Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1889-12-07

com positor had just been added to tbs
force of their printers on the strength OF
q Recommendation from the Edinburgh
Review. His first take" was some of
CarlJle's manuscript. ''Whatl have you
got that man here?' ho- fairly roared.
Il fed from Scotland to get away from
him?" Balzacs copy was even worse;
few printers could read it, and those
who could made an express stipulation
with their employer to work at it only
one hour at time. Even after the
hioroglyphics had been translated in
to print, the proof-sheets came back
more illegible than the original copy.
A French writer describes them as send
ing out from each printed word a dash
Of ink like rocket, finally breaking
into fiery ring of phrases, epithets and
nouns. These were interlined, crossed,
written upside down, mixed, interlaced
and knotted, forming word-puzzle
which made even the stoutest compost
tor quail.
Byron was nearly as bad. His hand
writing was a mere scrawl, and his adj
ditions in the proof were generally
greater than the original text To one
poem, which contained only four hun
dred lines in the first draught one thou
sand were added in proofs. Dean Stan
lev, a short time before his death, was
invited by New York magazine to con-
tribute an article OH some timely topic.
A paper was promptly written and duly
received, but the editor, to his great
CONSERVATION, could not read it himself,
and found it undecipherable by the most
expert printers. Finally the editor was
obliged to return the manuscript to
England to be rewritten, and then the
timeliness of the subjected had evap
grated.
Sometimes, however, even the writer
himself can not read what he has writ
ten. We are told of jules Janin, for iii
stance, that when reckless compositcl
came to him and besought him TO de
cipher some pages of his own manuscript
the great man replied that he would
rather re-write than attempt to read
over again what he had once written
Napoleon's handwriting was not only
: illegible, 1t is said that his letters from
Germany to Josephine were at frs
taken for rough maps of the seat of war
Rufus Choate, whose signature has beer
J aptly compared to gridiron struck b,
lightning, was equally unfortunate
} While having his house repaired, he hat
7 promised to send the model for a carved
J mantel-piece. Failing to obtain what hi
, wanted, he wrote to his workman to tina
: effect. The carpenter eyed the missiv,
from all points of Wow, and finally de
, cided that it must be the promised plan
so he set to work to fashion what mus
| have been the most original mantel
0 piece that ever ornamented room.
, But no penman, either American o
foreign, could have been worse thai
Horace Greeley. "Good Godp' said
, new compositor to whom ''take" Of th
1 editors copy had been handed, ''if Bel
: shazzar had seen this writing on tn
: wall. he would have been moro terrific
: than he was" 1t may have been thi
< very man of whom a good Htcry is TOLD
9 Becoming disgusted with his type
+ graphical blunders, Greeley rent not
5 up to the foreman, requesting him t
Y discharge tho man at once, as he wa
too inefficient a workman Go be an
= longer employed on the Tribune. Tn
d foreman obeycd the instructions; bu'
y before leaving, the compositor manage
d to get possession of Greeley's note. ii
# at once went to rival Office and apple
l. for position, showing the note as lie
n ter of recommendation. The forema
y pored long and earnestly over the cra'
1t bed penmanship. Finally no though
6 he saw clue. ooh, l see-'Good an
3 efficient compositor, and along time en-
), ployed on the Tribune, Horace Gre
l. ley, and Immediately set him
r work.
t. Once upon a time Mr.. NJ. B. Castle,
g Sandwich, ILL.,. invited Mr.. Greeley
II lecture. To this the following repl
% was sent:
= 'DEAR SIH-I am overworked' and grown
st old. shall be sixty next February third.
70 the whole, it seems must decline 10 leetu
IN henceforth, except in this immediate vicinit
- if do at all can not promise to visit Dlino
on that errand-certanly not now.
G. 'Yours,
i HORACE GREELEY.