, 1889-07-25

Adams OF Washington, Ga, contributed
little poem, entitled "Schuberts's Sym
phony in b minor:
heard 1t once-once only-long ago
And on my heart heavy darkness fell,
Entombing me within a crypt of hell
With dyiug Hope, despair and Wall and Woe
Then down from Heaven singing soft and
low,
Troaps of Angels attuned with Israfel,
Did WOO and win my troubled soul to tell
Such Joy and grief as mortals may not know.
The lightnings aash--the daylight upward
springs
Life's damned Demons hug their chains
and die!
Deaths wild, weird Harpies asp their con.
dor.wings
And with the heavy darkness downward
| fy
Arise, sweet Hopel no vain imaginings,
Now bid the soar, free, ,lark.like to the sky.
Both the poet and the editor were hor-
rified when the poem appeared in print
describing
Troops of angles attuned with Israel"
| The Cincinnati Commercial- Gazette
recently had an experience equally EN-
barrassing. Mr.. Coates Kinney wrote "A
few lines in which occurred the line,
"The rhetoric dcfunct of fairy lore"
but the printer made it read
"The rhetoric defunct Of prairie love-
Many occurrences of like nature have
been recorded for instance the lady's
verses in which she attempted to de-
scribe the
"shimmering dew.drops on freshly blown
roses
the last word of which the printer
changed to "noses."
This was not much more than the er.
ror in the line.
"Hs kissed her Under the silent stars"
Which appeared in print;
"IIe kicked her under the cellar stairs"
To those unacquainted with the vicis-
situdes of the printers, especially in a
morning newspaper office, some of the
errors that creep in seem almost unpard-
enable, yet it is impossible TO avoid
them, and none are more deeply embar-
rassed by their occurrence than the prin-
ter who feels pride in the art preserva-
tive of all arts, as most printers do.
More than one printer has COM
mitted suicide on this account,
and legions have abandoned
their cases and walked out of town
rather than apply for the money due
them and endure the humiliation of
having their attention called TO errors
for which no explanation could be of.
fered.
Those inclined to criticise the printers
mistakes should reflect thatin the course
of a nights work on morning paper
each printer handles separately, with his
fingers, from 10000 to 10000 distinct
pieces of type metal, including the let
ters, spaces, punctuation marks, figures,
fractions, signs, etc. After an all-night
pull by gas or electric light the printers S
eyes are not as keen as u tigers, hence
he may not readily catch the writer's
meaning, and simply does the best he
can.
OF course, no printer will endeavor TO
defend slovenly, careless or indifferent
person who by some chance has learned
a little about type-setting, but is too
lazy to even attempt to master the art
There are few such roaming about tho
country, but whereve. they go they soon
display their incompetency and find it
necessary to move on. The real printers
do not want TO associate with them or to
bear any share Of the blame for their
blunders
In this connection it is not improper
to remind those who write for the press
that u little care on their part will save
great deal of embarrassment. Fine
writing is not required, but each letter
should be plainly outlined and each
word should stand out distinctly by it.
self, so that 1t may not be easily mis-
taken for any other word. Especially
should this rule apply to proper names
and words that are not in common use.
Authorizations should always be avoided,
as they indicate laziness and often lead
to confusion and errors. BY observing
these simple rules writers will help the
printer immeasurable in his efforts to-
avoid mistakes,