stereotyping paper, several sheets in thickness, is laid over the
page, and this almost pulpy paper is rapidly and dexterously beaten
evenly all over with stiff hair brushes until the soft paper is
pressed down into all the interstices between the type; then this is
covered with blankets and the whole is placed upon a steam chest,
where it is subjected to heat and pressure until the wet paper becomes
perfectly dry. Then, this dried and hardened paper, called a matrix,
is placed in a circular mould, and melted stereotype metal is poured
in and cooled, resulting in the circular plate, which is rapidly
carried to the press room, clamped upon its cylinder, and when all the
cylinders are filled, page by page in proper sequence, the pressman
gives the signal, the burr and whirr begin, and men and scarcely less
sentient machines enter upon their swift race for the early trains. As
a matter of general interest it may be remarked that this whole
process of stereotyping a page, from the time the type leaves the
composing room until the plate is clamped upon the press, averages
fifteen minutes, and that cases are upon record when the complex task
has been accomplished in eleven minutes.

The paper is brought from the mill tightly rolled upon wooden or iron
cores. Some presses take paper the narrow way of the paper, rolls for
which average between 600 and 700 pounds. Others work upon paper of
double the width of two pages, that is, four pages wide, and then the
rolls are sometimes as wide as six feet, and have an average weight of
1,350 pounds. Each roll from which the New York _Tribune_ is printed
contains an unbroken sheet 23,000 feet (4-1/3 miles) long. A few hours
before the paper is to be printed, an iron shaft having journal ends
is passed through the core, the roll is placed in a frame where it may
revolve, the end of the sheet is grasped by steel fingers and the roll
is unwound at a speed of from 13 to 15 miles an hour, while a fan-like