The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1872-05-08
Newspaper Errors.

|udicrous typographical errors will he
while printers are falli-
BILE and editors write with abominable
indifference to legibility. One of the
most astonishing blunders of this kind
was committed some years ago in an
editorial in the Bulletin. The writer.
who had cautioned his readers against
"casting their pearls before swine,n
was amazed and grievcd to perceive
that the compositor had warned the
public against "carting their pills be.
fore sunrise" This was corrected in
the proof; but the reporter who de.
clared of a certain new store that IL
had "sixty fancy windows" was even
more indignant than the store keeper
when he saw in his paper the state.
ment that the establishment contained
"sixty faded widows" And then there
was the poet, In Muncy. who sought
to soothe the woun ded feelings of q
bereaved family by publishing in the
local paper a poetical tribute to the
deceased daughter, Emily, in which
he declared that Eve will hallow her
grave with our tears" He was pursued
next morning by Emily's exasperated
brother because the printers insisted
that tive will harrow her grave with
our steers"
The poets suffer most deeply
Nothing could be worse, for instance,
than the misery of the bard who as
serted, in his copy, that he Kissed her
under the silent stars" only to find
that the composition compelled him to
sskick her under the cellar stairs" A
certain Jenkins, also, was the victim
of an aggravated assault, because
when, in his report of wedding, he
declared that "the bride was accom-.
panied to the altar by eight brides
maids" the types made it that "the
bride was accompanied to the altar by
tight bridesmaids" These things are
peculiarly unpleasant when they occur
in remarks upon death as in the case
of an editor who, when writing a SYM
pathetic paragraph, observed that "Mr.
Smith could hardly bear the loss of his
wife," only to find that the printer had
made it ''Mr. Smith could hardly bear
such boss for a wife,"
Even more deplorable is the injury
done to the Journalist who compli-
mented certain candidate with the
observation that he was ga noble old
burgher, proudly loving his native
State" Imagine the indignation of
the candidate and the horror of the
editor, when the paper the next day
contained the assertion that the said
burgher was ga nobby old burglar,
prowling around in naked state"
But the printers do not make all the
mistakes. We remember the laughter
and comment provoked by the state
ment of a provincial reporter, who
called the attention of the constable to
the fact that con Sunday last some
twelve or thirteen men collected in the
hollow back of Thomas McGinnis, and
engaged in fighting during the whole
morning." Mr.. McGinnis' back mus
have been uncommonly large.
During the Franco Prussian war q
great deal of fun was poked at the
= New Jersey editor who read in the
cable dispatches that "Bazaine hal
moved twenty kilOmeters out of Metz
He thereupOn sat down and wrote an
! editorial in which lie said he was de-
l lighted to hear that the kilometers had
been removed. and that the innocent
e people of Metz were endangered by tht
: presence of those devilish engines o
r war-sleeping upon a volcano, as !
=, were. And then he went on to des
!, cribe some experiments made will
kilometers in the Crimea, in which on
of them exploded and blew frigat'
> out of the water.
II Another editor clipped from an ex
It change an obituary poem, which b
q sent to the composing room with som
t, introductory remarks. He said: "W'
r publish below very touching produc
4 ton from the pen of Miss NJ.
= was written by her at the death-bed
her sainted mother, and it overflow
!. with those expressions of filial affee
J" ton which are the natural outgrowt
% of a pure, untutored genius that ha
~ developed beneath the sheltering in
ID f1uence of mothers love. The reade
u will-observe how each line glows wit
re ardent affection and tender regret.
OF Somehow, in attaching this intro
f. duction to the poem, the editor tnrne
o. up the wrong side of the clipping, an
90 the consequence was that the editor
;. lines led the reader gently into q
, article upon 'Hog Cholera in Terne'
see." 1t was rumOred that the rel'
eh tives of Miss M-were seen prov
L ling around the Office the next "a!
sc armed with shot guns, but this has d
Il Ayth