The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1907-08-23
TRICKS OF THE TYPES
Wicked Deeds Done by the Imp
of the PerverSe.
AMUSING ERRORS IN PRINT
Examples Of What 10 Liable TO Happen
When the Compositor Blunders or
When the Usually Alert and Care
fuI Psoofreader Mods.

In tnlS COuncCllOH tue ldlt ioiu
Goschen told at public dinner a story
of a reader who worked for his nord
Goschen's) grandfather and who, In
answer TO a denunciation from his en-
ployer, cried:
LET some other man work at cor
rectness Of Typography. | despair. My
own thoughts often hinder me AS they
seize and hold the authors otherwise
than they ought to do. II Is quite pos
sible that niggling about words and
syllabl 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 /
thought | had worked backward and
forward with the greatest particular
ity. ! read always as ii should be-"
II is when reader Is I'm this soulful
condition that the general public are
permitted to read, as they did once
In morning paper not given to humor,
that a celebrated politician, In n
speech, described some one as sitting
at the feet Of the game bird Of Bir-
mingham," instead OF "Gamaliel." In
the same journal, too, the following
startling announcement appeared un-
der the heading Of Births"
NICHOLSON.-On the 18th inst, at Bel
ton road Sidoup, the son OF Alfred Mich
olson. of a daughter.
In another newspaper most pathet-
ic account appeared Of a doctor who
Ia 20 ha a,tIn anrfInntnIIV IN
fscted himself while injecting some
plague virus into "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" lady novelist did not write;
Songs" was the word. 1T Is sickly
kopje of the real article" was perhaps
excusablc. II appeared In paper
during the Boer war.
These mistakes are curious enough,
but they pale into insigniiicancc before
some OF those that never reach the
printed sheet
Gold milk, father!' once demanded
a compositor in cold type, and he was
aggrieved to have to alter IL TO "Cacd
mile failthew "Brer Fox" was made
"Boer Fox"-that was also during the
South African war.
On hot summers day another tired
typesettcr turned "Thc Idcs of March"
into "The Idea of Work"
In a sermon n celebrated divine was
made 10 say, And they erected 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 cx-
cuse in setting up, In an account OF
Mansion House function, that among
those present were sold 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 n
crash" SHOULD be "eclat'D and was
followed by the shcriffs In their mar
garine (mazarine) gowns"
LET the gulled Judy wink" appeared
In another first proof, and the proof
reader wearily made IL the CALLED jade
vince" "Die. lusty plattcr!' has quite
transporting flavor but the copy"
said Die Lustigc Batter (a German
weekly paper.
"Pignut OF the cnunciatlon" does not
seem convincing; "hgmcnt Of the imag-
ination" IL better "Petticoats long on
Sunday morning is a Disgrace is all
right when the first two words are
read "Petticoat lane"
In police court assault case the
prosecutor was made 10 say that the
prisoner had given him twins" What
the prisoner really did was TO give the
prosecutor turn" (a fright. The
government were suffering from men.
tai alteration" must have been set
up by compositor Of the opposition
politics. The real charge was mutual
admiration"
"Dc mortar iyil nice loreum" would
trouble n Latin scholar. "De mortuis
nil nisi bonum" is more correct "Jim
the Pieman" is easily recognizable as
the hero OF n play, aud Putty Polly"
the racehorse, would throw UP her
pretty head in disdain 10 see herself
so described.
For "a pair OF scandals completed
the costume" read sandals" and for
Here is indeed sundial' substitute
scandal" lie lived In the "hubbubs'
should be suburbs" and Call her,
Herr. In" is understandable when
printed Caller hcrrin,"
A well known descriptive writer was
startled 10 read in a rough first proof
that he had described the fields sur.
rounding the Derby course rs covered
with boots aud shoes lie was pln.
Gated when Informed that II had been
altered To 'hooths nnd shows"
Columns could bc iilled with the
amazing and amusing hlunders of the
compositor hut here space forbids Of
more than "a final "howler," which Is a
classic I'm the printing world. - tom.
bora. q mores." wrote n leader writ
er at ten minutes 20 In the morning
20 Moses. indeed exclaimed the
proofrender quarter OF an hour later