Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-05-28
PLAIN WRITING.
An Amusing Incident Showing the Wick
edness of Illegible Chirograpiy.


edness of Illegible ChirograpIiy.
The Importance of writing plain and
legible land is nowhere better under
stood than among the men who spend
their days and nights in newspaper
offices. The numerous sopl-harrowing
blunders that have escaped the eyes Of
editors, compositors and proof-readcrs
and reached the bright sunlight of pub
licity in cold type might be enumerated
by legions, but we believe there have
been very few occasions when illegible
penmanship has had the effect of setting
an entire community by the ears, pre-
cipitating heated discussion and fomcnt-
ing intcrnecine strife and local discord.
Yet such a case has occurred in Penn
sylvania, if the apparently veracious and
interesting account of Philadelphia
paper may be believed.
A little over twelve years ago the en-
terprisng residents of the town of Hat
boro suddenly became alive to the fact
that nothing would so greatly contribute
to the material welfare of the village
and start it irres;stibly on the bload
highway to metropolitan position
as a bridge across the quiet
little stream that crept past
the outskirts of tho corporation.
The matter grew in successive stages
from double-leaded editorials and COM
munications by Taxpayer" p" Constant
Reader" and "Veritas" in the local pa
per to the dignity of political issue.
The building of the bridge across the
Pcnnypack formed the keynote, So to
speak, of one of the most exciting and
heated campaigns ever enjoyed by the
citizens of the county. The election
was closely fought, and the party which
favored "public improvements won
the day. The law provided that view
ers should be appointed to look into the
subject and report their conclusions to
the grand jury for final decision. The
board of viewers was appointed by the
newly elected officials, and as a matter
of course they unanimously recommend
cd to the grand jury the immediate con-
struction of the bridge.
just at this point the matter seems to
have been dropped, but for what reason
the chronicle does not relate. Perhaps
it was discovered that the county treas
ury was in "a condition that
would not warrant so heavy draft up
on 1t, or perhaps some more absorb
ing question arose, in the dis
cussion of which the entcrprising citi-
zens lost sight of the bridge issue. II
may be that the metropolitan aspirations
Of Hatboro encountered q chilling frost,
under the influence of which the bridge
across the Pennypack drifted into for
getfulness. Be this as it may, the great
Improvement over which the famous
victory was so gallantly won was never
consummated.
But after a quiet slumber of twelve
years there has arisen a new demand for
that bridge, and recently the musty
records of the county were tumbled ovcI
in search of the grand jury's indorse
ment 1t was finally tished up ant
eagerly scanned to see what it was. Ant
here is where the real trouble began.
A local attorney chanced to have beer
a member of the grand jury, ,and to hin
was delegated the duty of putting tn,
report in writing. With laudable pro
fessional zeal he succeeded in producing
a scrawl that is not nearly rs legible a
Chinese, after the lapse of a dozer
years, even to the lawyer himself. Tn
faction which favors the bridge profes
to be able to read the last sentence of tn
report The opposing faction claim tina
it is as plain as print to them, too, bu
the two translations do not agree in tn
most essential particular. Whether tn
grand jury meant to say: "The CRANE
inquest nOtO concur in the within re
port, or "nOn-c0ncur, no impartia
tribunal is able to decide. The old figh
is, therefore, on once more, and with re
doubled bitterness. The double-leade'
editorials with no uncertain sound hav
reopened in the local paper, and "Tax
payer" Constant Reader" and "Ver
itas" have taken their pens in hand wit
all the vigor of their perennial youth
The quiet serenity of Hatboro is agail
disturbed by the clamor Of the warrinI
forces of the bridge and anti-bridg
parties, and the only thing the peopl
are unanimous in is the conviction tha
a man who can't write so that he can a
least read his own production shoul
buy typewriter at once.
Meanwhile, that great artery of com
merce, the Pennypack, goes unspanre'
to the sea.-Detroit Tribune.