My First Attempt at Printing.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 29, 22 December 1883, Page 4

My First Attempt at Printing.

To "do my own printing," as the advertisements have it, was the height of my ambition. Accordingly, preparations wore made, in the shape of numerous strong and urgent appeals to an uncle of mine, for the necessary appliances, which of course, in the first place, meant the "hard cash" to purchase the necessary wherewithal, which I had quite made up my mind was to be the basis of my " fortune." My aforesaid relation, no doubt perceiving in me the germ of future greatness, invested on my behalf the munificent sum of £5, which purchased a "complete printing office !" Now the world at large would have an idea who and what sort of an individual was existing. Could not my words and ideas bo ventilated north and south, east and west, of the vast metropolis ? The thought wn<*. inspiration enough. No sooner had the necessary equipments arrived than the work of editorship commenced. The question, of course, arose as to what should be the first production. Should it be a poem ? If so, we were certain the demand would exceed the supply. Visions of stereotyping and working all night, and in fact, the profits by the sale of this wonderful poem were in reality being spent in imagination in purchasing some more long primer. Alas ! the poem never was written, much less printed. The real query was il what should we print ?" An order for twelve mourning cards | was generously given to us by way of a start. Of course we must keep a day book. How remarkably eligible that first order was entered, and although it was a mourning j card and emblematic of decay, yet our morning of fame was just commencing which we hoped would break forth in the full noontide of future prosperity. Now for business. The composing stick was brought forward, carefully and critically examined whether "true," the leads adjusted, the screw turned, and item No. 1 — the measure was made up. We walked up and down the back attic as though we were traversing the office of some London daily ; and then surveying our three cases, which held four or five founts, began the mystery of composing. The card being duly " set," which occupied something like three hours —of course we were learning— the printing operation commenced. Here, of course, were all our capabilities called into requisition. Our ink-slab was a piece of slate, not very clean, but that did not matter ; it was found in the dust-heap and we had washed it, that made it clean enough — at least wo thought so. Of course the ink re- | quired mixing, turps being freely and copiously used, until our slab resembled an ink-well, the difference being that our ink was a shade thicker than ordinary ink. The roller in due course appeared on the scene, not so soft as we imagined a roller ought to be ; for to hear it drop on the floor, which it did once or twice, you would have thought it was something harder than a printer's roller. Then commenced the actual printing ; when we did pull the proof —and I can assure you we did pull it — our first impresI sion on gazing at it suggested the idea that we had unexpectedly produced a book for the blind, as the raised surface of the paper certainly strained itself far more than we ever intended it should. After hours of patient perseverance and toil, we were enabled to present to our worthy customer his mourning cards. The order was for one dozen, but of course we allowed for spoilage and gave him tivo, a specimen of which is before you—