Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-03-21
TYPOGRAPHICAL .ERRORs.
How Sentences are Reeonstructed by
GuileleSS Printers.

From the New York Times.
The typographical errors found in newspapers.
magazines, and books form an inexhaustible
subject of discord. In nearly every issue of a
newspaper something "crops up to harrow the
soul of the editor and to particularly yex the
temper of the author of the article In which the
error occurs The reporter who takes pride
| in the beauty of his penmanship is usually ex-
tremely sensitive with regard to "bulls" and
he frequently suffers the humiliation of a per-
verted sentence in his compositions. The com.
positors and proof reader seem to conspire to
render his work ridiculous 1t is melancholy
fact that an author who writes most plainly
| suffers more at the hands OF the compassion and
"intelligent proof reader than q careless
| writer. The reason for this is that with plain
| manuscript no care is necessary to read it. and
those who handle it are apt to become careless
while with ..Choctaw'' or"Greels, "as bad manu-
script is called in the composing room, much
| time is spent in deciphering it, and it nearly
| always comes out all right.
few specimens of what can be done in the
| way OF twisting and turning sentences and of
| the misconception of what the author really
wrote, would perhaps prove interesting. A re-
| the Rev. DR.. Noah Hunt Schenck's death.
| quoted concerning a different type of minister
| sons lines: "White-handed,. snowy-ba nded
priests" The types made it "White-headed,
snowy-bearded priests" A daily paper, giving
| of "the mourners behind the coffee and the
beer, instead of the ''cOffin and the bier" and
gravely stated that 5000 spectators We're
present. meaning, of course, spectators" In
an obituary of the celebrated Capt. Rynders, O
newspaper said that "he married his surviving
| How about his other widowsoh
AT the funeral of Quincy Geveyhow" Menu
phis paper says "the two wives of the deceased
| and their partsans engaged in numerous fights
| for the place OF mourning next the hearse Mr.
Geoghegans fame seems not to have reached
| Tennessee. a newspaper made q vain effort
| the other day to paragraph the .opium Joints I"
. "Opinion joints however, struck the "typo"
and proo1-reader as a handsomer expression,
n n Sta A r.,
paper recently contained this item: 'sThe his
/ roric South church at Worcester celebrated its
! one hundred and siXty-ninth anniversary last
night with supper. followed by remarks by
the present and past pastors 1t was fortunate
to have some of the past pastors present, but to
assume that the gentleman who preached there
l6S years ago took supper with them is too
ghostly tor belief Chicago newspaper not
long ago informed its readers that the ministers
of that city spent the hour OF the usual meeting
in listening TO 'mortality reports from the
churches" OF course monthly" reports was
intended.
A religious newspaper has this grievance
against secular contemporary zone of the
the Monday meeting of Reformed Pastors a
| paper was read entitled 'Ecce Jesus AS no
such paper had been read inquiry was made as
to the source of the report, and it was ascertain
ed that the amateur reporter had been told that
1t was an exegesis. AS he had never before
Ecce Deus, &C., he readily mistook exegesis for
Ecce Jesus, and so published it," Many funny
,h have appeared in type, some of which
|
rected, but, unfortunately, many more were al
lowed to be printed. 1t is not uncommon to
| see the word Macduff appear in type as "Mike
Duff "Drunkards'" Convention for Dunkards,
| and.."Faro's Hall for Tara's Hall. A correspond
ent, no doubt thought he carefully wrote Last
sleep of Argyll" but between the compositor
and the proofreader and the substitu-
ton OF an for an a in the first word
ana an n for an in the second, the reader
| quite lost the beauty of the authors reference
a S for an n, in speaking of the good old hymn,
ment on the proofreader who temporarily lost
| the lynX-like qualities of his eye. "Pyrotech-
for commons, Courteous tricks for crimson
trunks "COrOnerS'" Journal for Courier Journal
| Jabus Carson for Julius Cesar "Gen Theo.
dore Sem for general theological seminary,
| "athietlc Dutch policeman" for Atlantic dock
policeman, j." O'Hawa" for Ottawa, caught a hot
| liver for liner are specimens of the different
| ways in which worthy authors have had their
penmanShip miscOnStrucd.
In an article in which the author supposed he
| was making as lucid an explanation of the
| comet as was possible, he wrote: "The nucleus
| OF a comet bears to its nebulous and expansive
| TAIL, butthe printer thus improved it: "The
nucleus OF cornet bears to its nebulous and
/ expressive tune"