Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1856-12-26
From de TUcgrephie AGpertiser.
THE PRINTERS APPRENTICE.

r1om he 1IpCgrGpae AdueTtiseT.
THE PRINTERS APPRENTICE.
The apprentice foreshadows the work.
man, just as surely as the bend of the
twig foretells the inclination of the tree
The upright, obedient. industrious lad
will graduate steady. skilful, and ospa.
BILE man, as unmistakably as the perYerse,
idling. careless boy will ripen into q
lazy, dissolute. and worthless fellow
The fact is. a boy is measurably the ma
ker of his own destiny and if he fails to
acquire master~knowledge of the trade
to which he is put, it will mainly be be-
cause he did not at his onset determine to
be master-workman. Good morals and
steady industry are Indispensable. When
a lad who possesses these qualities pro-
poses TO learn the art and mystery oi
printing, it should be inquired of him,
Has he had fair common school educa-
ton Is he q perfect speller I? Has he
a turn for reading !? Is his eye.sight
good? Is he under fifteen years of age?
A true affirmative answer to all these
queries will sntitle him to the position Of
reading and errand boy. He is told the
hours at which he is to come and go. and
a strict punctualisy is enjoined upon him.
He sweeps the room-he sorts out the pi
he learns the position of the various
letters in the case. A year spent in this
way is an excellent preparative for CO.
ing to case" or learning the art of COM
posing type. When he is put to compo-
sition, he is told to set up one line and
show it to the foreman or journeyman un-
der whose care he may be placed. The
errors in the line are pointed out 10 him,
and he is required to correct them him-
self. When the words are perfectly COR
rect, he justi6es the line tightly enough
to prevent it from falling down when the
composing stick is slightly inclined, and
yet sufficiently loose TO enable him to lift
it out with ease. In thus spacing out the
line, the blanks between the words must
be so graduated that. when the matter is
printed, all the words will appear at equal
distances apart. No matter how impa-
tient he may be to get on, he must be
drilled at this exercise till he becomes a
thorough master of it. The grand doc
trine to be instilled into him at first is, TO
do his work well and correctly; swiftness
will follow as natural consequence. He
sets second line and after it has been
made faultless, he proceeds with the
third and so on till the stick is full. The
utmost care must be taken TO keep every
letter and every line in an exact vertical
position and when he essays to empty
the stick, he must be taught to lift the en-.
tire mass in one square solid body, and
to place it squarely and vertically on the
galley. II the lines are allowed to slant
either backward or sidewise, it is difficult
afterward to make them stand accurately.
After tho apprentice has become tho
roughly conversant with the shape Of ev-
cry type, and can distinguish "u" from
from en- "b" from 90" and I'd"
from "p." he is allowed to distribute
type for his own use. He is taught to
take up at one time no more matter than
he can conveniently grasp in his left hand ,
which he holds so that the light falls on
the face of the type. and his eye can rea>
Oily read it. In distributing the various
letters, he takes word or two between
the thumb and forefnger of his right.
hand. and the, types are lightly dropped
into their respective boxes.
AT the outset. and as be. proceeds. the
novitate must be cautioned against the
acquisition OF bad habits such as swing
ing the body as the types are picked up,
nicking the type against the stick several
times before placing it in line, standing on
one leg. DC.