The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-08-13

PERSONS WHO PUT
! THEIR VIEWS IN
BOOKS.
II stand second to no man in my
admiration OF women, said the man
ager OF a big publishing concern,
4 :nevertheiess I don't want any of: the
| dear creatures around this place as
/ proofreaders. They are too wise.
They know more than the writers
and edit manuscript too ruthlessly,
says the New York Press:
/ Persons who write contend--and
with reason, think, although you
could never convince the woman
proofreader of the Justice of the com
plaint--that they would like enough
of the original matter left when their
story gets into type to tell them at
least what their story was about. But
that is satisfaction seldom vouch-
safed them by the woman proof
reader. She has her own ideas of
how anything ought to be said. and
she adheres to them.
MY first experience With woman
proofreaders3 was gained IN Chicago.
Most people, find, get their introduc-
ton to the realities of life in Chica-
so. That particular reality came to
work for us on a bright Monday
morning. We set her To reading the
proofs OF a medical pamphlet written
by Chicago doctor named Wilson.
He evidently knew what he wanted to
say; our new prcofreader also knew
what she wanted him to say. Tn
fortunately their ideas did not agree
The prcofreader did not approve of
the doctors style. so she made alter
atoms. Before the book went to press
I looked over a few pages of it myself
cal facts, and terms. but, ignorant
as was, it struck me that there was
something wrong with the Doctors
treatise. L told the young woman SO.
ooh, no., she said blandly; that
is all right now. There were a few
mistakes. but corrected them my
SELF
t..You corrected them?' said
What on earth do you know about
medicine?'
"'Oh. she said, 4 know lot My
grandfather was doctor and used
to hear him talk when was a little
girl.
Even then I was not satisfied.
the young woman wouldn't let me.
Ordinarily no young woman would
have been able to head me off SO, but
that particular young woman was
beauty She had dark. red hair that
artists give their most bewitching
women and red-brown eyes that
made you break out in kind of rash
every time she looked at you real
hard. So the book went to press
just that way. AS soon as the doctor
had time to shake hands with fame
he came down to our office. He was
pretty mad He asked to see me
turned him over to the woman
proofreader. l felt at the time that
it was a cowardly thing to do, but
also knew that with that hair and
those eyes she would be safe. even
with a madden man than the doctor.
When the doctor came out I asked
him If he had fixed things up all
right He said he had. The book, he
said, was full of fragrant errors and
missta tements from cover to cover,
and would certainly ruin; his reputa-
ton IT it ever got on the market. He
had decided, he said, to buy up the
books already put into circulation.
That he calculated. would cost him
something like $1,000.
=
Another time we got out a cook
book. The woman proofreader edit
ed that, too. She Went through every
recipe in the book. and when she
came to a cake or anything that had
eggs in it she did things with the
eggs. She said that the woman who
had compiled the work had false
ideas of the value of eggs. and that
not only the book. but everything |
cooked according to its directions
would be ruined il the egg PROPOSE I
ton was not worked out correctly.
Well, don't know any more about
cooking than I do about medicine, butt
l soon found that that particular vol !,
ume was not destined to go down the
ages as a culinary classic. The au-.
thor apprised me of that fact in vio-s|