Sometimes you may observe
in a paper like the _Times_ one column which bristles with
typographical errors. All the slips are clustered in one place, and
the reason is that the few minutes necessary for proper revision could
not be spared. Good workmen are set on at the last moment, and an
attempt is made to set up the final scraps of matter with as few
errors as possible; but little mistakes will creep in, and people who
do not know the startling exigencies of the printer's trade are apt to
express scornful wonder. Very comic have been the errors made during
the recent furious and prolonged debates, for the frantic conflicts in
the House were extended far into the small hours. One excited orator,
in closing a debate, dropped into poetry, and remarked that a certain
catastrophe came "like a bolt from the blue"; a daily journal of vast
circulation described the event as coming "like a bolt from the
flue"--which was a very sad instance of bathos. The amazing thing is
that such blunders should be so rare as to be memorable.
What a strange population who toil thus at night for our pleasure and
instruction, and who reverse the order of ordinary people's lives!
They are worth knowing, these swift, dexterous, laborious people.
Pages:
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311