The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-03-12
The Proof Reader.

which go to fit him for the position.
He must not only be well versed in all
the modern languages, but must be a
thorough master of Hebrew, Greek,
Latin, Chaldee, Sankrit, Arabic and
ancient Persian, to say nothing of q
knowledge of Phnnican, and Egyptian
hicroglvphics, together with shutter
ing of Choctow, Chinese and "pigeon
English" He must also be scientist,
with all that implies, and must be able
to compute the cycles of comet for the
next 1000 years in the space of half a
minute, besides being able to "square
circle" and reduce circulating decimal.
His knowledge of chemistry must not
only be far-reaching and minute, but he
must be able to tell at a glance what
a quack docter may have written for q
prescription.
The proof readers knowledge of law
must equal at least that Of Blackstone,
and he must also be able, without mo-
ment's hesitatation, to read the manu-
script of the most illiterate shyster in
the land. lie must be minutely ac-
quainted with the names and lineage
of all the petty English noblemen back
at least to the day of Ethelwolf.
He must be able to so construe entire
ly illegible manuscript that the ideas of
the author shall be conveyed in the ex-
act language he intended it should be.
His work, when it leaves his hands,
must be perfect, without turned letter
or even a broken tailed comma.
If some prosey divine preached an
interesting sermon, and the reporter
happens to go to sleep half dozen
| .o al, 81.
then fills up the hiatuses in his manu-
script with a scrawl, the proof reader
must be able to supply them in the
exact language of the original. If
some young ignoramus feels that he
has call to write for the newspapers
the proof reader is expected to make
his swash appear next morning cloth
ed in the language of Carlisle or an
Addison.
The proof reader must also be a
mild-mannered man, obliging and al
ways ready to lay aside his work to
read bad manuscript for the composit-
ors, perfectly willing to run up and
down four flight of stairs fourteen
times in search of an editor, to find
out whether he wants comma or
semi-colon marked after a particular
word in his article. and must not grum-
bic when he is told that any fool would
know that it did not require either.
He must he meek and unassuming, and
never once presume that letter broken
on the press was not his fault. Neither
must he think of defending himself
from the insults and slurs of the forty
compositors and ten editors for some
"bull" which has appeared in the
mornings paper, but rather, he must
be ready to apologize to everyone in
the office, from the feed-boy to the
editorin-cliess, for his want of accu-
racv.
His sensibilitics must be of the tex
turc of the hide of q rhinoceros, in
order that such remarks by his supe-
riors, thrown out in his hearing as
"idiot," "ignoramus, "damphool," ;"
and the like, may not ruflle the even
tenor of his spirits. He must not be
a sluggard, and must be willing to
sweep out the office, or take 'proof''
when the boy is engaged in a pleasant
chat with some of the compositors.
His eyes must be of the keenest, and
he should be able to read a proof COR
rectly when only every tenth line ap-
pears to the common eye.
Like Nenophone, the proof reader
must be able to repeat the names, not
only of 10000 men, but all names of
both men and women occurring in
both modern and ancient history, to.
gether with thr date of birth and death
of each, and such other minor details
as the number of children to each born
whether they were religiously inclined,
etc. In short to use Micawber cx-
preston, a proof reader, to be sue
cess must be walking enclcop1dia,
endowed with the wisdom of Solomon,
the patience of job and the spirit of a
martyr Baltimore Herald.
The Vergcnnes Vermonter makes the
following probably true contribution
to the already somewhat extensive cat
literature:
1t is seldom that we arc afforded a
more striking illustration of the pow
er of the human voice over the lower
order of animals than that which oc-
CURED in one of the leading churches
in the village of-well, call it Ashdod.
1t has long been the custom of this So
ciety to meet in the basement of their
church on Thursday evening for a
season of prayer, praise and mutual en-.
couragemcnt, and Thursday evening
last was no exception to the rule. II
seems, however, that the same hour and
. place had been selected for another meet
f ing of very different character. Two
cats of the masculine persuasion-hav.
f ing, it is presumed, had some difficulty
growing out of the fact the each had be.
| slowed his affections on the same gentle