Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1881 — Ridiculous Blunders. [ARTICLE]

Ridiculous Blunders.

Proof-readers are constantly in hot water. In the London Times’ office they are fined for every blunder lhat eludes them. On the New York Herald they have been suspended for weeks. In spite of this severe discipline, tlie Herald last week made the astonishing announcement that “a long line of scorpions’ feathers filled into the church,” instead of “surpliced fathers.”. A reporter on that paper had an occasion to quote a verse from a familiar hymn in which the “herald” occurred. The proof-reader dutifully underscored the word, and the verse appeared, “Hark, the Herald angels sing. It was in the World’s report of a political meeting that the word “shouts” was so ludicrously misprinted as to make the blunder famous. “The snouts of ten thousand Democrats rent the air,” read the report. A few years ago the Journalist who is widely known as “Gath,” wrote a Fourth of July article. With fevered e oquence he told how the effete monarchies of the old world trembled in their boots when they read the immortal declaration penned by Thomas Jefferson. “Thrones reeled,” wrote the impassioned Gath. Next morning he wlsh'ed he hadn’t, when he saw in cold type, “Thomas reeled.” A local reporter recently wrote that Dr. Talmage closed bis services with tbe hymn, “Nearer, by God, to Thee.” The malicious blunder was caught on the fly in the proof-room and didn't get into the paper. A daily paper up the Hudson river reported the speech of a Fourth of July orator, in which he had something to say about the “flat of the Almighty.” The proof-reader had never heard of “fiat money,” and he waa willing to bet his week’s wages there was no such word in the vernacular. So he printed it “the fist of the Almighty.” When Mapleson first came to New York, the Herald welcomed the imSressario and his troupe with a great ourlsh of trumpets. It is said that the young editor’s state of mind was something fearful to contemplate, when he found that his t hree-column article began with the sentence, “Col. J. H. Mapleson and his opera bouffe company have arrived.” Last year, at the time of the Meeker massacre, a dispatch from the west attributed the mutiny to the farmers having “pulled down tbe Indians’ tents and Corrals.”

It was put in type as “having pulled down the Indians’ beets and carrots.” The Winnepeg Times, on the death a while ago of aright reverend, for “the death of a prelate,” printed “the death of a pirate.” A Cardiff newspaper in reporting the sermon of the Rev. Dr. Mellor before the Congregational Union, where the reverend gentleman spoke of “women clothed with sanctity.” by an unfortunate transposition of the “c” print-' ed the phrase, “women clothed with scantity.” The story is told that Ernest Renan last Winter had occasion to telegraph across the British channel the subject of a proposed lecture of his in Westminster Abbey. The subject as written by him, was “The Influence of Rome on the formation of Christianity.” It was published in England as “The Influence of Rum on the Digestion of Humanity.” Often times the bard-driven reportei, with a long story to write and scant time to write it in, puts in some very funny observations on paper. It was a young Chicago newsgatner who, in his anxiety to present a full and graphic picture of the situation, perpetrated the following: “Mrs. Johnson was lound reclining on the bed, while her lower limbs extended over the floor and toward the outer edge of the room.” A Chicago morning daily found a little boy a few days ago,who according to its veracious chronicler, was very dead indeed. The reporter wrote: “The boy was quite dead. -No efforts could resuscitate him in the least.” This is quite as good as the amusing “ bull ” culled from the recent feuilleton in the Parit f'igaro, which tuns: “Not a cry did she utter, nor give any sign of life—not even when . her brother-in-law put his hand to her heart and said to Vaque, she is dead.”’