Clarksville evening chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn) 1886-1890, 1888-11-05
TALE OF A PROOF READER

I have reached the mature age of
twenty-six years without achieving any
ether distinction in life than place as
proof reader in q publishing house. That
may seem q small honor to the unini-
tiated, but my work is intellectual and
very comprehensive. That am capable
of doing it argues for me wide range of
information, mind finely critical. II /
were not mentally superior to the masses
could derive q comfortable income from
running down their mistakes4 Would
not my own ignorance be apparent on
many a printed page If 1 did not with
steady hand seize anu thurst out Of sight
tile ignorance and carelessness of those
who write? / am closetcd all day with
Webster and Worcester; ! am familiar
with ull books of reference. l read
and write German and French, ! can
trace every English word to its root,
and translate Latin and Greek. lam
not an egotst when l tell you these
things, for must take ray place among
the worliipgwomen Of Chicago rs one
who is paid far less than the successful
dressmaker, milliner or cook. Indeed,
have often envied my sisters who achieve
success in either of these lines. The
artist in drcssmaking commands her
price; the milliners TASTE and style render
her independent; the accomplished cook
whose faultless dinners lead her on to
fortune-all these create something that
can be appreciated, admired and weakly
initiated. My work is sadly negative
Ny sins are these Of omission, net OF
commission. Who ever hears of the
errors eradicate, the thought / spend
upon the printed page9 For the work |
do | win the cordial hatred Of those who
work about mo-the printer, the fore-
man, even the inky boy who brings work
to my hands. These all hate me for the
THINGS | do, while / am in constant terror
from things do not do. What proof
reader has not stood aghast ut some glar-
ing error which he did not run to earth
on the first proof, but overlook by chance
on a revise? What if his tired eyes had
missed it thcn2 1t would have wrought
ruin to an entire volumo-and to him.
How | secured my position l need not
relate. 1t was after long and hard fight
for it, which | began ut nineteen years.
! Till then / had EeelI Il ward of charity.
wearing in my baby days tho blue check
apron Of the i'oundlingS' home. l was
| educated ut the expense Of the church,
and when first ! tried my small strength
! AGAINST the world it was as copyholdei
in great publishing house in Chicago.
| | am able now to earn $40 per week
after seven years. am little OF Il pes
simist and my life has not been given
over to melancholy, but to work. give
| ten hours of each day to my tasks. That
! absorbs my energy, breaks my opirit and
| viii and leaves me tired and depressed.
| have been employed on Monroe street,
| in house that is old and well known.
It's air is full OF foul odors, it Is, dark
| and without ventilation. l climb five
flights of stairs to my work in the n1ol1l-
ing, taking my way through rooms fui
; of human beings struggling fer daily
bread against greater odds than !, and
who even envy me. All day l hear ths
throbbing and beating Of the great
presses, the click of the typo in tho
printers fingers. see their faces about
me, anxious and poverty tried, and
have seen them so for five years, ana
sometimes hope dies within me.
Touch book with rcverent fingers, yt
who are ignorant of IT'S mechanism
Over its pages flows the life blood o
many an humble toiler Mayhap it
fair. white leaves have been dnnlpcnc;
with women's tears, for so many wori;
ing women are beartsiclz and discour
aged.
Five years of this life will render tn
hopeful woman strong minded and cyni
cal. She will need the unlovely strength
she develops in a city that larbors an'
gives subsistence to 10000 bachelors
Forty thousand strong men, who smok
and eat, sleep and pursue their solitar.
lives spending yearly means enough t
keep up homes. And where ever.
morning 10000 women tramp hurricdl.
through our streets, q terrible army, eacl
with her face set toward some store
Office on workshop. These women d
not seek health nor strength nof woman
liness-they must lose these better clC
,nents. They will not win wages enougl
to keep the a through chance eieknes
nor certain cid age-aot o1o in thou
sand does that. They ';!ll not |
made oetter, mentally or morally, h
ceaselcss tel. They viii only clothe an
feed them. ives, that they may come c
the morrow and again, till their face
are pinche.. and bloodlcss and the grac
of youth has left them; till they arc nc
fit for wives and mothers, for they III
old and sad, and each Ct the 1000
bachelors wants wife whose temper
sunny and sweet and who does not kno'
the world so well IS thosc working We
men Of Chicago.
There Was . tine IN ny lie wica