Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-02-20

Aldiborontephoscop and Chronon-
hotonthologos, Of oircumscriptible and
defendable, of deleble and indelible, of
fermentescible and cognoscible, of the
Chinese and Japanese names of the far
east; his the f1endish satisfaction of see
ing that the types make the death of a
prominent New York citizen due to
+" 'sorosis' of the liver!
Is the Imp ever idle? Never. In the
small hours Of the night, when hurry is
the word in every department of a
newspaper, he is most active, most ma
lignant. I call to mind his vain effort,
at a late hour, to make the New York
Times print Turning the Screw for
Tanning the Shrew." The scoring he
then received was sufficient, one would
think, to cause the permanent retire
ment of any self-respecting Imp. But
no! A few weeks later he bobbed up
again, when a correspondent, having
occasion to describe the personal APP
pearance of the Hon. Thomas Bracket
Reed, was male to say that he had a
face "like an honest man." when "a
face like the harvest moon" was in
tended
To all lovers of justice and right,
however, it is matter for congratula
ton that, notwithstanding the i'm
proved" methods of turning out great
lliOl llllAS newspaper CIlG LIMP > GllOIlS
are successful only on rare occasions.
''The only way to get a drink in the
prohibition state Of Maine" said
writer in one of the yellow journals re-
Gently, lis under the nose" And what
a howl of glee went up among his CO.
horts when the chief imp read to his
band the result of his handiwork! I'm
der the rose" the reporter had written.
From the shouts of the thousands of
1r,,o
was soon apparent that the prohibitions
lists were in the minority" appeared in
another paper. For SHOUTS" read
Shouts and the sentence is clear. This
was another cause for joy among that
demoniac band, and the jollifica-
ton that ensued lasted so long
that the public rested tranquil
in the thought that it's disabilities
were secure against another attack;
but '"The Crimes of Normandy with
a Well-known "star" in the cast for
1.-THE Chimes of Normandy" followed by
an unfortunate transposition of head
line soon added to the hilarity of ma
lions. This accident occurred on a
newspaper prominent feature of which
is its shipping news, and was purely
the work of the Imp-human ingenuity,
as I have already pointed out, failing
in the connection of a deed so diaboli-
cal
A well-known citizen died, his death
notice was sent to the journal in ques-
tion and was duly inserted; but the be-
| reaved relatives were discounted, his
friends lifted their eyebrows, and his
acquaintance turned slowly and sad
ly away when they read that same an
nouncement the following day under the
heading, Passed Through Hell Gate"
Here is a sample of the Imp's idea Of
humor for you!
OF the numerous errors writer's for the
press make, volumes could be written
| and while the introduction of the type
writer removes to a certain extent the
worry over "blind' copy, the Imp is
seated firmly, waiting for something
to turn up" on every page of it. Het-
| erophemy, find, is not the least of the
| ills with which the average newspaper
writer is afflicted. This, perhaps, may
| be explained, If not excused on the
ground of haste; but the infirmity is a
| source of worriment and conjecture on
the part of the proofreader, for though
| his sharp eye and acute sense of accu-
racy may produce geographically
and dramatically correct version of
| the reporters STORY" he is not blessed
with second sight, and cannot tell when
| the Hon. Barlow Whites name is mem
toned as among those who attended a
sVSldi LuHCtiol that tHe f1oi. BARLOW
Green was the person the reporter had
| in mind when he wrote White.
! Sir Archibald Alison must have suf-
fered from heterophemy, for in the earli-
est edition of his history of Europe he
mentioned Sir Peregrine Pickle as one
| of the pail bearers at the Duke of Wei
! lington's funeral instead of Sir Peregrine
| Maitland. 1t is recorded that the histo-
rian on sight of the error waxed exceed
| ing wroth, and rushing to his publisher
| demanded to see his copy, saying that
it was Impossible for him to write such
nonsense. His chagrin was deep, how
ever, on ascertaining that his hand had
refused to follow his brains dictation,
and Sir Peregrine Pickle was the name
he had written. Whether the proof
reader escaped censure is not known.
If he did he was more fortunate than