The Arizona sentinel., 1886-08-07
THE PROOF-READER.
A Valiant Member of a Long-Abused Pro-
 feSsiOn Rises to Protest.


 feSsion Rises to Protest.
 The proof-reader has long shared with the intelligent compositor" the reputation for that total depravity which has made writer say ''see the pale martyr with shirt on fire," when he wrote in, ''sheet of fire;" and to ask s'is there no barn in Guilford, "when he meant '.is there no balm in Gilead;" to sreak of his love of "alum water'' when he wrote ''Alma Mater," and to speak of "a mysterious dispensation of Providence" as ga mysterious disap- pearance of provisions.
 The silence of the proof-reader has been taken as evidence of his guilt, or that he was proof against reproof and as indlsposed to correct his own errors as those of the types. But he has evi- dently borne contumely long enough, and he rises to ''hurl back; the charges. and to mail lies to the counter" and to ''thrust the base falsehoods down the throats of his cowardly vituperators, !" as the contributors to that popular peri od:cal-the Congressional RecOrd-are in the habit of saying. The worm has turned at last, and a rather lively turn it $.
 He expresses his wonder to the editor of the Boston Literary World that noth- ing has ever been said in praise of proOf-readers. Of course this might surprise proof-reader, but any expe- rienced writer for the press will not be astonished at it at all The writer will know that he has time and time again WI tten the most glowing eulogies of prOof-readers and their assistants; trib- utes that statesmen might envy and good men crave. But the proof-reader has never allowed them to appear in print. Where the WI ter has said that the proof-reader was "a benefactor to his race" it has appeared ''as benight- e scape-grace;" when he has called him the ''salt of the earth" it comes to the surface as ''the scum of the earth" when he has spoken of the tease and comfort a good proof-reader gives him, he is made to say an escaped con- vict," and when he has referred to the proof-reader' ''saintly grace, the pub lie first learns of him as a ''snake-ln- the-grass. That is why nothing has ever appeared in print in praise of the prOOf-reader.
 This protesting proof-reader is not willing to believe that every one of his species is full of malice toward au- thors and hates the whole world. And then the man actually goes on to speak a good word for himself and his kind. At this rate the barber will be defend- ing his talking; the mother-in-law will amor for hearing; the plumber will E9 piping up in his own behalf; the Chinese laundryman claiming a right to live an honest and cleanly life; and tur- keys speak their mind about Thanks giving. What is the world coming to?
 However, since the proof-reader has been graciOusly allowed to say tn at his souls h's own, it is perhaps worth lie, as mild amusement, to hear how he puts the case. In the first place he says that an author intent on what he is writing, is necessarily careless a out his handwriting He can not break the flow of his thoughts to dot his 'i S" and cross his cts" Each author has his own peculiar permanship. The prJOf-reader takes up his manuscriGt | and tries to catch the purport of the authors thought. He has scarcely done so, when in comes another mass of proof | and manuscript of an entirely diff ferent character and an entirely diff ferent pen; and a new thread has to be picked up until another interrup- ton. This is not for a moment, but all l day, all the week, all the year, all his life: After puzzling himself until he is half blind, his brain weary, and work pushing upon him necessarily, letter may be left out or comma inserted in the wrong place, when slam-bang goes a voIley at the proof-reader! He has seen conscientious, patient, worthy proof-readers shrink and cringe when an author visits a printing office, lest something might have escaped their no- tice. He has seen an author scold proof-reader for some trifing oversight