The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1869-01-23


getting intoit with bears and beasts, you
knowp--adding, perhaps, a few more
palmer hints of the Deluge. "Why, you
confounded foolp said Jones, ddidn't
you ever read Robinson Crusoe beforeY"
l am glad to think, for the honor of our
own country, that incident occurred in
England. sg .ft .
! Much complaint (and with Justice, too)
is often made by speakers Of the inaccu-
racies In their speeches as printed. These
mistakes are sometimes due to the prin-
ter's carelessness, but It is more often the
fault of the reporter, remember an ora
tor who was very fond Of interlarding his
speeches with Latin quotations. in order to
display his learning. One evening he
made great speech al the Cooper lnsti-
tute, believe, something in the way of
composition which he intended should far
transcend anything he had ever been
guilty Of before. On this all-important
occasion, he of course could not get along
without giving the audience a small dose
of Latin. One Of his quotations was as
follows: Anxious Socrates, dRicus Plato,
sed major Verttas, The reader may inn
agine the orators surprise, regret--in
point Of fact, his extreme anger-when,
on the following morning, on reading over
his speech in prominent New York
daily, instead of finding this bit of Latin
italicised he found these words printed in
the ordinary type: +" I may cuss Socrates,
/ may cuss Plato, said Major Veritas"
II is seldom the mistake is as bad as that.
More often one or two words are
omitted which completely destroy the
sense of the sentence, or wrong words are
substituted which make itequally nonsen-
sical. To illustrate: Daniel Webster, in
one Of his famous speeches, used these
words, "Jove among the gods The re-
porter, in this case, probably not exact
ly hearing the words, wrote them out,
Job among the gods,n which, to say the
least, was rather comical. The Hon. Ben.
iamin F. Butler, in a speech at Washing
ton not long since, said that Pandora's
box was like the ballot box, because there
was hope at the bottom of It," The gem
themsn who reported the speech, possibly
with the idea Of improving on the origi-
gal, had 1t printed in this way: "Pando-
ra's box was likethe ballot box, because
there was no hole at the bottom of It'll"
At social science convention few years
since, an enthusiastic orator remarked
that "labor is the only earthly potentate
that shall rule on this continent" A very
proper sentiment one would think, and
to which every onewould subscribe. But
the reporter seemed 10 think otherwise.
he made it read, "Labor is the nail lately
patented that shall rule On this conti-
nent." He hit the nail ON the head that
time There Is an oft-repeated joke about
the mistake of certain New York re-
porter (whom, / believe, the craft call
"Speetaeles," from the fact that he wears
glasses), who was formerly in the habit
Of reporting DR. Chapin's sermons. The
distinguished divine remarked in one OF
his discourses that Christianity had been
the orifamme Of freedom in all ages.
The Doctor, and those who heard the
sermon, were rather startled when they
read in the paper few days afterwards
that Christianity had been the horn
blower of freedom In all ages"
Some of these mistakes which / have
mentioned may be accounted for by the
fact that the reporters are obliged to write
out their notes some time after they have
been taken. This is not an easy matter
to do by any means, though those who dc
not understand the noble art and mys
terry of shorthand writing may think L
is not difficult Shorthand notes ofrapiG
speakers, when taken with a pencil ant
written carelessly (as they nearly alwayl
are), are very different reading from note
taken in the same manner in the ordinary
writing. But then, it is true that goot
reporter should be able to write out hiI
notes when they are old as an amusing
friend of mine expresses it, "reporter
should be able to write out thing afteI
It getscold." Very few possess this desira
Bile qualification. Only great experience
and constant practice in the art of report
ing viii enable reporter to CORRECTLY
write out notes long after they have beer
taken, ...4-
4 You can generally tell a reporter by hi
looks and manners. OF course he has
quick eye, being always on the lookout 70
news, or a sensation, and like Micawbel
waiting for something to turn up y
oltentimes in double sense He has onl,
limited supply OF money in the very bes
of times-more often, none at all: Yol
never heard of a reporter who lived in
mansion, unless in the direction Of tn
skies, otherwise garret or building
tpriVate theatre, ,.or owning race e'horse, O
having a brown,stone house or gol
watch presented to him or investing i
lots near Central Park nor would yo
expect him 70 make magnificent endoW
ment to q college or seminary. He doe
not dress very well-in fact looks shabby
because he is poorly paddles probably
according to the amount of work he doe
than persons in any other business or pre-
fession in New York A journalist VIII
generally had pretty seedy appearance
! tells this story of himself II wer
to the drugstore early one mornin
for dose Of morphine for sick frienl
The nightclerk objected to give it to N
: without tho prescription, evidently fea
ing meant TO destroy myself PshaW
said /, do ] look like a man who woul
kill himselfg' Gazing at me steadily Il
!, half a minute, he replied, / don't knoV
! Seems to me II looked like you shoul
be greatly tempted to kill myself'P