Norwich bulletin., 1919-03-21

dogs" for s1975 a hundred
collection of actual typographical
errors which might be easily made
would show some amusing and some
distressing reversals OF sense caused
by the accidental change of a single
letter.
Then, when proof corrections are
made, it is not infrequent that the line
which has been corrected, in being put
back into the column-which must al
ways be done in great haste, remem-
ber-is actually slipped into a line or
two above or below its proper place
! or course, this turns the paragraph
into a Chinese puzzle which the read
er must untangle as best he may.
The makeup" by which the col
umns OF type for page are assembled
in the forms" affords another oppor-
tunlty for hasty misplacing. 1t is
work which has to be done at top
speed, with additions and corrections
constantly being dropped before the
| makeup man; yet he must get that
page of type. every line of which lies
| before him bottom side up and 'tother
end to and as illegihle to you or me as
q page of Choctaw, into the right or
der so that when transposed on the
| press it will hang together like the
! plot of a novel, and read as flowing
| ly.
There are a good many other
| chances for errors besides those l
| have mentioned, which are a bit too
| technical for hayseede like us to un-
| derstand. But when one stops to re-
| fleet that, in a single eight-cClumn
| page of The Bulletin. there are more
| than $4,000 separate types, of several
| hundred sorts and sizes, and that
| every one must be put III place in a
! driving hurry between nightfall and 2
a. m.-why, then, l think you'll agree
with me that it's one of the wonders
! of modern skill that so few mistakes
occur.
So, please don't blame the Farmer
man if, sometimes, the printed page
| makes him talksnonsense. Above all,
! don't blame the Printer man, for he
| doesn't make any mistakes intention
! ally, and not one tenth as many acct
| dentally as you or l would make, in
| his place.
The story is told that, many years
| ago, famous English press publish
| ing an edition of the Bible was pain
| fully anxious to put one forth which
I should have in it not a single error OF
| the types. Therefore the proofs were
read and re-read in the Office. They
We're laid aside for weeks and then
read again. They were sent out to all
the professional pro0freaders of Eng
land, after going through these tests,
| with an offer of 6 20 reward for every
error or blemish which should yet be
| found. At last, after a year or more
| of this kingdom wide hunt for the
| least possible mistake, the volume was
! printed. And, the day after it had
been put on sale "a chance reader dis
| covered that the not had been left
/ out of one of the Commandments! So
! that, instead Of reading Thou shalt
| not it read Thou shalt" Wherefore
| and because of which 1t came to be
| known as The Wicked Bible" among
those collectors who gather up such
freaks.
do not know that the story Is 1T
orally true. But it might well be. To
| anyone acquainted with the vagaries
o. human nature and the "cussedness"
| Of types, it is not improbable.
| I've just been transplanting some
more tomatoes. Tomato seed does not
much resemble pepper or caulif1ower
seeds. Yet among the little plants in
one small tray of tomatoes l have al
ready discovered two stray peppers
and one caulifower or cabbage. There
is vastly more difference between
these seeds than between two pieces
Ol type VI the same lOnL moreover,
the seedman cleans and packets his
seeds in full daylight, and 1 sowed
them in full daylight, while type COM
position has to he done at night by
artificial light. Yet neither seedman
nor sower noticed those false seeds
among the tomatoes.
/ suppose there we're but a few hun
dred seeds in that tomato packet. A
careful seedman and a fairly careful
farmer both overlooked several that
didn't belong there Suppose there
had been as many seeds as there are
types in a Bulletin page? The same
ratio Of error would have resulted in
a hundred or more false seeds Yet
! the chances are that you may look
over many a Bulletin page without
being able to discover half dozeT
, errors.
Don't shoot the pianist; he's doing
his best" was the sign said to have
been displayed in a mining towr
concert room in the days of the wild
; Therefore l say and beg all m,
farmer readers alos to say, Don
abuse the Prinetr nun because h
: makes some Mistakes He's Just a!
: human and fallible as we are; Just a:
r liable to leave out a not" where it il
2 needed as we are to drop in a peppe
/ seed where we think we're sowing to-
q rnatO Narrower ba bac rao,,Io ~ ',