Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-01-26

had defrauded the purchasers of those
articles, as they (the sofas, not the up
holsterers,) we're discovered partially
stuffed with moss, instead of curled hair
The window curtains were of linen and
damask-47 yards, foot 6a inches of the
former, and39 yards, 2 feet sad A inches
of the latter. The carpets were very rich
and costly. In one room there were 33
carpet tacks, and in the others 29, 55,
36 and 73 respectively.
That was an example of the accurate
reporter. sHe is particularly admired by
the authors Of srithmeties, algebras, as
tronomers and people of statistical
minds generally.
know of no better description of an
English reporter of the old school"
than the following: "Proby had never
been out of London, never in boat,
never on the back of horse. To the
end of bsg-wigs he wore a bag; he was
the last man that walked with cane as
long as himself, ultimately exchanged
for en- umbrella, which he was never
seen without in wet weather or dry, yet
he usually reported the whole debates in
the Morning Chronicle, and wrote two
or three novels depicting the social man.
ners of the times He was strange
feeder, and ruined himself in eating
pastry at the confectioner's shop (for one
of whose scores Taylor and 6ailed
him); he was always in perspiration,
whence George Colman christened him
King Porus;' and he was always go
punctual to minute that when he ar
rived in sight of the office window, the re-
mark used to be: There's Proby-its half.
past two, and yet he never used to set his
watch. If ever it came to right time, /
cannot tell; tut if you asked him what
o'clock it was, he would look at it and
calculate something in this sort: am
twenty-six minutes past seven = four,
twcnty-one from twelve. forty-t is just
three minutes past three Poor, strange
and simple, yet curiously-informed PROXY
his last domicil was the Lambeth par
ish workhousc, out of which he would
come, in his coarse gray garb, and call
upon his friends as freely and uncercmo-
niously as before, to the surprise OF SER
wants, who entertain AN 'orrid jealousy
of paupers, and who could not compre-
heHd why persos so clad was shown il.
The last letter his friend received from
him spoke exultingly of his having been
chosen to teach the young children in the
A B c, which conferred some extra ae
cnmmodstions upon him."
The good reporter must be no Ounce
He must be walking encyclop@ iia of
information There is no knowledge
that will not be useful to him. In our
country an acquaintance with politics
aud political history is of the greatest
utility to the reporter. In England
greater culture is required.
Once upon a time there were two re-
psrters, neither of whom had ever read
the Bible. Said one, ~ say, Jones, | saw
such queer book at stall the other day |
all about building boat, and a man
getting into it with bears and beasts, you
know adding, perhaps, q few more
palmer hints of the Deluge. "Why. you
confounded fool" said Jones, didn't
you ever read Robinson Crusoe before2'
| am glad to think, for the honor of our
own country, that incident occurred in
Eugland.
Much complaint land with justice, too)
is often made by speakers of the mac
curacies in their speeches as printed.
These mistakes are sometimes due to the
printer oareessness, but it is more often
The fault of the reporter. remember an
orator who was very fond of interlsrding
MS speeches with Latin quotations, in
order to display bis learning. One eve
ming he made great speech at the
Cooper Institute, believe, something in
he way of composition, which he in
ended should far transcend anything he
rad ever been guilty of before. On this
occasion he, Of course,
,ould not get along without giving the
audience q small dose of Latin. One of
lis quotations was as follows: Anxious
Socrates, amicus Plato, sed-mgjor Ueri-
as The reader may imagine the ora
or's surprise, regret-in point of fact,
lis extreme anger-when, on the follow
ng morning, on reading over his speech
n q prominent New York daily, instead
It finding this bit of Latin italicised, be
ounl these words printed in the
ordinary type: "Imay cuss Socrates,
may cuss Plato, said Major Veritas"
I is seldom the mistake is as bad as
hat. More often one or two words are
united which completely destroy the
ense of the sentence, or wrong words
re substituted which make it equally
To illustrates Daniel Web
ter, in one of bis famous speeches, used :
hese words "Jove among the CODA"
The reporter, in this case, probably not |
xactly hearing the words, wrote them :
,ut, Job among the gods" which, to !
ay the least, was rather comical. The !
Ion. Benjamin F. Butler, in a spsech at c
not long sincs, said that !
Pandoras box was like the ballot box, I
ecause there was hope at the bottom of q
l." The gentleman who reported the =
peech, possibly with the idea Of i'm D
rowing on the original, had it printed J
q this way: "Pandors's box was like Z
be ballot box, because there was no hole o
t the bottom Of itT At a social !
cience convention few years since, an !
orator remarked that
labor is the only earthly potentate
bat shall rule on this continent" A very n
roper sentiment one would think, and ]
D which every one would subscribe. Bat !
he reporter seemed TO think otherwise. 4
Ie made it read, Labor is the nail
,tely patented that shall rule on this
,,t1,srfn Ha he tha nail m fha haa1