Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-03-13
Newspaper Characters from a
Printing Office.
THE GARRULoUs PRINTER.

Newspaper Characters-Gems from a
Printing Office.
THE GARRULOUs PRINTER.
Best known in every Office to every
one, from the managing editor to the
boy, Is the garrulous printer, who is not
always man of full of accurate infor-
nation. Indeed, he is very frequently
an individual possessing no information
at all worth listening to. But to talk,
and to talk loudly, is apparently the
chief end of his existence. So he cla+
ters away from the moment he enters
the Office till he leaves it. He chatters
while he distributes he fuently rolls
up sentences while setting up; he dis
courses at the copy-hook he pirates over
the galleys; and becomes bewilderingIy
eloquent when the welcome announce
ment is made that there is fat take on
the hook. The garrulous printer is in
varlably good-natured man !; he talks,
as the bird sings, from innate force of
his nature. He has no opinions to ad-
vance, no doctrines to defend, no notions
to urge. He does not even care wheth-
er any one listens to him. So that his
tongue has its full amount of daily need
ed exercise he is happy.
THE CAUTIOUS PRINTER.
This individual is, perhaps, the nm
happiest of his class surrounding him
self, as he does at all times and on all
occasions, with an atmosphere of misery.
bending all his energies to the task of
rendering himself, and, as far as posi-
BILE, all those about him, extremely IN
comfortable. Handwritings are his pet
grievencies. No copy gives him salts
faction. If it is bold and round he pro-
nounces it a school-boy's scrawl if neat
and lady-like, a pert miss scrawl if
staid and formal, he deprecates it as a
collection of pot-hooks and hangers
if scratchy and illegible-as most Of the
copy furnished to the compositors on
the dailes unfortunately is-he swears
loud, deep, and often. He is never sat
isfied with the policy of the paper.
True, it is no concern of his, but then
it furnishes him with plea for fault-fnd
ing. His foremen are, by singular
coincidence, one and all, the most unmit-
igated donkeys that ever lived. The
composing-room is either too hot or too
cold, too wide or too narrow, too deep
or too shallow. The foundry from
whence his type came, he feels quite
certain, can cast nothing properly but
pig lead. His stand was botched by a
bungler, and his cases are but so many
cunning devices to bother him in his
work
THE INCOMPETENT PRINTER
This unhappy waif on the typograph-
ical sea, like most other of the unlucky
dogs of this world, has mistaken his vo-
cation. He should have been anything
on earth but printer and this bungler
among the typos is by all his bretheren
styled shoemaker. The incompetent
makes his debut in all offices as 90 sub, +"
and in wonderfully short space of time
say about long enough to set three
takes-his true standing in the craft is
discovered. This poor wight has been
known to set up the frequently recurring
word Washington" as wash-tub J"
bulls and bears" he has been known
to render "quods and slugs." Once
upon time one of these incompetents.
when hands were scarce, was given by q
foreman, who knew his capacity from
bitter experience, a piece of printed
copy. 1t was set up so thickly strewn
with errors that it required twice the
time to correct that it did to compose it.
On being rated soundly for his dirty
work, he rejoined with the air of an in
jured innocent Sir, am not reprint
hand p That foreman elevated his eve
brows, clasped his hands, and was silent.
He was an irascible man, and could
swear soundly on most occasions but
afterwards confessed that he had no
knowledge of any oaths that could do
justice to the man so very unaccustomed
to setting up printed matter.
A "shoemaker" in the composing-room
of the New York dailies recently had the
following lines printed in bold letters,
and placed over his case by heartless
wag
am the slow, the beautiful slow,
Setting less type than the rest, know
Setting it dirtier-shoemaker style
But setting it steady, and saving pile.
Talking,
Botching,
Crushing away,
Picking up much fewer type every day.