The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1884-11-15
Printers Errors.

As class, the manipulators of tyne
may truthful, I called the best (and
worst) abused men in the world, and
without sufficient reason. Very few
outside of the trade know the dIlirul-
ties under which they la or or have
even faint conception of the skill,
care and patience required, Absolute
correctness is a prime essential to Sc
cure public appro alton, and how very
lite is done in the way Of assistance
"C0py' properly pr'rar d is great
desideratum and rarely received. That
which is cal ed "good" is often the very
revers'. 1t may be lair to the eye and
yet blind to the sense. Tue patron d es
not know exactly what he needs. | he
has any ideas upon the su 'rrt they
may be perverted ones, and the little
smatter!ng Nc has of the art tends to
lead him a>tray and demand impoSsi-
biltirs His Judgment has not been
traine1 in the matt OF letters lie
knows nothing of Gus iiicaticn ex ept
that he believes lie has it in the largest
sense to give the printer particular
fits" when an error is 'ound Why six
line plea and nonpareil can not be made
TO c'ime like notes Of music is ley nd
1 his ideas of eternal fitness Of inanimate
mltter. According to his views it is
the most simple Of unde tax a - 10 set,
make up and work of one hundred
pages, more or less, in the most un-
rea onaby Y short space Of time
Before pouring out the yials of their
wrath upon the head OF die printer, il
might be well for men to pause and con.
der how much he is TO blame Some.
where in our desultory reading we have
met with the statement that any ole
piece OF Mosaic work containing a few
hundred pieces is. exalted to the skies
and pronounced wonderful 1t re
quired patience, no doubt, probably
taste and tudy, but carrying ont the
DRIFT of the article ready how very lttlt
in comparison to the tens and hundred
of thousands of still more slender an(
minute particles the printer is require(
10 handle to make up paper or book
Take solid page of the CdjiRe' as al
example. 1t contains some 27,00
''ems," or about 81 900 lett rs. Thi
is greatly more than any Mosaic known
And they had to be placed without an
chiseling or Sand-papering, as could b
done in the delicate work of table, chai
or picture.
Taking this as hasis, calculation i
!, easy as to the amount of type con-
postor handles during his hours of dai
ly labor in distribution and setting
Easy it is also to conceive how sue
: little fragments of metal will slip out {
place, how letter or space may b
l dropped, a word spelled incorrectly,
) point he wrong, how errors VIII or c
: in despite all car and the nerOl
public be outraged at the ''gross car,
; lessneSs and stupidity Of the pr inter-.
: Errors do occur, we must udmit, IN
: they are fabulau>ly uncommon whe
: compared to chances of their beir
s made, and books and papers are mon
mem, to the corr, c;ncsS Of the crai
h thcr sw;ftncSs and certainty of louc
i cducat'on and never-ceasing Wig
r lance.
g We write not thus for tn criI
d They practically krow the tr tn of o.
l. words. But we do write for III III l
% tide OF outsiders, AMI W til the no
g Tia the simpl, illust'aton we ha
i, ven may open E cir eyes TO the n
q in uSt 90 d. ne to thosh who, with Tho
IL roses in the space box. toll away tl4
lives or the benefit OF the world
d l.rge. 7Loants' triR erS' Cdii',|