Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-03-04
The Devil.

Oh! the Devil Not tn at mysterious in
dividnal, his Satacic majesty, he of tn,
horns, the tail and the cl ven foot; nor We
the red funnel covered imitation OF the i'm
aginary being, who makes his sudden an
pearance through the stage trap, surround
ed by blue fires, in the temple of Thespis
but the smutted and ink-bedaubed terror
of the sanctum, the scapegoat of the com
posing room. that sine qua non Of every
weli-regulated printing office-the printers
Devil tbs of thee / sing. And yet my
song is prose, for there is no. hing apper
tanning to the realms of poesy in tie lr.n
fer's Devil; he is emiuently being of dia
lsolic realism who leaves little for the i'm
agmatien. His particular domain is in
the country printing office where he can
ievel among the unwashed rollers, and dis.
rolt amid pi, and his special charge is that
department. which-ob. gentle reader, deem
ne not profane-in printers tecbncality
is designated ''htll.
Tho Devil may exist in a mitigated de
gree in the Office Of the city daily, but it is
only in the country town that the Devil is
raised to perfection. He is he 'man of all
work. he is the general utility, and when
ever lie is ls,t kept busy he is always ready
at Finding mischief for idle hands to do. I"
He is the universal fireman, for what is
more appropriate than that the Devil should
ses to keeping up the fires. He does the
office chores, pulls proofs, and looks after
the ''dead matter" He dampens the
sheets. feeds the press. distributes the dead
heads and receives with grin the surplus
profanity of the foreman when struggling
with o squabbled column. He is the btnefi
ciary of toe office perquistes, gamers the
mutIlated exchanges 10 barter to the .srap
man, and gathers in the super fluous COM
plimentaries to the circus, the theatrical
performance the lecture, or the festival.
AL is fish that comes to his net, and he
sipzes with like avidty the ticket to the
Sunday-school saturnala, the scientific car
nival, or the intellectual negro minstrel en-.
tertaininent. 1t is at the circus where the
Devil comes out strong. Here he is an en-
thusiastic patron who never fails to take in
all the side shows, visit the animal cages,
applaud with appreciation the won.
derful feats of the main performance,
and hangs on for the supplementary
musical abomination at the end of the
show. He is regular amusement gour.
mond who never fails to harass the editor
when the latter is called upon by the mana-
cling fiend Of some school anniversary to
''serd some one up;' and his Judgment al
though not expressed in the most classic
English, can generally be relied on as being
pretty nearly Correct.
The Devil is the demon who boies the
editor Tor copy He is the means of
Communication between the department of
the newspaper Office which is supposed to
contain the braius. and that which is gen.
orally looked upon as purely mechanical.
lie is the connecting link between the
heads and the hands, so to speak. lie is
the tantalizing imp who glides into the
sanctum unawares and appears like the
shadow of remorseless fate at the EDITORS
table. he never grows impatient, although
the foreman has land special injunction ON
him to hurry things up. No. he's possess
ed of the spirit of JOB, and will sit on the
corner of a table and read exchanges, or
play cat-cradlc or sJeff'' with quads for
hours, if the editor does not happen to
awaken from the profound editorial Oh
which he is engaged with y view of saving
the nation, and exclaim: ooh. the Devil"
'elze the shears and slash out the first
hree-ilne article that meets his eye, and
aisd it to the foreman with the remark that
ic csaa. set on that while"
As 20 weii-regnlated printing office can
get aiore staout a head, so is the other
extremity equally NECESSARY, and in this
case the extfem'ties meet and comuiete the
cilcult. and it is often question Of con.id-
cradle moment in the mind Of his a aiestv