Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1907-10-02
TRICKS OF THE TYPES
Wicked Deeds Done by the Imp
of the Perverse.
AMUSING ERRORS IN PRINT.
Examples Of What Is Liable to Happen
When the Compositor 6.anders or
When the Usually Alert and Care
ful Proofresder Mods.

When the Usually Alert and Care
full Proofreader Mods.
Sometimes the proofreader mods, and
In this connection the late Lord
Goschen told at n public dinner n story
of a reader who worked for his CLord
Goschen's) grandfather and who, In
answer to a denunciation from Lis en-
/ ployer, cried:
"Let some other man work at cor
rectness OF Typography. l despair. My
/ own thoughts often hinder me as they
seize and hold the authors otherwise
| than they ought to do. 1t is quite pos
sible that niggling about words and
syllables may often go to the wall
when my soul cannot tear itself loose
from some thought or picture. Errors
\ have been found in sheets which l
I thought | had worked backward and
forward with the greatest particular
ity. 1 read always as 1t should be-"
/ 1t Is when reader is in this soulful
/ condition that the general public are
permitted to read, as they did once
/ In a morning paper not given TO humor.
that n celebrated politician. in a
speech. described some one rs sitting
at the feet of the game bird Of Bir-
mingbam." instead Of "Gsmaliel." In
/ the same journal, too. the following
startling announcement appeared I'M
| der the heading of Births
NICHoLsoN.-on the 18th inst. at Bel
/ ton road. Sidcup. the son OF Alfred Mich
/ olson. OF n daughter.
In another newspaper n most pathet-
ic account appeared Of n doctor who
died owing to having accidentally in
fected himself while injecting some
plague virus into Il 'gnat-" The mys-
terry was solved the next day. when an
apology was printed explaining that
the word should have been rat
Come over and try some new
soup" n lady novelist did not write;
''songs" was the word ut is n slckly
kopje of the real article" was perhaps
excusable. 1t appeared In a paper
during the Boer war.
These mistakes are curious enough.
but they pale into insignificance before
some OF those that never reach the
printed sheet.
Gold milk. father once demanded
n compositor in cold type. and he was
aggrieved TO have TO alter II to "Caed
mile failthe," "Brer Fox" was made
"Boer Fox"-that was also during the
South African war.
On hot summers day another tired
/ typesetter turned The Ides OF March"
into THE Idea OF Work
In a sermon a celebrated divine was
made TO say. And they erected n ma
rine store at the mouth OF the sepul-
cher" Massive stone" were the cor
rect words.
Authorizations are at times the bane
OF the compositor, but he had no ex-
cuse In setting up, in an account Of n
Mansion House function, that among
those present were "Old Isaacs and Old
Treloar." He should have known that
AID" was an abbreviation Of Alder
man." In the same take" OF copy the
Lord Mayor was received with a
crash" Should be "eclat'D and was
followed by the sheriffs in their ''mar-
garine (mazarine) gowns"
'Let the gulled Judy wink" appeared
In another first proof, and the proof
reader YEARLY made It the CALLED jade
vince" ''Die. lusty platterr' has quite
l
said die Lustige Batter "a German
weekly paper.
'Plgnut OF the enunciation" does not
seem convincing; pigment OF the imag-
ination" is better. "Petucoats long on
Sunday morning is a disgrace" is all
right when the first two words are
read "Petticoat lane"
In q police court assault case the
prosecutor was made to say that the
prisoner had given him twins" What
the prisoner really did was TO give the
prosecutor a turn" Ia fright. 1.-THE
government were suffering from men.
tai alteration" must have been SET
up by a compositor OF the opposition
politics. The real charge was mutual
admiration"
'De mortar ivil nice loreum' would
trouble a Latin scholar. "De mortuis
Iii nisi bonum" is more correct. "Jin
the Pieman" is easily recognizable al
the hero OF play, and Putty Polly
the racehorse, would throw up he
pretty head IN disdain to see hersel
so described.
For "a pair OF scandals completed
the costume" read sandals" and 70
Here is indeed a sundial" substitute
scandal" He lived in the "hubbubs
should be suburbs" and "Can hel
Herr, In" is understandable whel
printed Caller herrin'"
a we'll known descriptive writer wa
startled to read in n rough first proc
that he had described the fields SUI
rounding the Derby course as "covere
, with boots and shoes" He was plf
Gated when informed that it had bee
> altered to booths and shows"
Columns could be filed with th
amazing and amusing blunders of tn
composition, but here space forbids O
more than final ''howler," which is
classic In the printing world 80 ten
. pora! o mores!" wrote q leader wri
!. er at ten minutes to l I'm the morninl
20 Moses, indeedw exclaimed tn
: proofreader a quarter OF an hour late
when he caught and bowied" the CON
: positor who had improved the phras
into 20 Tennyson! o Mosesr'-Londo
Express.