West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1881-03-23
THAT AWFUL BLUNDER.
An Earnest Mothers Mistake, and
What it Cost Us.

IN. B. Our time and space are SO
valuable, we can only afford word
or two, by way Of explanation.
Only four weeks an editor and in
a box, worse than ever we inveigled
a simple rabbit into, in our younger
days! In a box, surrounded by
teasing critics, making mouths at
us through our prison bars, wrought
and picketed about ourself by our
own blunder! But what shall we
do? What can we do? If a lie
slips out, what use to send Truth
after it? She'll never get within
scenting distance Of the nimble
fugitive. So when a mistake or
blunder goes out in a newspaper,
it's gone; the mischiefs done, and
there's no mending it. We can't
reverse the course of the mails, and
the press from which it has gone,
and have the error corrected. I'm
der the circumstances we are COM
PEELED to make clean breast Of the
whole matter. There's nothing left
us but to confess the facts and file a
general demurrer.
We had just left our compositors
out of copy and run down an unwill-
ing subscriber on the street, and
succeeded in getting half dollar
out Of him for the FREEMAN for
three months on probation, and SO
secured our dinner, when we were
delighted to meet a good woman
on the street, who handed us the
article, "Genteel Professions" for
publication, asking us to say it was
from "an earnest mother" Know
ing the lady well, and having far
more confidence in her literary at
tainments than in our own, we
hurried the article to the hook and
betook us to preparing other matter.
Soon the proof was sent in, when
we tripped over it to see that Gen
teel" was not spelt G-e-n-t-i-l-e, Or
any other words ditto. eve always
did pride ourself on our spelling
and geography and if any of you
keen-scenting critics discover any
thing wrong with the spelling or
geographical part of our paper, just
sing it out, if you please.) Well,
we corrected the spelling part, trust
ing the facts and grammar to the
lady, whom we knew to be gradu-
ate of a frst-class seminary, an ex-
perienced school-teacher, and right
handy with all sorts of poetry, au-
thors and the like. Next morning
we'd just succeeded in getting a
quarter out of a man to advertise
his blind horse for sale, with which
Eve mean the quarter) to buy some
liver and brown bread for breakfast,
when we were overtaken on our
way home by one of the stockhold-
ers of the Freeman Publishing
Company, on an accelerating dog
trot, putting like an engine on an
up grade, swinging above his hat
less head copy of our issue just
from the press; and pulling up
along side Of us, he demanded, care
you the editor of our paper?" We
told him we was working at it a
little.
'Did you read the proof of this pa
per ?"
"That's part of our duty" we re-
piled, "and we always try to do our
duty"
"Well, just read that, if you
please" he demanded, with his in
dignant fore-fnger on the fatal spot
in the middle of the article entitled,
"Genteel Professions"
Taking the paper we read:
"Many young men to-day seem averse to
and show decided leaning to the so callec
'Genteel Professions The couplet from
Longfellow's Psalm of Life
Honor and shame from no condition rise,
Act well your part tbs there the honor lies,
they regard as an old-fashioned maxim
good
"There, that'll d." said he
"don't you see anything?"
eyes, we see what we're read
ing"
"But don't you see anything
wrong?"