The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-10-18

ton. otherwise she does so at her
peril. She must know, not suspect
they are errors and be prepared to
| vindicate the soundness of her correc-
ton by recognized and unquestioned
authority If she does not know. let
the COPY stand. And any change from
copy is most strongly objected to by
the operator whose proof is marked
l corrected the mis-spelling of fiance
when the item read, Miss Jane Jones
and fiance, John Smith. were SO and
so last night" and fiance was spelled
with two e's. The next day the same
operator had an item reading: Mrs.
Smith entertained for her sons fiancee
last night" The operator remembered
the marking of the day before and
carefully spelled it with one e"
| When the proof was returned to him
and he saw 1 had added the ''e'', he
came to me and shook the proof up
and down as he said: ~ esterday you
marked the e out and today you
mark it in-what do you mean by
treating. my proofs like that" When
I explained that one was masculine
and the other feminine he was 81
fenced, but hardly convinced.
Brighter Side of Work.
Yet often there is a brighter turn
to the serious side of our days work,
and we have fun with other papers. as
when the Baltimore Sun gravely
stated that geniuses are born very
young. And the Caldwell (Kan.)
News editorially remarked:
Female suffrage has killed off one
time-trfedS and often-tested old saw
politics make strange bed-fellows. -
but the other papers just as often have
fun with US, as when Dodd CASTOR eX
planned why Mr.. Carruth left town by
reprinting this item just as it appeared
in THE State journal: Miss Annabel
A1lfe- FsNr
Wichita 20 attend the meeting called
by the food administration. Miss Gar
vey, as president of the Extra fancy
strawberries. Pascal celery, guineas.
turkeys. ducks and geese today. Null
Inns market.-Adv. local organization,
goes as the representative of the To-
peka branch of the association of col
legiate alumnae.
1t was so unusual an lad" for Null
lin that Mr.. Lagerstrom wanted to
charge special rates for it.
job Is Not n Snap.
These items illustrate but family the
near tragedies of my daily work, and
show that my position is not the snap
nor sinecure SO many people think it
Is.
They have the idea that because my
work is finished at 4 o'clock, the
hours at my desk are spent-in a happy
dream. They fancy I have nothing to
do until the first COPY of the first edi-
ton of the 12- or 16-page State Jour
nal is run off the press, when it is
brought to me and l read it over and
mark the various errors. They imag-
inc this takes from thirty minutes to
an hour. Then the forms are correct
ed. the press is started, an 1 can go
home.
low different are the facts:
Instead, I am at the office at 7:15
every morning of the year-holidays.
Christmas day and every day-except
Sundays-and work straight thru I'M
lunch, which half hour. for a person
of my gastronomic capabilities, as eX-
emplified tonight, you realize is no
time at all!
Must Pass Unimportant Errors.
Because of the expense of making
corrections. the proof reader is forced
to pass" errors at which her soul re-
volts and a certain degree of laNity
becomes a habit. Machine compost
ton is costly to reset. and each error
takes the time of three or four men to
correct. For this reason daily news
paper permits Inconsistencies that
would not be allowed in book work.
While there has never been an en-
tire agreement among people on QueS-
lions of spelling, capitalization, pune
tuation. ct cetera, most persons can
disguise their uncertainty by blaming
their typewriter. or smudging their
pencil marks, but a proof reader has
no such alibi. She either knows and is
worthy of her hire or she doesn't and
therefore shouldn't be on her job
Every newspaper office today has
its own style sheet or style book.
This style book is to the printer what
the Bible is to a clergyman. 1t leads
him along a narrow path of what to
do and what to leave undone, and so
far as it goes. is a consistent help.
And because of the printers supposed
. familiarity with its contents, he is left
to capitalize and to spell at his own
sweet will.
He'll know what to do" says the
reporter, when he can't spell a word
and he writes II in half a dozen diff
ferent ways. Probably the compositor