Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-04-05
keep his eyes omen and his pencil

IN QOlnB 80 ne prepares lot nlHlSell
no bed of roses. He is, as 1t were
between two fires. II he multiplies
corrections he is berated by the print.
ers; and II he omits to do so he en-
dangers his position. He is damned
If he does and damned If he doesn't
Hard Work and a Lot of II.
Proofreading is far from being easy
work. No man can make a thorough
success Of it who does not bring to
the task not only good judgment and
willingness to work, but also large
store Of information. There is nothing
mechanical about proofreading. To
do good work a man must think,
think, think; not for one moment can
he afford to allow his mind to wander.
He must possess in extraordinary de-
gree powers of concentration. 1t is
easy enough to read intelligently a
few columns concerning something
in which one feels a real interest. But
the proofreader on a paper like The
News and Courier must read every
night scores Of columns concerning
things in which he cannot possibly
feel the slightest interest. He must
read all this mass of matter, not
merely to take out "pied" lines,
not merely to change the spelling of
mispelled words, not merely to see
that the capitalization rules have been
followed, but he must read first of
all, to see that 1t makes sense" The
difficulty Of this undertaking will be
apparent to any one who attempts
the reading at one sitting Of a dozen
or more columns, not skipping a word
and getting the sense" Of the whole
thing. The task for the proofreader
is rendered still more arduous by rea-
son of the fact that he is expected to
do much more than merely conform
to the copy. All newspaper work Is
done more or less hurriedly and 1t
porters, the best Of editors will some
times say just the opposite Of what
they intended to say. The proof
reader is expected to be on the watch
for mistakes of this kind, and If he
finds that a statement in the headline
fails to conform to that which Is con-
tanned in the body Of the text he
must, If the circumstances permit, cor
rect it himself or else, If the case is
such that he does not care to assume
the responsibility Of the change, send
it back to the editorial rooms with a
query.
Flashes of Fun.
All in all, 1t Is pretty wearisome
task. There is, however, lighter
side. The desk Of every proofreader
and the walls Of his den are adorned
with the ludicrous mistakes Of the
printer intercepted on their way to
the jeering public. In the News and
Courier office there is, for example,
that Of the compositor who In setting
up the account Of female college
celebration transposed "alma mater"
into "alum water" or Of another who
change "Morituri te salutamus" into
Morris took the saleratus;" or Of
still another who, upon the occasion
Of the unveiling Of the Calhoun monu-
ment, changed the statement in the
story Of the parade from Next came
the grand marshal with his assistants"
into Next came the grand marshal
ders of this sort every night, and out
of them the proofreader gets his only
occasional laugh to relieve the tedium
of his work. Sometimes, in the hurry
Of the late hours Of the night, when
time presses and mails must be made,
proofs are "railroaded" and then 1t
is that these blunders get to the pub
lie. The public smiles then-the
proofreader doesn't.
Addendum.
P. S.-"Dick" Britton has just been
in to inform we scribe that he has
read this article on 'The Troubles of
a Proofreader" and that he doesn't
like 1t. "Dick" is foreman Of the shop.
That, however, is merely incidental.
Dicks real mission in life is to be
the most uncompromising socialist
and the most brutally merciless critic
who ever trod in creaky shoes-made
creaky ION a purpose" The point of
Dicks" present criticism appears to
lie III the fact that "Dick" thinks we
scribe could have chosen as illustra-
tions for he last preceding paragraph
errors Intercepted by the proofreader
which would have been just as funny
and yet not have reflected upon the
intelligence Of the compositors. Prin-
ters make blunders. Dick" admits,
but he wants 1t understood that 1t Is
mighty seldom that they make real
ly ignorant blunders. Dick de-
clares, however, that 1t was the "dev-
Il" who made one of those mention
ed and not a printer at all.
Dick" suggests, also, that the fol-
lowing story be Incorporated: "Once
upon a time he, 'Dick," or one OF
his friends, or one of his friends
friends-it doesn't matter which
happened to be out in Chicago. and
while there noticed one day a funeral
passing along the street. 1t wasn't
much of a funeral-just the hearse
and the undertaker's buggy following
behind; not even any pallbearers. The
visitor, who had always been used to
living in a town where everybody went
to the funeral, no matter whose 1t
was, rain or shine, just as everybody
goes to a circus, was shocked. Also
he was curious. So, after the man.
ner of certain South Carolina coun-
try editor, he hied him out into the
street and stopped the driver OF that
lonely hearse. Say" he called. whose
funeral is that anyway? Didn't the
man have any friends at ALP
"Friends?" repeated the driver
Friends? OF course not. Say, stran-
ger, this man wasn't nothin' but a
proofreader on the Morning Scream
er."-Robert Latham, in News and
Courier