The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1882-04-12

name he is best known. The pleasant irony
has never done this patient and deserving
artesian any harm, for his merits are too SUBJ
~stantial to be affected by the quips of spite
full and jocose paragraphists, and as we go
along we shall draw him out from behind
his technicalities and see what he really is.
When it is remembered that save in standing
advertisements every letter, every comma,
period, hyphen, every what not that is i'm
pressed on the newspaper sheet, to say moth
ing Of the thousands Of spaces-hair spaces,
thin spaces, middle spaces, en- quads and EN-
quads-has to be picked up by hand and put
into ineligible shape, and that not q line OF
type is set before 7 o'clock, some conception
may be formed of the task Of the compost
tor. But this by no means fully illustrates
his work. We have not taken INTO account
the bad copy he gets, the jumbled handwIit-
ing of hurried and worried reporters; the
Typographical atrocities of galloping editor
ial writer's; the doubtful credits and rambling
headlines .of the compiler OF extracts; the
stalking interpretations Of the learned manip-
uldIOl VI lClCSlQpIIG OASphtChSo3 "tpA
Diudibrachts, Minkhaj Pashas and his thou
sand and one Asiatic and European and At
rican towns with unspellable, unpronouncea-
BILE and never before heard of names; and
the blind unsystematic characters OF the
feminine correspondent who never writes on
anything but blue paper with pencil. All
these writers and many more expect perfect
work from the compositor, though he is only
human and is assisted only by the proof
reader, who makes more work for him by
pointing out errors that he must stop to cor
rect. 1t is this illegibility OF copy that makes
the printer what he is. When he gets a take
of late editorial only four or five lines in
length, can not make head or tail Of the
sense Of the article, not able to read half a
dozen words of it, then the iron enters his
soul; then he d~evoutly preys in good round
terms, and language more forcible than ele-
giant and with an earnestness worthy of a
better cause.
The other habitues of the morning news
paper Office are best seen at their busiest
time-about one o'clock in the morning when
the rest of the world is asleep. At that hour
the editorial and mechanical force are
all agloW. A score of pencils rattle over the
slips of paper; two scores of hands are
nervously picking up bits of type that click
like the instruments in a telegraph office !;
feet hurrying to and fro +; gas jets are blazing
brightly and noisily the proof press is roll
ing the ear-trampets are busy with calls !;
while down below the engine creaks and
groans like q creature OF muscle and brains,
waiting patiently to do its vented work.
Points in journalism are made after this
hour. Dispatches thicken as the moments
90 by, and columns must be written, edited,
and put in type inside of thirty minutes. But
in spite of the hustle perfect system and or
der prevail. AS time draws nearer three
o'clock the more precious it becomes the
least balk may prove disastrous to q whole
edition, and death, death on the wheel, is the
very least punishment due a foreman for
missing a mail. The greatest skill and care
are required in the make up of the pages.
The ssstyle'' of the paper must be preserved,
the freshest and most important matter must
be got from the great mass, which is all
entitled to a place. It is often desperate WORK
to make the right articles and paragraphs tit
without violating some sacred rule. The dis
played headlines with devilsh ingenuity try
to range themselves side by side, that the
bright morning page may exhibit some me-
chanical atrocity that will strike dismay tc
the soul Of the management. The telegraph
drags, while the hands of the clock have
suddenly acquired added momentum. A hun
dIed minor vexaticns troop up to help along
the threatened chaos. The night editor is
present to look after the precious part OF the
matter, and make such sacrifices as may be
required but as the last hour rounds up i
is tough work at best. When all is over 6
long sigh of relief is drawn, and the respon'
sibility is shifted to the grim Hercules in the
press room. The lights go out, one by one.
and the compositors drop away one after
another, and for a few hours all is peace.
! THE UBIQUITOUS.
In talks and writings concerning Journa
ism the reporter has long been overlooked
even the intelligent general public habitually
underestimate the Importance Of reporters
: On the great city dailies the reporter is OF al
| great importance as the editor-in-chief with
out his assistance the forger of the editoria
thunderbolt would be at q loss for his mos
scathing material. News from the fou,
Quarters Of the globe flash to him by tn