Errors Of The Press.

ERRORS OF THE PRESS .

( Continued from Pago 124 . ) Tho author of a temperance novel onco saw with dismay that his expression " drunkenness is folly , " was rendered " drunkenness is jolly . " A writer who declared that " the battle is now opened " found the phrase amended into " the bottle is now opened , " which caused the opposition journal to remark , " Wo have long suspected this . "

Lord Brougham used to relate the following well-known , delightful clerical story as an instance of misreporting : A Bishop , at one of his country visitations , had occasion to complain of the deplorable state of a certain church , the dilapidated roof of which let in the rain . After censuring tho negligent ones , his Lordship declared most emphatically that he would not visit tho damp old church

again till it was put in decent order . In the local journal , his Lordship was thus reported : — " I shall not visit this damned old church again . " Tho Bishop immediately drew the editor's attention to the mistake , but that worthy supplemented his Lordship's statement by another . He said that "ho willingly gave publicity to his Lordship's explanation , but he had every confidence in the accuracy of his reporter . "

A preacher quoted from " Luther on Death , " as follows : — "Pliny the heathen writer says , book XX . cap . I .: —' The best physic for a human creature is soon to die . '" The local paper reported it next day as : — " Bony the heathen eater says , took two chops for I . ; tho best physic for a human creature is soon to pay . " The compositor got somewhat mixed here .

A newspaper onco told of a minister , who , within two and a half years had attended over eighty funerals , adding , " More than half of them were members of this church , " a remarkable membership indeed , which was composed of funerals .

A sporting print , in recording the funeral of a deceased veteran , stated that " the hearse contained ' tho relatives' of tho dead man , " instead of " the remains . " In reporting another funeral , a newspaper said : — " the body of tho deceased gentleman was followed to the grave by a silent and deeply sympathetic audience . "

In a certain discourse , a celebrated preacher said : — " While men slept , the devil sowed tares . " A religious paper reported him as having said , " sawed trees . " The slip of a Plymouth compositor caused a local paper to state that " the Bishop of Peterborough passed a reckless night , but his strength is fully maintained this morning . " Tho word " restless " was intended .

Bishop Coxe said to a reporter , "I should like to correct the proof sheet of my prayer ; you newspaper men are so unfamiliar with prayer that you are certain to bungle it up badly , " a questionable compliment , certainly , upon thoir religious tendencies .

A Scotch newspaper , in reporting a Bishop of the Episcopalian Church , announced with regard to a place of worship in Aberdeen , that it has now got rid of " one of the greatest hindrances to the spread of the Gospel , namely ' curates , '" tho last word being amisprint for " pow-rates . "

Among the performers at a concert given in a small Scottish town , was a popular tenor singer , who was announced by the programme as prepared to give , with other selections , an " Aria , ' Sound the Alarm , ' by Handel . " The singer in question was horrified the next clay to perceive in the local paper the statement that ho had rendered with taste and expression , a fine song by Handel , entitled , " Maria , Sound the Alarm . "

Many " confusions of the limbs" took place at a railway accident ; but the announcement thafc a live surgeon had been caught in the Thames , and sold to the inhabitants (?) at sixpence per pound , must have surprised the reader . Of a place-hunter , a friendly editor intended to say : — " He has secured a position in the

custom-house , as his well-known capacity convinced us he would . Perhaps the chirography of the editor was to blame for the announcement which aroused tho ire of the aspirant , when , on the following day he perceived that , according to the paper , his success was due to his " well-known rapacity . "

In the formation of a Welsh Land League , intending members were assured that they could send in their names anonymously . Another " bull" from the Principality is that of a Welsh reporter , whose paragraph was headed : — " Suicide of two persons . —Statement of the one that survived . "

An evening paper inserted the following : — " A little girl was picked up in — Street , by a watchman about three years old , who is not expected to recover ; " and another notice ran , " he was killed and otherwise injured . " An announcement read , "He blew out his brains after bidding his wife good-bye with a gun ; " another says , " Died from her recent marriage , " which tho coroner ' s jury had given as " recent hemorrhage ; " while another verdict was thus

rendered : —" The deceased bore an accidental character , and tho jury returned a verdict of' excellent death . '" A lad was setting up a poem in which the word " Hecate " occurred , but not being conversant with mythological lore , he was , of course , ignorant that Hecate was the goddess of the infernal regions , and mistaking the orthography of the composer , he produced tho following : —

" Shall reign the He cat of the deepest hell . " A correspondent sent a piece of poetry to a newspaper with these words : — " The following lines were written more than fifty years ago , by one who has for many years slept in his grave for his own amusement . "

A sensitive jjoefc wrote of his sweetheart , and asserted that he had " kissed her under the silent stars , " but was almost driven to the verge of despair when he found that the compositor had made him say that he " kicked her under the cellar stairs . " " How to make babes grow : Soak them in boiling water , and let them dry in the sun" is the instruction given in type . The editor however explained that " bulbs , " not babes , was meant . Wishing to express himself concerning the appearance at a picnic , of the belle of the town , a reporter wrote " She looked au

Errors Of The Press.

fait , " but found that the types had , " She looked all feet . " The editor of a " society " journal , in his description of a bride , wrote : " Her feet were encased in shoes that might have been taken for fairy boots . " The following was what appeared : — " Her feet wero encased in shoes that might have been taken for ferry-boats . "

" There is an awful state of affairs in our town , " says a paper , " the printer substituted the word ' widows' for ' windows . ' Our editor wrote , ' the windows of the church want washing badly , they aro too dirty for any use , and a disgrace to the town . ' We apologise . "

A young bride was described as " bonny , " and an envious compositor set her up as " bony . " Another instance of tho printer ' s carelessness occurs in the story of the lover who wrote a poem descriptive of his sweetheart for a local paper , in which the line , " 0 , she is lovely , she is rosy , " appeared as— " 0 , she is slovenly , she is nosy . "

One country paper speaks of a woman who " died without the aid of a physician ; " another states that a young lady at an amateur concert had won a well-deserved encore by the exquisite taste with which sho sang the well-worn old song "An Angel ' s Whisker ; " while a third , by substituting " c" for "h , " made a railway-train run over a cow and " cut it into calves . " Another

paper asserts that " A gentleman , this morning , laid an egg on our table that weighs all of four ounces . " A paper informed the public that " a man in a brown surtout was yesterday brought before the court on a charge of stealing a small ox ( box ) from a ladies workbag , the stolen property being found in his waistcoat pocket . " " A

rat , " ( raft ) says another paper , " descending tho river , came in contact with a steamboat , and so serious was the damage done to the boat , that great exertions were necessary to save it . " Again , " a gentleman was recently brought up to answer the charge of having eaten ( beaten ) an omnibus conductor for demanding moro than his fare . " .

The various peculiarities of speakers often puzzle the reporters , and cause blunders . Imagine the fact of a reporter having to sit under a tedious and long-winded speech , delivered with a painful monotony which is absolutely prostrating ; or one given with such fiery impetuosity that the words , like Sir Boyle Roche ' s metaphor , become jumbled up , and you will wonder how it is that more

mistakes do not appear when the matter is printed . Singular to say , the three great orators of this age , Gladstone , Disraeli , and Bright , with a clear , distinct utterance , have been the delight of pressmen , they were so easy to follow , while less noted , although talented men like Mr . Lowe ( Lord Sherbrooke ) , W . E . Forster , and others , " have been the horror " of those who have had to take down their orations .

It has been said of John Bright , that when the last words of a sentence have been lost in tho ringing cheers of tho audience , ho has quietly repeated the missing portion to the reporters setting beneath him ; and of the Prince of Wales it has been frequently written , that his clear , and distinct enunciation ought to put to shame some members of the House of Lords , who seem afraid that what they utter should be heard at all . But even the most careful

of speakers are mis-reported at times . " Breezy atmosphere , " in a speech by Professor Blackie , in which he was dilating on the glories of Edinburgh , became " greasy atmosphere . " In Mr . Bright ' s memorable speech at Manchester , he spoke of the alarm which the London Reform Demonstration was exciting in the breasts of certain persons at the West End , " attenders of clubs , " and so on . In the papers of the following day , the expression became converted into " vendors of gloves in the West End . "

" The people ' s William , " as the " Daily Telegraph " dubbed Mr . Gladstone , was once reported as having " sunk his boots , and burnt his breeches , " when " sunk his boats , and burnt his bridges " was intended , while on another occasion he was represented as addressing a noisy " snob , " instead of a " mob . "

" What do the Italians want ? " asks a fervid orator . " They want to be a nation . " But the newspaper of next morning says" They want to be in Asia . " One account says : — " The speeches in tho Reform debate threaten to stretch to the crack of the door , " meaning of course , " the crack of doom , " as Shakspeare wrote . A

Conservative Whip was once reported as having " forty members on his back who are desirous of speaking in the great debate , " the words " on his back , " being a mistake for " on his book . " Mr . Lowe mado a furious attack upon the Treasury Bench , and succeeded in " touching tbe shirts of tbe government , " this being intended for " vexing the skirts of the government . "

" To avoid mistakes , " says a well-known parliamentary writer , " a reporter in the Gallery of the House of Commons will , before beginning the report , often head the first slip of transcript with his own name , and that of tho gentleman who has preceded him , thus : ' Jones follows Brown ; ' and he adds similiar words to the last slip , thus : — ' Smith follows Jones . ' Sometimes these words by mistake

find their way into print , as on a celebrated occasion when Mr . Disraeli ( afterwards Lord Beaconsfield ) , who was depicting in glowing words the dangers to society arising from some act of the Liberal government , exclaimed in the midst of his peroration , ' Then sir , what follows ? ' The question was unexpectedly answered in one morning paper by the remarkable words : —' Green follows Robson . '"

Tom Moore says : — " Tis dreadful to think what provoking mistakes , The vile printing press in one ' s prosody makes , " but still , in spite of all our disappointments , and all our annoyances , we can afford to accept these mere gossamer plagues of journalism when we reflect upon tho numerous advantages which are derived from tho advocacy , the cheapness , and the general agency of the press . " Book of Rarities , " by Bro . Edward Roberts P . M . Asst . Prov . G . T . o o o

The De Percy Chapter , attached to the De Ogle Lodge , No . 636 , was consecrated on Tuesday , at Morpeth .