—Where you have more than one line to set you should by all means use a composing stick and a small one will cost you a dollar. It should be held in the left hand as shown in [Fig. 67], that is, with the open side from you and the slide to the left.
Now read a few lines of your copy, pick the first letter from its box and set it in the left hand corner of the stick with the nick in the type toward your thumb. Take the next letter from its box and let it slide into the composing stick against the first letter and so on from left to right until you have the first word set up.
Fig. 67. how to hold a composing stick
Now put in a medium sized space, which is made just like a type but only shoulder high and without any letter on it, and begin to set the next word. If when you get to the end of the line there is a space left but not enough to start another word, put a thin space between the words to lengthen out the line, or justify it as it is called.
When you have set the line put a lead, that is a thin strip of typemetal which comes to the shoulder of the type, against it and start a new line and so on until you have the stick half full of type.
The type must now be taken out of the stick and placed on a smooth surface, such as a piece of slate or a stone called an imposing stone, and to do this without dropping some or all of the type and making pi of it, takes practice. To do it like a journeyman, put a lead at the top and bottom of the type, set the stick on the stone, grip the top and bottom with your fore fingers and thumbs and the sides with your other fingers, hold it tight and you can then easily lift it out and into the chase as shown in [Fig. 68].
Fig. 68. putting a stick of type in the chase
A good way for you to do it at first is to wet the type after you have it set in the composing stick when it will hold together without much trouble. When you can manage half-a-stick full of type you can then try a stick full.