The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1870-01-01
From the San Francisco Golden City,
All About Printers.
WHAT THEY DO, HOW THEY DO 1T, AND
WHAT THEY DO IT WITH.
BY 0. JOB JONES.

BY o. JOB JONES.
The knowledge of the general public as
to the details of Printing is necessarily
limited, from the fact that all persons are
not practical printers; and, as know all
about it, | deem it my duty to tell the pub
lie all about it, which is all know-and
more, too.
/ will now commence at the beginning.
The term g. to print - means-well to
print, you know, which everybody under
stands without my explaining it.
When anything is printed it is said to be
in "black and white;'' but this certainly is
not the case when it is printed on yellow
paper with red ink.
There is also such a thing as printing a
kiss on a fair girls cheek; but that is not
the kind of printing 1 am about to deal
with. l shall treat of newspaper, book and
job printing.
The man who works at the business is
termed printer.
Printing is styled the art Preservat;ve
of all Arts for obvious reasons.
Printing was invented by Benjamin
Franklin, who had learned the trade with
his brother.
AS in all other callngs there are terms
used in printing familiar only to printers
and others. These it is my object to ex-
plain.
A printers stand" means stand on
his feet of ten hours each day.
A printers 8. case " is suit in court to
recover his wages from his employer.
The ''lead - of the printer is used for
NEEDING bullet in.
The "rule " is, that each printer abstain
from strong drink from New Years Day
till the First of January. 1t is a rule that
works both ways. 1t also has its excep-
lions, as all legitimate rules have-the ex-
ceptions are 365 days hours 0 minutes and
81 seconds in the year.
The Imposing stone" is a statue of
the editor cut out of limestone and usually
set up in dark corner of the composing
room to terrify the printers. 1t is so
named from its imposing appearance.
The "stick " is usually made of hickory,
and is about three feet long with bent
handle at one end. 1t is closely allied to a
newspaper "club."
The /" brackets are convenient articles
attached to the wall for tho purpose of
hanging the " sticks on.
The "comma" 81 is taken from the
latin word "coma," signifying sleep
Hence it is used at intervals as kind of
brief stop when the printer wishes to rest a
moment.
The colon g. is a stop of sufficient
length to allow him toput COAL on the
fire.
The "dash is an article made of paste
board of 4 shape similar to the dash on the
platform of a car, and is worn over the eyes
at night time to keep the strong gaslight
out.
The -" form - is kind of ceremony
through which printers must go ere becom-
ing members of the fraternity.
The "coin " is round piece of silver,
about an inch and quarter in diameter
and about sixteenth of an inch thick.
"Pie" is the lunch which he either
brings with him or takes at the restaur-
ant.
Everybody has heard it observed that
printers are paid by the thousand, but not
every one knows what that means. "The
Thousand what ?' is asked. will explain.
Each printer is paid six bits for every
thousand times he sets up the alphabet in
full, using every letter. l once knew an
editor who took a mean advantage of his
printers in this regard He wrote eighteen
years without ever using the letter "z,"
so that the poor printers had to work all
that time for nothing, not having set up
every letter in the alphabet. Once the
mean cuss was compelled to use the word
"sneeze " in one of his editorials, and in
stead of writing it in the usual manner he
spelled it" e-tweniysixthle
alphabet-e thus again avoiding COM
positor's bill.
THE compositor at work on this article
has been suddenly taken i'll of Mysteries,
and being splendid printer myself, took
his place, and proceeded to finish setting it
up, first introducing the following explana-
tory note-merely to practice on:
[rust az tbs. point the the comMposttr:
IN catipr mp tbc tbic artic12f Seer-
we'd OF, imggin it humorous and 7
found! it impossiblk longer to controol his
:, risiblty md; burstt-inlo loud into lond
laugter). the peices: flying ina II directions
T. being goodx practical printer myself!
], 8 at once take his toxic his. pllce The
reader! will Readily prove? thu Improve
ruentment; NOW To pr9cedd.
"Tha gall" ley rs-a
At this point another printer arrives, re-
lieving ME of the onerous task, and pro-
cecding with the composition in his own
awkward STYLE
The galley" of the printer is the rear
apartment of the restaurant in which he
gets his meals, where the cooking is done.
A ''take " is the taking of hats at going
home time, and
Distributing" means scattering over
the city to their different places of abode.
"Spaees " are the intervals between the
different cases.
"Fat matter" is the pork market re-
ports, always eagerly sought after by print
ers, because they like fat matter.
"Lean matter - is something very tedi-
Gus to set up, so as to cause the printer to
lean on his "stick " now and then for a
moments rest.
The types used i'll printing are each about
two feet three inches long. They are made
of finely tempered steel, SO that they will
not cut the printing-pa
The ink used in printers ink.
Now, word as to the Printer himself
The Printer in this country is always either
an American or foreigner. Sometimes
he is a male and sometimes n female. He
divides his time between setting up type
and getting set up himself. He is q self
conscious, moral, rational, intellectual be-
l., hat