Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1858-12-10
The Pr1ntcr--The Typcs-T0e

interests OF the prOIession, mas the I0Ie
lowing articles. in the number for No.
vembcr, which VIC thing will be read with
intero t:
THE PRrNIER.-The Belfast I.e-
land Mercury gives the following in re-
lation to printers: "From high to low
they are the same careless, lgL. hearted.
clever, well-informed, reckless fellows
knowing how to act better than they do
nothing at times If the
occasion requires, or TIE fit takes them.
No sooner are they comfortable in enc
town than they make tracks for another.
even though they travel on hair Or ace
means. And to what will they not turn
their hands? I'VE have seen, says an
American editor. 'onc and the same indi.
vidual Of the craft. minister in Califor.
MIA, lawyer in Missouri, sheriff in
Ohio, boatman on western canal sail
ing privateer, an auctioneer in New
York, and pressm IN in q great printing
office. Nor arc these characteristics of
the printers co 1incd to any country;
thcy are ever the same. We have met
them as lecturers, actors, travelling
preachers, ventriloquists-in fact. every
thing. We have met on the tramp in
this country members of this rowing pro.
iession from all parts Of the globe
Frenchmen, Spaniarls, Portuguese, Ger
mans and swedes and all apparently as
much at home as in their own country.
Ardent lovers of liberty, king craft 6nds
but little favor in their eyes. They are
always with the people. When tho
Chartest excitement was raging in Eng
land, the most eloquent leaders in the
movement were printers. When the
barricadas were raised in Paris. in 1s4a.
the compostors cast their types into bull
lets and fired them at the royalists'
troops. When the Americans were At
war with Mexico, General Taylor's regi-
mcnt was composed almost entirely Of
printers, and they were the bravest Of his
troops.
THE TrpEs.-Perhaps there is no d..
partment of enterprise whose details arc
less understood by intelligent people than
the cart preservative"-thea achievement
Of :he types.
Every day their lives long they are &C.
customed to read the Newspapers, to
find fault with its statements, its arrange.
ment, its looks, to plume themselves up.
on the discovery of some roguish and &C.
robatic type that gets into frolic and
stands upon its head; or of some word
with waste letter. or two in it; but Of
tie process by which the newspaper is
made, Of the myriads of motions and
thousands Of pieces necessary to its com.
position, they know little and think
less.
They imagine they discourse of won.
der indeed, when they speak of the fair
white carpet woven for thought to walk
Or. from the rags that fluttcred upon tho
back Of the beggar Yesterday.
But there is to us something more
wonderful still. When we look at the
l52 little boxes, something shaded with
the touch of inky fingers, that compose
printers "case," noiselcss, except the
clicking Of types, as one BY one they
take their places in growing llne-we
:hink VIC have found the marvel Of the
art.
Strewn in those little boxes are thin
parallelosrams of metal, every one good
for something that goes to make up writ
ten languages: the visible footprints Of
thought upon carpets Of rags.
We think how many fragments of fan.
cy there are in the boxes; how many
atoms Of poetry and eloqueuce the prin.
ter can make here and there. if he only
has little chart to work by; how many
facts in small handfuls, how much truth
in chaos.
Now he picks up the scattered elements
until he holds in his hand q stanza of
Gray's L cry. monody upon Grimes
''all buttoned up before Now be sets
up Puppy Missing" and now "para-
disc Lost He arrays bride in "small
caps and sonnet in "Nonpcriel." He
announces that the languishins ''live." in
one sentence ce-transposes the word and
deplores the days that are ''evil," in the
next.
A poor Jest ticks its way into the print.
er's hand. Ikea little clock just running
do'n. and "A strain Of eloqucnce marches
into line. We fancy we can tell the diff.
ference By hearing of the ear; but por.
haps not.
The types that told wedding yes.er.
day. announce burial o.morrow-per.
haps in the selfsame letters.
They are the elements to make q word
OF. Those type are world with some.
thing in it as bc,utifll as spring, as rich
as summer and os crapd n. .ut.-