Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 March 1893 — Printing Under Difficulties. [ARTICLE]

Printing Under Difficulties.

Dr. Edward Everett Hale’s father was a newspaper editor, and his boys printed a newspaper of their own, called the Fly. In the December Altantic Doctor Heath tells an amusing story of the difficulties under which the last issue of it was printed, in 1836. “We had not type enough then to print more than one page at a time. Three pages had been printed, and the fourth was still to be set up, when the news of Lafayette’s death arrived. This was too good a paragraph to be lost, and we knew we could anticipate every other newspaper in Boston by inserting it. But, unfortunately, the n’s had given out. We had turned upside down all the u’s we had, and they also had given out. Also, still more unfortunately for printers in this difficulty, Lafayette had chosen to die of an “influenza,” which disease was at that moment asserting Itself under that name in France. It had not yet been called “la grippe,” which would have saved us. “We succeeded in announcing the death of “the good, generous, noble Lafayette,” although “generous” added one n and one u, and noble took one of the last n’s. The paragraph went on to say that the death was “caused by,” and the last u was devoured by ‘caused.’ ? Then came the word ‘influenza.’ The boldest held his ‘breath for a time. But we were obliged ignominlously to go to press with the statement that bis death was ‘caused by a cold.’ This was safe, and required no n and no u. Alas! In the making up of the form the precious n of the word ‘noble’ fell out; and any library which contains a file of the fly will show that its last statement to the world is that ‘the good, generous, oble Lafayette has died; his death being caused by a cold.’ , Such are the exigencies of boy printers in all times.