The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-01-27
9hl9a.teIIiqen!a!.l!:. {.
u 80 az. D. PRENFlcG.
Personal Traits and Characteristics
q Hi RnThinE HnhiIA.

l. EuE klG A9A bAA W GAkAk AnA1AA3 III
Prentice had been IN the habit Of going TO
his cons every Saturday and remaining
until Monday morning, GhGn be would re,
turn 70 The once and uSume The lAboB d
| the week On Saturday, The lsth 0f De,
cembeF, be went down ~ usual, WIS taken
Hick there with pneumonia, and there he
II AEned until bis death
II Boon AFTER the death Of his mother, Col
fS.reAra Prentice purchased . beaHtifal
farm lying on the Ohio, about nine miles
below the city, The splendid re5idence on
Walnut street In which Mr. Prentice had
lived 1T nEny yOaIS pOaaod into Other
hands, and hiS hGIns hsFp IN the city va
broken up. From that time forward he
lived principally In his editorial room, mt
in the Old Journal Office ind Afterwards In
the once d the C6aEig-I auFfdA WhGEn
one Of the most comfortable rooms In the
building was assigned him Here he Fe.
4 Eha5ncd almost constantly, seldom going
IJfI6n the street, and Spending his whole
time both night and day, In the discharge
Of his editorial duties, 10 which be was
greatly deyoted up 70 the moment he len
1 the Office to return no more. He seemed
10 have An antpathy 70 boarding houses
and hOtels, and after be ceased 70 be 4
h0uSe. keeper be slwSyS had his meals
served in hlS eIlltorial rpoip. which was
also his bedroom, Ia RSs very fond OF
sweetmeas and Other d. ticAeies, andwith
an abundance OHth8c no was almost daily
supplied by. his many friends among tho
| hdiej ot the city, with whom he was ever
"a great Gnyorite To them he was always
gentle and kind and ChivGltOus In his de-
pertinent, and they esteemed him accord
ingly. =
Il was his custom to EiSe carly In the
morning some houS before the younger
associates were awake 70 begin at
once the laborS OF the day. As coon Is 1t
was light enough to see how TO work, he
usually began The task Of OverhSultng tho
l Iarge pile ofcxchanges which had been
carried 10 his rom the night before nom
the rOom,Oi the news-editOF. He looked
over every newspaper ~ Il came. and
whenever no found an article suggestive
Of an editorial or paragraph suggestive
Of wjtucisn 10 tore Il out, seldom re.
sorting " 30 mp II 10 tltlcsS ha
found them lying conveniently Of hand,
and laid It upon Ills table, ready for use
when the time for writing came. BY nine
or tcfl1cl0cS iIthe 110fping be was ready
for he knSnue1iS, HhbuslaIlS came 10
his room about that hour, and he began
the serious work Of the lay; which be
generally kept up until early In the AIlcr-
noon, when he dismissed his aInanuenSts
u dinner. By that time he had ohen
! written three 6F four columns Of editorial
fAtteF-faT more than It was necessary 70
\ write, ior liz was 10 indetatIgable rs
witer that he generally had in type from
ono 10 two columns OF "Ovcr.mGttcr-
Is, matter which had been lel over, for
want Of room, from the last issue,
Mr.. Prentice rarely failed to become at
taChcd To- Ills amalucnsis, and always
treated him With gtCat kindness, sotnct
4 times sColding him little for q hluuder
in orthogtaIhy, IL ldr m unnecessary
roughncsS Of his pCnmAnship, but rarely
hiIIng to make amends for his aSperity Of
language by increased kindness thepeat'
ter. lie was very particular rs 70 the Ar'
tistic appearance Of the manuscript pro-
duCcd 'by his amanuensis. II tho lines
were little too far apart, or u little too
near together, he would call attention to
the fact, In very kind tones, and request
his alnanuenSis 10 be little more careful
the future. lie was almost taultless ~
a gFammarian, and his punctuation was
perfect Many Of the hest editions Of tue
sday my little attention TO punctuation in
their editorials, leaving II Ina great meas.
uyc to the taste and judgment Ofthe proof
reader, who is always presumed " I'M
| dcrstand It thoroughly, and whose duty 1t
Is 10 see that every article he reads Is pro.
pcriy punctuatcd. But Mr.. Prentice trusted
nothing to the prOOf.reader. ElG dictated
70 his NlnNnuenSR every comma, colon
setnl-OolOn, dAAh periol, and paragraph
in his articles, and never lailed 10 read
over tho manuscript carefully and make
all the corrections he thought necessary
The printer then had but to 'EOllOw copy
to produce the article thoroughly correct
in the paper Of the next morning. A iuW
\ years ago he employed TO write for him
Young man from the country whose Cdp.
cation had been wholly neglected. lie
could read a. tlnetlucated boys usually
Il read, and could write such hand IS I'M
educated buys Usually WEite, but this waG
all that could be said Of him. Tuhtm or
biography was one Of the occult sciences
and Of punctuatiGn no Ind never heard
But Mr., Prentice, knowing that the young
man did tho best he knew how, borG with
his lack Of knowledge and inetticiency
with tho kindness ofH Christian AMI the
pSdenco Of philosopher, and not only
dictated every punctuation mark, but
spelled moro than half tho words as he
pronounced them. He said the young
man seemed anxious 10 discharge his du'
tics accCptnbly, and he wished 70 en-
courage him all he could, and In order to
do 80 he put himself IA Aundrcd'i6lu
more trouble than he would have had "a
do In debating 10 ono who understood his
business
1t was more than twenty years ago thai
Mr.. Prentice Loaf, to some extent, the use
Of his hands for the ordinary purposes Of
his profession. When his righ! hand be-
came almost useless in writing, he speedily
learned to write with his LEFT, and 1t Is a
} little singular that his chirography was
} always very nearly the same in appear
n apce no matter with which hand II was
written. IIO wrote a little better, how
ever, with his lett hand than with his right
lit was source Of great and constant an
noyance 10 him that he could not use his
hands well in writing, and has been heard
TO declare that II he could do 30 he coud
: very easily write editorial matter enough
every day for two or three papers, as he
had never known what It was TO want foE
a subject upon which TO write. He said
that 10 had OitOn written with one end o.
, tho pencil between his teeth, guiding Il
with his hand-hc never used pen cx.
\ cent in letter.writing-apd that 10 had
seriously thought At one time Of learning
to write with his toes, but the idea seemed
50 ludicrOus that he abandoned It at once,
Besides, he feared, as he said, that his toea
would become as unreliable as his fingers.
TJo verH, often In tho absence Of his 0m0n.