The Reverend and the Editor Spar Over Grammar
A local minister demands public corrections for his column, leading to a feisty rebuttal from the newspaper's editorial staff.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In a newspaper article of mine, entitled, 'An Appeal to Public Opinion,' appearing in your issue of June 15th, I noticed several mistakes in orthography and also in grammar as well, and one or two typographical errors. I beg leave to make the following corrections: Instead of 'therefor,' therefore; instead of 'those,' these, in every sentence or paragraph where the word these occurs; instead of 'imperriled,' imperilled; instead of 'an,' a should be used before 'political factor;' 'brand splinter new,' should be enclosed in quotation marks; 'new' has been omitted; 'scaffolds' should be scaffolds; 'resource' should be recourse; 'Burrobis' should be Barnabas; 'malefactor' should be enclosed with quotation marks. A great many people experience more or less difficulty in reading my writing and this accounts for so many mistakes in print. Respectfully, B. L. Hicks.
In reference to the above article, we wish to say that we are always glad to correct any typographical errors, misprints, etc., and we are also able to say that our compositors are far above the average, usually being able to decipher the most difficult hieroglyphics and render them correctly. It is only fair in the present instance to state that the Reverend gentleman read the proof before the article appeared and should have made the corrections at that time. We think the correspondence as it appeared could be readily understood, but that is not our business and the author is entitled to have it appear as he intended it should; yet, after the corrections are made, it is faulty both in orthography and composition.
“Our compositors are far above the average, usually being able to decipher the most difficult hieroglyphics and render them correctly.”
Public letters to the editor regarding editorial errors have been a staple of local journalism since the nineteenth century. This dispute highlights the tension between a contributor's desired precision and the hard realities of the printing press, a dynamic that survives today in the digital era's constant correction of online copy.
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