The Placer herald., 1873-09-13
From the Reporter.
s NWHAT PRINTERS READ"

My attention was attracted to an article
in the Reporter, Of August II, entitled
"What Printers Read" . o'1'
What do printers read? is a question
that can readily and truihfully be answered
by four-ftths of that class by, the simple
word Everything" It is their daily oc-
cupation to read, at least, a portion o: ey-
erythiny that is transpiring, and yot, can
not find better-read class in any communi-
ty than printers generally are You must
not expect them, when their ten to fifteen
hours Of daily mental and physical labor is
over, to occupy their remaining time in fur
ther study. This would be asking TOO
much. Very few constitutions could endure
it. And yet, aside from the daily re ding
in the printing Office, there are few persons
who read more in their spare moments than
printers. You will. find more books, maga-
zines and papers in the homes of printers
than among any olhev class of people, and
they are read, TOO, by Themselves and fami-
lies. 1t is only the exceptional few who
have neither the taste nor desire to read,
and those few, am happy to say, are MOI
iiO 'o,pC S"icu IiHhCiSS ouc oAo " h"'"S
unsuiled for the business. ....
1t is a well-known fact that tie printers
trade has been the starting point for more
great. men than other trade or profession in
the land. You will find the practical prin-
ter in almost every honorable position of
life. With single step he goes from the
printing office into Offices of trust and re-
sponsibility, and he generally fills such posi-
tions with credit to himself and honor to the
craft When. you see so many Of them,
without even the advantages of college
| education--some npt even graduates of II
common school--thus raised above their
fellows, you might well ask, "W hat do
printers read?'
Light reading is a pleasure that most peo-
pie, Us general thing, delight in-more
particularly the, young; but the older per-
con grows, the, less inclination he has for
reading. unless It is the more solid works.
have known old priniers--and, in fact, it is
a practice with many of lhem-aller ,oilne
with hands and brains for from twelve TO
sixteen hours out of the twenty -four on a
morning paper, to read one or two hours
before retiring. d. .rD &C.,.
In almost every printing ofic, you may
constantly hear between employees remarks
and discussions on the cmrent events Of the
times, 10th foreign and domestic-poliiics
and religion, literature, science and the dra
main fnct, on everything. ! doubt very
much whether you could repeat a line from
Shakespeare, or a verse from any Of the
older poets, in the hearing of numtcr OF
men in any large sizad printing office, when
one or II ore of ,hcml could not tell you the
author, and repeat the context from the
same. >. ,.,
belong to an association of prilt tiers that
is named after the great statesman and phi
losopher- -prnter--Frankln Our library
contains several thousand volumes, of
good selection, and, out of the two hundr d
members, about two-ihirde of them take
from one to six books rHonihly-and this,
you must bear in mind, is in addition TO
their labor-r,ading have also been pres
ent at many meetings exclusively Of print
ers, and their proceedings would have been
a good example for stately legislative bodies
to follow, SO far as parliamentary order and
debate are concerned.
have thus ventured TO trespass on your
columns, in order to vindicate the craft.
-- ..e CRAFTSMAN.