Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1864-07-20
Txpographicai Error.

Let me begin with the wofuI circum-
stance that first interested me in errorl
of the press. 1 was a student at the
time. had written a short paper on
British rule in India; it was one of the
! first things had ever prepared for the
press, and of course was very careful
and solicitous. l had burned much mid
night oil over it, altering expressions,
touching up the sentences here and
there, and taking great pains to make
them read euphoniously. With the con-
Guiding sentence I had taken particular
pains, and prided myself much on its
majestic Cieeronian swell. Il was long
sentence; l need not give the whole of it,
; Though have it III my scrap book, but
it ended thus,-''when that Empire was
the seat of learning, the. home of civiliza-
ton, and the nursery ofarts." The morn
ing came round on which the journal
was published to which my paper had
been sent. / was too anxious to wait for
the post. I went out before breakfast,
boug ght copy in the next street, aseer-
tanned that my paper was in it, and hur-
ried back to my lodgings. Eagerly l
turned to the place-please remember it
was one of my frst productions-and
EcGd - AlnC Ol AAhCs 1lOla HeAlC
first to the last. The. last Oh, Kind
reader, put yourselves in my circumstan-
ces, and imagine the frightful shock your
feelings would have sustained on seeing
as l then saw-that the letters and r in
the last word of that magnifcently clo-
sing sentence had been transposedi The
clause have already quoted stood thus;
'when that Empire was the eatof learn
ing, the home Of civilization, and the
nursury of rats" Ratsl My feelings at
the moment-well they are over now l
cherish no resentment. / can even hope
now that Heaven may avert the doom
which, in that moment of bitter NORTH
cation and rage, enyoked upon the pa
per, the editor, the composition, the
Internal establishments that had brought
my sublime peroration to this climax Of
absurdity. 1.1 8
But ever since then have felt pain
full interest in typographical errors that
affect the meaniDg-as that one did; and
having jotted down number of them in
the course of my reading, it strikes me
that q few specimens mi ght be worth put
ting together. -leL j. 80.
/ remember being much amused by
by one that occurred in the Times, about
seven years ago. In its Parliamentary
aeport of DisIaeli's famous speech upon
the causes of the rebellion in India, that
usually accurate paper made him speak
of the important law ..that now permits
soindouOs TO marry. y How far the privi-
lege had been taken advantage of did not
appear. Another ludicrous mistake was
made about the same time, in q report of
evidence given before Parliamentary
Committee A highly respectable wit
ness was asked, as your father partner
in the Low Moor Works?" The gentle
man replied in the affirmative. He must
have been somewhat annoyed, in reading
the report few days after, to find the
question and answer permauentlyrecor
ed IS follows:-''Is your father a pauper
in the Low Moor Workhouse?" Yes"
The mistake eprobably originated with the
shorthand reporter, who, let us charita-
bly, hope. was a Little deaf. 10 r-t11
O Much less unhappy was the biunder
which the Missouri paper. committed
when il informed its readers that the
wife crop of Gasconade county, during
the present year, had been q, COO gals" :"
The next. paper corrected the error by
putting "winsr in the place of t.wife.',
Still better wss the mistake made by o
Newspaper in its report of aninauest held
on the body of a notorious sginttons who
had choked himself while defeuring part
Of . Christmas goose.o The Ferdict OF