The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1898-04-01

was prelixed to contribution in the
Poets Corner ofa Cumberland journal:
"Thesc lines were written nearly fifty
years ago, by q gentleman who has for
several years lain in the grave for his
own amusement" Another paper. in
reporting 4 suicide, said: "Dcceased
blew out his brains after bidding his
wife goodbye with a gun
TO 4 writer in one of the many
ladies' Journals we arc indebted for the
news that sit has becomc quite the
fashion of late for ladies' to take their
tea in their hats and gloves" But the
ladies suffered still more severely at
the hands of Washington reporter
who, describing the costumes at the
presidential reception, had intended to
say that "Mrs. B. wore nothing in the
nature of dress that was remarkable. "
He left hurriedly for the west next day,
when he opened the paper and read:
"Mrs. Brown wore nothing in the ma
turc ofa dress. That was remarkable. >
\ London paper reported on one occa-
sion the capture in ''mid-channcl of a
large man-eating shark \ provincial
journal, copying the paragraph, but
less careful about the punctuation, gave
a different version of the incident: a
large man, eating shark, was captured
in mid-channcl" The omission of Il
comma once gave an awkward inter-
probation to paragraph in Dublin
newspaper, which ran: a very hand
some memorial has been erected in st.
.Jeromes Cemetery to the late Mr..
John Phillips accidentally shot as Il
marx of affection by his brother"
Herbert Spencer once wrote:
Whales are fish because they pos
sess fins and fsh-ike TAIL" but what
the public read was: "Whales are not
fish, because they possess fins and fish
like tall which truly is most re-
markable reason why whales are not
fish. In Ireland there prevails among
Roman Catholics n pious custom of in
serting in the weekly religious journals
advertisements asking for prayers for
certain int, ntions \ lady sent the
following to one of these newspapers:
"A husband going to sea, his wife de-
sircs the prayers Of the Iaithiul;' hut.
as it appeared. the faithful were asked
to pray for "a husband gting 10 sec his
wife. But perhaps the most amusing
instance of the ludicrous effects of
wrong punctuation is afforded in the
following description of the Jubilee
procession, which appeared in an East
Anglican weekly paper: Next came
Lord Roberts riding. On gray arab
stecd wearing splendid scarlet uni
form, covered with medals on his head.
4 field marshal's hat with plumcs in his
hand, the baton of Il field marshal on
his rugged feature: smile of pleasure
As he acknowledged the laundering
cheers of the crowd"
Another entertaining course of con-
tributions to the humors OF the COM
posing-rOom results from what is tech
II ra'v known as mares, produced by
the accidental running together of diff
ftrent items Of news, and distinct pare
graphs, that ought to have begun on
lines. These errors are per-
haps inevitable in the conditions at
tending the production of Il newspaper.
The paragraphs and items of news,
when put into type by the compositor,
are placed in oblong trays (known as
gaTeys) with lodges on both sides and
at the top, and from these the matter
is lifted, by hand, twenty or thirty lines
at Il time, on to the imposing stone,
where it is arranged in columns as it
appears in the printed newspaper. In
this process, which, as the hour of &C
ing to press draws near, must be done
Eurriedly, portion of a street bawl
will occasionally get mixed up with
description of religious service:
comic termination is given to touch
ing obituary notice: and the pride of
happy parents in the announcement of
their chid's birth is transformed into
righteous wrath when they find it con-
cluded with the sentence imposed the
day before on noted burglar.
In certain newspaper, for instance,
the descriptions of 4 street hrawl and
n church function were confused in this
fashion: The crowd then proceeded to
indulge i'll language Of profanc and
obscene character. The Very Rev.
Dean b. preached on the occasion. and
the service was fully choral" In one
of the London daily papers high
flown eulogy of a new tenor, who was
reported to have entrancpd the audi
pnce 10y his singing, concluded with
this astonishing Statements: "Hc was
to five years penal scrvitnde.
SO that society will for some time be
freed from the intlic:ion of his presence"
Such is the hurry with which work
must be accomplished in n printing
office, in Tie small hours of the morn
ng before going to press, that in all
newspapers. even the greatest and best
mistakes OF one kind or an
other will sometimes occur But they
ire very rare when one considers the |
amazing number of NEWSPAPERS printed !