Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1888-10-04
HORRORS OF COLD TYPE.
Tearfully and Wonderfully-C Con-
trIved typographical Bulls.

trived typographical Bulls.
1t has been remarked that ''to err Is
human" If that be so. says the Chi
cago Times, the humanity that clings
about the composition must be beyond
all computation. The errors of that
frail piece of humanity are iearfully
and wonderfully contrived. That he
has to combat many difficulties no one
can doubt; that he takes at times an
awful revenge every one knows. How
often has the gifted writer dashed off n
stirring article, which, with smile, is
handed to the compositor to be put in
TO the obedient types that give it
million voicesP and. by glancing at his
paper next morning, the author discov-
ers that his name is dennis" and that
he hasn't any other All, yes; how
oftenp
But the strange, sad thing about the
errors is. and this may appear para
doxical, they are always funny. They
may knock the legs from under pro.
duction that would create sensation
in the political world; they may change
entirely the writer's meaning in his
brief tribute to the worth of departed
friend; they may shatter with one fell
displacement of n comma the graceful
acknowledgement of favors received;
Or they may "pr' the sentiments of
piece of poetry-but in one case as we'll
rs all. they are funny, very. to every
body but the writer. Even the COM
positor who made the bull. and the
proof-reader who passed it. will say
''ha! ha!' in their sleeves while being
dragged over the powders by the fore
nan.
OF course, the composition is not al
ways TO blame-not always. The pen
manship of some writer's is in its swad-
ding clothes yet, and when they go n
little beneath the surface of a subject
the compositor has only to rely on his
sight and "set up' the copy for what
It looks like. AS rule, ministers
write manuscript compared with
which the figures on Chinese laundry
check tell II plain unvarnished tale.
1t was said of n well-known Presby-
torian preacher that if he had jotted
down his thoughts on piece of yellow
paper and presented it TO the Chinese
laundry clerk he would have received
any bundle in the wash house.
Some of the errors made by compos-
TORS which have found their way into
print may bear repeating. A parson
who preached fairly good sermon.
but wrote a villainous hand, was
shocked to find u sentence that should
have read: But sorrow not, nor
grieve; take the final steps now, and
sin no MORE" appear IN print as:
Take the filial stiffs now," etc. Per-
haps the good brother was in need of
his own counsel at that particular
time.
Vesselmen of this port were amazed
TO learn some time ago that 1.-THE
schooner Jessie Lee had left last night
for Erie with a cargo of cats. When
the marine editor, who had written
oats, saw this he felt grieved.
A literary woman, whose headquar-
tiers are in Boston. and whose hand
writing, had it been on the wall, would
have proved poser for Belshazzer,
appears every week in one or two pa
pers She writes about philosophy
and Buddhist poetry. and things of
that sort, and is very choice in her
language. A short time ago she wrote
couple of paragraphs about Emer-
son, in which she said that gentleman
was the indefatigable keeper of q
diary" The composition, who, doubt
less, was an old and trusted friend Of
the philosophical gentleman. knew
better, and the readers were gravely
informed that Emerson was the indie
fatigable 'heifer of dairy" That
gave an opportunity for display of
philosophy.
A poet whose writing is like nothing
in the heaven above nor any where
else, once wrote:
statesmen, princes, rulers ALL"
The quiet night and heaven alone
knows what his remarks were when he
found the line printed:
. ''Steamboats, schooners, tugs and ALL"
A dramatic critic in handsome no.
lice of charming young actress.
whose treatment of Portia afforded
him much pleasure. said: "Her love
for Portia made acting easy" That
was all right. but what the the types
made him say was "her love for
PEORIA" etc.
A compositor who was better ac-
quainted with the geography of the
west than with Biblical lore set up
the phrase: From Alpha TO Omega"
as From Alton to Omaha" He
started for those places the next morn
ing.
An art critic in writing favorably
of a D ,cture by Bizzaro. was shocked
to find that by some means known
only to the compositor and proof