Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1870-06-17
ERRORS OF THE PRESS.

A slight mistake frequently changes the
whole effect of an article or may utterly
ruin writer. Abiding 10 four pas Of the
piess Pycroft relates II conversation which
Ii, held with n printer. "Realy," said the
p'nter, "gentlcmon should not place such
cmfidcnco in the cyesight Of our hard
worked and half-blinded reader of proofs,
for | am ashamed to say that I've utterly
ruined one poet through ludicrous mis-
print" "Indced and what was the un-
happy line?" "Why, sir the poet intend
ed to say, Sec the pale martyr in a sheet of
fire.; instead of which we made him say
See the pale martyr with his shirt on fire..
OF course the reviewers made the most Of
ablunder so entertaining TO their readers,
and the unfortunate author was never heard
of more in the field of literature"
Another versifier was extingushed in
the ioll owing manner "A lad in a print
ing Office came upon the name of Hecate,
occurring in line like this :--"Shall reign
the Hecate Of the deepest hell" the boy
thinking he had discovered an error, ran
to the foreman of the Office and inquired
eagerly if there was an in cat. "Why
no, blockhead,' was the reply. Away
went the juvenile type-setter to the press
room, and extracted the superfluous letter.
But fancy the horror of poet and publisher,
when the poem appeared with the line:-
"Shall reign the He cat of the deepest
hell"
Another instance, showing the import
Of ufn 10 lat ,c
tisement in New York paper, in May,
1869, headed "Infernal remedy" 1t was
very possible quite true, but of course the
compounder of the quack mixture meant
to have said "Intcrnal remedy"
a long list of such blunders might be
! enunzraied, but We shall content ourselves
with ~ following "A publisher offers a
undred dollars for the best tail for his pa
per; n grocer advertses an invoice of box
es of pigs from Symrna; New York
landlord annonces louise TO let, and pos
session given Immediately; at an inquest
held the other day on the body of glut-
ton who died in devouring part of tur-
key, the verdict "suilocation" was printed,
with more truth than was intended, stufio-
N,
an editor recently apologized for an error
of the preceding day which made him re-
fer with pleasure to the "overflowing soak
ers of Major Ecceston's hospitable board
overlooking boakers was, of course, what
he wrote.
The editor of a well known religious
journal, in reference to an individual, took
occasion TO write that he was recttts in &C.
cteSid-that is good standing,in the church
The type-sctter to whom this was dead
language,'in the EDITORS absence converted
1t into rcctuS IN cuiind, which, although
pretty good Latin, alters in some degree
the sense, as ii accorded to the reverend
gentle men spoken Of only good standing
in the Kitchen.
Incorrect punctuation is, also prolific
source of Jaur pas of the press. Wher
| Lord Timothy Dexter of Ncwburypor
wroto his famous book, entitled, A Pick
Tor the knowing Ones, there happened tt
be many heresics, schisms, and false teach
ings abroad in the land regarding punctua
ton, and as many diverse systems appear
ed for the location of commas, semicolons
| periods, dashes, etc., rs there were work,
published. To obviate the difficulty, anC
give every one an opportunity of suitnl
himself, his lordship left out all the mark.
Of punctuation from the body of his work
and at the end of the volume had five pag
es Of nothing but pauscs and stops, will
which he said the reader could pepper an,
salt his literary dish as he chose.
Still another ludicrous mistake was tina
made by she clergyman of parish, t.
whom the wife of person about TO sail oil
distant voyage sent note expressing
tho following "A husband going to sea
his wife desires the prayers of this congre
CATION" Unfortunately, the good matror
was not skilled in spelling or punctuation
nor had the minister quick vision, and h
accordingly read the note, "a husband go
ing TO see his wife, desires the prayers q
this congregation" This mistake is nearl
as bad as that of an Irish journal ;-"Fo
his Grace the Duchess of Devonshire wa
safely delivered" read cher Grace th
duke of Devonshire.
The late Peter Hastie, of New York city
discovered above one thousand errors i
spelling, syntax, and punctuation, in SC
called immaculate English edition of tn
Bible, and one-tenth that number oferror
on two pages of a popular uuabridge
American dictionary. The only books thl
are believed to be perfect. e., entirel
free from typographical errors-are an OK
ford edition of the Bible, a London AM
Leipsc Horace, and an American reprr
of Dante. The University of Oxford had
standing offer of guinea for each and eN
cry error that might be found in their ed
tion of the Holy Bible referred to above
For very many years no one claimed tn
reward, until recently an errdt'm was di'
covered by a lynx-eyed reader, the rewar
duly paid, the error corrected, and 1t
now confidently believed to be without
typographical blemish of any description
-LppiRcOfS Mdgdsih.