilliant, blunt old editor. The young man never forgot their conversation.

The old editor talked to him at length, "and finally he gave this immortal lesson to me. He said, 'Well, if you're interested in newspaper work, you can come down here and work around. We won't pay you anything because you won't be worth anything. But if you want to come and work for experience, we'll be glad to have you hang around down here."

The young man never hesitated. The fact was that he was thrilled at the prospect of hanging around a real newspaper. He said, "I was as busy as anyone on the staff from about mid-June to Aug. 31, 1925, when I finally was hired to work there."

He liked his job, and he was good at it. He worked for the same newspaper continuously for 47 years. He became a reliable, energetic reporter (even though he never took a typing course he could "burn up" a typewriter using three or four fingers).

During the last 30 years before his retirement in 1974, he was the hard-working and respected editor of the newspaper where he began his career back in 1925.

The retired editor, still alert and lively (in 1997), remembered with great clarity those exhilarating words of commendation from his English teacher which fired his imagination and launched him on a course from which he never wandered.

Yes, a kind word often does go a long way.

As a matter of fact, the effects of the teacher's verbal pat-on-the-back were felt on into the second generation. Next week's column will tell you about it, and for those who haven't already figured it out, the names of the principals in the story will be given.

Stay tuned.

R.C. VAUGHAN of Sherman is a retired senior District Judge.