+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+ | & | fl | ff | fi | j | k | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | +---+---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+ | ’ | | | | | | | | | 5m | 9 | | | | | | | | | | |space| | +---+ b | c | d | e | i | s | f | g +-----+-----+ | ! | | | | | | | | | 4m | 0 | | | | | | | | | | |space| | +---+---+-------+-------+-------+-------+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+ | ? | | | | | | | | | | n | m | +---+ l | m | n | h | o | y | p | , | w |quad.|quad.| | z | | | | | | | | | | ▌ | █ | +---+---+-------+-------+-------+-------+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+ | x | | | | 3m | | | ; | : | | +---+ v | u | t | space | a | r +---+---+ quadrat. | | q | | | | | | | . | - | | +---+---+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+---+---+-----------+ PLAN OF LOWER CASE.] Behold the busy company. Eyes, fingers, and arms move almost in every direction with steadiness and speed. Some are “distributing;” that is, filling their cases with letters from the type pages of books or papers which have been printed off. This is done with great celerity; the compositor grasps and reads several sentences at once; and without again looking at the letters, his nimbly flying fingers deposit them, one by one, here, there, everywhere, in the square dens to which they belong. Four thousand “ems” per hour can thus be distributed by a good compositor, which is about five times as many as he can “compose,” or set in type; as it is much easier to spend money than to earn it.