W.

Scott Thomas

EDUCATION DEPT.
 THE

THEORY AND PRACTICE

OF

HANDWRITING
 BOOKS ON VERTICAL PENMANSHIP
liY

JOHN JACKSON, F. E. I. S., M. C. P.

THEORY AND PRACTICE OF HANDWRITING .... $1.25

VERTICALS. SLOPING WRITING .10

NEW STYLE VERTICAL WRITING COPY BOOKS, PER DOZ. .96

HARISON'S VERTICAL PENMANSHIP PADS, "
.96
 L^t9-u^\y^
f\ n *. v A_.
 THE

THEORY AND PRACTICE

HANDWRITING
A PRACTICAL MANUAL FOR THE
GUIDANCE OF SCHOOL BOARDS, TEACHERS, AND
STUDENTS OF THE ART
WITH DIAGRAMS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

BY

JOHN JACKSON, F.E.I. S., M.C.P.

ITHOR OF 'THE SYSTEM OF UPRIGHT PENMANSHIP OR HYGIENIC HANDWRITING,'

'
'
VERTICAL 7'S. SLOPING WRITING,' HARISON'S VERTICAL
PENMANSHIP PADS,' ETC.

REVISED EDITION.

NEW YORK
WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON
1894.

[All rights reserved]

 COPYRIGHT 1894
BY WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON

EDUCATION DEFT,
 PREFACE

THE distinguished professor of Anatomy in the University of

"
Vienna, Dr. Toldt, has declared that The question of Instruc-
"
tion in Writing should occupy the first place, as the teaching
" of
that subject is attended with so great danger to Spinal
"
curvature, Breathing and digestive Disturbances, Myopia or
"
Shortsight." And the no less distinguished oculist, Professor
Dr. Hermann has
Cohn, stated that " Vertical
publicly is
writing
" the "
writing of the future
official statements the Author has
Realising the force of these
the more confidence in submitting to the Profession and Public a
manual the chief object of which is to afford information on all
the vital and important questions that modern research in the
Art and Science of Handwriting has brought to the front.
Hitherto Caligraphy has been considered exclusively as an art

(witness the works and specimens of plain and ornamental pen-

manship extant up most recent date) but the latest investiga-
to a
tions (both Medical and Educational) exhibit it to us as a Science.
Writing is undoubtedly one of the principal and most essential
subjects taught in our Schools, but there is no text-book on the
question which professes to be a work of reference and certainly
none that deals " in extenso " with the topics which for some years
past have so deeply agitated Medical (and to a smaller extent
Educational) circles both at home and abroad. A
glance at the
list in Chapter XIII. will show how popularly and superficially
the subject of Handwriting has been generally approached and
the necessity for a production which shall give side by side the
several arguments which have been adduced in favour of and in

opposition to the theories propounded. Such vital matters as the

relation of writing toHygiene ; the substitution of Upright Pen-

580107
viil MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
manship for sloping writing ; the universal adoption of Headline
Copy Books ; the position of the Copy Book with reference to the
writer :these and other topics of a like nature have received

lengthy treatment, as on the decision in each case serious issues

"
depend. The firstobject has been to find out What the
"
writing" iswe ought to teach and the second how it ought
to be written and taught a very
It is common delusion
that "Anybody can write" and the notion is most prevalent
amongst Secondary School teachers many of whom give the sub-
ject hardly a place in their Routine or Curriculum. It is an equally

deplorable fact that hardly anybody does write either as he might or

as he should, and yet the efficient and successful teaching of writing
in a school is frequently the most potent factor in its success.
With parents (who constitute the public so far as schools are con-

cerned) beautifully written Copy books and carefully written Home

Exercises are not only evidence of satisfactory progress but they
are regarded as an index to the discipline of the school, the

thoroughness of the teaching, the neatness and precision of the

general work and to the Education imparted. Very few teachers
appear to apprehend or rightly value both the extern and intern
influence which writing exerts on a School. Its virtue is immense.
Good writing in the classes cultivates the eye, hand, and judg-
ment, promotes habits of accuracy, observation, neatness and
good taste, conduces to good order discipline and method, and by
contagion infuses a salutary stimulus into every other branch of
study taken up. Some one has said that it is better to lose a
delusion than to find a truth, therefore if the following pages help
to enlighten teachers on these matters assist them to lose a
delusion and to convince them that the Science and Art of
Writing cannot safely be ignored or neglected any longer the
hopes of the writer will in a great measure be realised.
The author's thanks are specially due, and are herewith
cordially tendered, to Dr. Emmanuel Bayr, Dr. Paul Schubert,
and Mr. Noble Smith, F.R.C.S. Ed., L.R.C.P. Lond., &c., for
their unvarying courtesy, and for their kindness in placing both
works and services so generously at his disposal. Contributions
from many other friends, both in England and on the Continent,
are also gratefully acknowledged.

Revised for the United States. New York, May, 1894.

 CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTORY

II. WRITING IN RELATION TO HYGIENE . . . . . 10

III. UPRIGHT OR SLOPING WRITING WHICH? ... 26

IV. SIZE, THICKNESS, CONTINUITY, SHAPE, ETC. . . . 4*

V. HEADLINE OR BLANK COPY BOOKS WHICH? . .

56

VI. DESKS, BOOKS, SLATES, PENS, INK ..... 73

VII. POSITIONS OF WRITER BOOK AND PEN . 81

VIII. ANALYSIS OF ALPHABET AND WORDS . . . .

94

METHODS, AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR CLASS TEACHING 103

.
IX.

X. HISTORY AND REVIVAL OF VERTICAL WRITING . . no

BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH SHORT DESCRIPTIVE NOTICES . 126

XI.
X MANUAL OF HANDWRITING

APPENDICES

I. SPECIMENS OF HANDWRITING ...... PAGB

131

II. ESSAY BY DR. SCHUBERT ..... . .

140

III. EXTRACTS . . ,

INDEX ....... ..... I59

FIG. i.
FIG.
 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING

CHAPTER I

WRITING AS IT NOW IS

THERE are more writers, or shall we say scribblers, in the world at

the present momentthan at any previous period of its history.
But it would appjar from all accounts thd*t as the exponents of
caligraphy have multiplied, the quality of the writing has dete-
riorated.

To fully describe and depict writing as it is the wide world

over in our civilised age, would require a volume of itself. Suffice

it in this chapter to furnish an amount of description,

testimony
or evidence and illustration, as shall adequately exhibit the existing
condition of things in the writing world.
At the beginning of this century the art of penmanship was
comparatively little practised. Education being in a sadly

neglected condition, there were few facilities for teaching it.

Schools i.e. good schoolswere few and far between, trained

teachers were unknown, headline copy books had not been
dreamt of copy slips were scarce and difficult to get, and teachers
for the most part had to rely solely on their own caligraphic ability,
whilst as a natural sequence good writers in a mourn-
remained

fully small minority and the numbers of bad writers yearly

increased. Gradually however as people woke up to a realisa-
tion of the state of affairs specially with reference to the masses
and their ignorance of " Reading, Writing and Counting," more
attention was directed to these subjects and the headline copy
 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
vtas
opt Of tltfr cnpovations which merged into life. These copy-
c books bave^rown angl increased to an alarming extent during the
"

foft^ysar$.t .We' say .alarming, for the wisdom of having such a

variety of antagonistic styles is much to be questioned. One has

merely to look through the vast number copy of (headline)

books in existence to be struck with the* anomalies with which
they abound. Every compiler or writer and there is a material
difference between the two of a series of copy books naturally
thinks and advertises his own peculiar production to be the best.
But that each should be superior to all the others is impossible,
and which amongst them is entitled to lay claim to superiority it
is hopeless to attempt to determine.
We present for inspection (Figs. 3 to 6) specimens of eight large
hand copies and eleven small-hand headlines taken from some of
the popular series of copy books now in the market. Glancing
at the selection made (p. 4) who would not be bewildered at
the contrasts presented ? And this is only a selection ; yet it

is seen that in no one respect do they all agree save in the most
objectionable respect of all (as we shall show further on) viz.

Slope. They are without exception off the vertical or perpen-

dicular, but the degrees of divergence from the Upright, or the

angles of Slope, are only limited by the number of specimens and

hardly that. With regard to their several characteristics it will be
noted that generally they nearly all differ in the fundamental
principles of construction, angle of slope, and style : some are

heavy, stumpy and round, others light, flowing and almost

angular some very large others minutely small
: some nearly :

upright others nearly horizontal some open and wide almost

:

square in their curves others close compact and oval some with :

plain simple capitals others with elaborate and ornate capitals :

some commencing with an extremely large and heavy hand as in

"
the \* ord " Permutation
others commencing with a smaller but
still heavier hand as in the word " Whitsuntide."
In the books lying before us, and from certain of which these
illustrations are severally taken, it is observed that some
grade the
letters according to system others according to caprice or not at
 WRITING AS IT NOW IS 3

all :
many advance by small steps others by wide and long grada-
tions and so on, no two series possessing any features in com-
mon.
Now if Handwriting can be reduced to a rational or scientific

system this infinite diversity not only undesirable it is pernicious

is

and unsound. For granted that one style can be formulated and

projected which is absolutely superior to all others in construction,

angle, &c., then unless that style be universally inculcated, an
unfortunate section of the community is being taught to write a
style which, according as it deviates from the acknowledged
standard, is to that extent objectionable and inferior.

And this hypothesis viz. of a standard system of penmanship

is not chimerical, it is logical and practical. Whilst however
the present custom obtains, and in our schools every teacher
exercises his own independent and uninstructed mind, teaching
from any one of the multifarious headline Copy books that may
strike his fancy or what is far worse from his own peculiar style

and the black-board, what wonder if the caligraphy of the age is

the laughing-stock of the age i What wonder that our " scrib-
"
that our " writers
"
blers abound in their countless hosts and
exist only in their isolated units by contrast ! In the absence of

any harmony or uniformity in the essential elements and principles

of the so-called systems of writing now in vogue who can expect

the grand result to be anything but a " mixed medley," a promis-

cuous jumble of caligraphic contradictions and contortions ?
And passing from the schoolroom where such an anomalous
and chaotic state of things prevails into the world outside, this is

exactly what meets us. We can only describe the penmanship of

the present age as a dreary waste of slightly variegated illegibility
relieved here and there at long intervals by welcome exceptions of
readable writing. In view of what reaches one continually by the

postwe may denounce the writing that obtains now-a-days as

miserably poor and painfully illegible. The mistakes that are
made, the money that is lost, the time that is wasted, the peace of
mind that is disturbed, the annoyance and delays that are caused

by undecipherable sprawls might rnake the angels weep, and not-

B 2
 8 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
withstanding, except a few inarticulate and individual grumblings,
in the way of protest is made against what
little
every one admits
to be a public and national disgrace.
Our prevailing handwriting
may claim the ambiguous and questionable merit that it can be
made to mean anything but it is no less accurately described as
Scribble of every conceivable Size, Shape and Slope.
The Press, the Commercial World, and Official Circles are
happily beginning to realise the position, as evidence the following
extract from the City Press (25th Nov. 1891).
" How
is it that of late years the art of
caligraphy has declined
" an almost alarming extent ? Not so long since
amongst us to
" save geniuses, who were allowed a free hand could
everyone
" write and
clearly legibly, the reading of correspondence being as
"a consequence a far more agreeable occupation than it un.ortu-
" moment. Now
nately is at the present it is quite an exception
" to come across a letter that even with a certain amount of
"
leniency can be said to be written at all legibly or distinctly.
"
Indeed, by far the greater part of a busy man's correspondence
" consists of hurried scrawls which have to be
actually spelled out
" word word. Commercial houses are
by already beginning to
" a
experience difficulty in finding, as clerks, young fellows who can
" write a decent hand. Mr. Tritton, who may be taken as a typical
"man of commerce, told aMansion House meeting the other day
" of the young men who applied to him for
that fully 90 per cent,
"situations wrote with a slovenliness that was altogether inexcu-
" sable. The
public, it seems to me, have the remedy in their own
" hands to a certain extent. If they follow the advice of Sir
" and on one side for future consideration
James Whitehead, put
" allletters which cannot be deciphered except with difficulty,
" their
correspondents, without a doubt, will soon realise that in
" The result will
writing illegibly they only injure themselves.
" wretched
naturally be that they will cease to pen the scrawls
"
that in the past they have dignified with the name of correspon-
"
dence. The present carelessness in the matter of handwriting is
" in a
great measure the fault of our schoolmasters, who, I have
" reason to
believe, no longer consider caligraphy as one of the
 WRITING AS IT NOW IS 9
"
subjects that their pupils should be taught. Perhaps they will
"alter their minds now that, on the authority of Mr. Tritton, they
" learn that fellows otherwise eligible often lose situations
young
"
because of their wretched penmanship."
Other City merchants gave similar evidence and state that very
often they have to throw nineteen out of every twenty applications
into the waste paper basket.

But Great Britain is not alone in this sad dilemma. The

"Detroit Free Press" declared a short time ago that not one

person in a hundred wrote a legible signature and the same

authority informed its readers that Prince Bismark was so impressed
with the necessity for a reform that he fulminated an order that all

persons should write their names legibly. The demand for a

sweeping reformation in regard to our handwriting can no longer
be disregarded. Of course the cry has ever been " What is the
" cause of this deterioration " ? " Where is the root of the
malady "?
This question will occupy our attention in a subsequent chapter.
Meanwhile our ears are assailed on every side with the one
trumpet-call coming alike from every class and department of the
"
community Give us Good Writers for we cannot get them, and
" cannot do without them."

It may be accepted then as a demonstrated fact that the

writing of the age is unsatisfactory, illegible and essentially bad.

That there is abundant need amongst our teachers
for reform

as to the teaching of writing no one can deny. I would refer the

reader to Appendix I. (fig. 6r), page 141. The three books there
illustrated are typical of hundreds of cases where children in the

school are allowed to write page after page and Book after
Book of such pitiful scrawl without a solitary mark of direction,
correction or disapproval. Can such teachers have the slightest

apprehension or conception of what writing really is or ought to

be? Did they ever see the writing at all or look at a single line
of the work from the first page to the last ?

In charity we must answer for them in the negative;

10 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING

CHAPTER II

WRITING IN RELATION TO HYGIENE

THIS is a subject that has seldom if ever been referred to, much
less treated and discussed in Works on Education or in Manuals
of Handwriting.
The idea itself is only in its infancy and with one exception
has been confined to medical essays and excerpts. Nevertheless
wonderful progress has been made during the past two or three

years ;
and as medical men and teachers are the sole authorities on
this subject, it will be sufficient to confine the arguments within
the limits of their united evidence.
On the general question a paper was read by the author of
these pages at the Seventh International Congress of Hygiene and
Demography, London, August 1891, followed by a resolution, the
substance and text of which are reproduced here as fairly covering
the ground to be explored. On the particular aspects of the ques-
tion as relating to Spinal Curvature and Shortsight a report by a
Commission of Specialists was presented to the Imperial and
Royal Supreme Council of Health Vienna February 1891. The
substance of this Report will afford abundant proof of the relation
of writing to health and will conclusively demonstrate the positions
taken up.

Writing is almost as important as speaking, there being no

occupation or rank in life into which as a potent factor and as an

energising influence writing does not enter. In the diary of the

private individual, the correspondence of everyday life, the records

of business- transactions, the literature of the author, the briefs of
the barrister or the manuscripts of the Theologian and Ecclesiastic

writing is
equally essential and universal. Not only is it thus all
 WRITING IN RELATION TO HYGIENE II

pervasive throughout civilised society it rises to even greater pro-

minence and significance in the case of the hundreds of thousands
who as secretaries, copyists or clerks follow writing as their profes-

sion or business, and derive from it their sole means of subsistence.

Such persons are occupied the year round, for from 8 to 16
hours daily, exclusively in clerical work. It is impossible to
exaggerate the importance of an art which is pre-eminently the
vital principle in the machinery of the Law, the Civil Service,

Commerce, Science and individual as well as international

communication. If we look into the origin and development of

handwriting we find it had its birth in an age of semi barbarism ;

that at first it consisted of the most imperfect pictorial representa-

tions, which gradually merged into a still crude hieroglyphic as the

basis of an incipient alphabet. Subsequently this alphabet was
improved and modified, and at last developed into what may be
termed a phonetic one, although very defective, the characters
having little scientific meaning or relationship. From the ornate
and laboured style of the mediaeval period the
present Italian
style has been evolved, and if we carefully trace this evolution

through its manifold stages and variations, we discover that it and

they have been purely responsive to exclusively caligraphic or

all

so-called artistic demands. Pursuing the investigation a step

further, the fact is revealed that these caligraphic and artistic

demands have been dictated and controlled, not by logical or

scientific principles, but by capricious and often conflicting
theories.

The writing, and not the writer, has always been the supreme
consideration in the growth of the art of penmanship. certain A
style of writing was deemed or decreed to be essential, the idea of

protest was never entertained, and our ancestors had to bend

cringe and twist under the system of bondage thus established.

As to Hygienic principles these have never been associated even

in a remote degree with the history of slanting writing that for
some two hundred years has flourished amongst us.
Indeed physiological requirements have not been recognised
much less urged until within the past few years, and even at the
12 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
present day but few teachers would be found to spontaneously
admit any possible connection between Hygiene and Handwriting
That these Hygienic principles should be an integral part of any
system of penmanship whatever, there cannot be the shadow of a
doubt, but it may be emphatically stated that the existing style of
oblique or slant writing has been elaborated not only indepen-
dently, but in spite of every physiological demand. Awkward
and painful postures have always accompanied the practice of
sloping writing. It is more than surprising that such injurious
distortions should ever have been for one moment tolerated, but
the power or dominance of fashion over our minds is incredibly
imperious and overwhelming. It is not the less remarkable that

when the subject of school postures first engaged the attention of

the medical faculty the real root of the malady was never for one
moment suspected and that it remained for so long a time undis-
covered. Possibly this was after all not unnatural as the idea of a
flaw or defect in the writing itself would be the last to strike the
mind of the enquirer.
Hence the various and contradictory charges that have been
made. First, the Instruction was at fault. Teachers were in-

different or not sufficiently careful to inculcate correct position.

It only needed strict attention efficient and constant supervision

to remedy the evil. Time and experience however proved the
contrary, for unhealthy postures were found co-existent with the
most sedulous care and perfect instruction. A crusade was then
-
inaugurated against Desks and Seats and not before time. The
former were too sloping or otherwise, too high or too low, and
furthermore they were not adjustable, so we got adjustable desks
and broaderseats, both being brought to a state of almost perfect

Hygienic and mechanical excellence. Nevertheless the Bad

Postures survived still.

The question qf Light was next considered, but when that was
set right the positions were still wrong and the matter remained
in abeyance for a brief space. Last of all attention was directed
to the Writing (the Sloping Writing) itself, and it is cause for con-

gratulation that this attack was made ;

for the unanimous opinion
 WRITING IN RELATION TO HYGIENE 13

of the numerous experts engaged in the investigation is that the

Slant or Slope of our writing is the undoubted cause of the

abnormal and injurious postures so grievously complained of.
As will appear in the Sequel there is no room for doubt, question
or challenge. Teachers, Oculists and Surgeons combine in one
united body and give an unqualified verdict. For thirty years we
have had abundant opportunity for observation and experiment
and we give an emphatic, unreserved confirmation to the testi-

mony just alluded to. No matter what pattern desks and seats
are in use, what the light may be and what the nature and

thoroughness of the instruction ;

whenever children are required to

write in the sloping style their postures will present every variety

of abnormity and distortion.

The concurrent evidence of a body of medical experts and
specialists supported by the experience of thousands of teachers

goes to show that in sloping writing the side position of the

body is inevitable ;
that twisting of the head or neck, and dis-

tortion of the spine must accompany this side position ;

that

displacement of the right shoulder, deflection of the wrist, a

disturbance of the common action of the two eyes with a

consequent delusive and oblique view of the book, and an

unhealthy compression of the chest walls involving pneumonic
and gastric disturbances, are the inseparable accompaniments of
the postures required in and necessary to oblique writing.

The directions generally prescribed to a writing class where

sloping penmanship is taught run as follow :

1. Left sides to the desk.

2. Left arms close in to side.

3. Left hands on Copy Books.

4. Right elbows in to side.
5. Pens pointing to right ear (or chin).
6. Faces turned towards Books.
7. Grasp pens firmly and Go on ! ! !

What can be expected from a system of writing that inflicts

such conditions as these ? As to the writing an answer is sup-

plied in Chapter I, it is a miserable failure ;
and with reference
 14 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
to the writers themselves we get such a number of debilitated and
deformed victims so seriously affected in lungs, spine or eyes as to
create a feeling of alarm in medical and educational circles and
even in Departments and Councils.
Eminent Medical Gentlemen have pursued their investiga-

tions into the question of postures in schools with great ability

patience and Such experts as Barnard, Cohn, Carpenter,

success.

Carter, Coindet Reuss, Lorenz, Smith have been indefatigably

working, with the outcome of a unanimous pronouncement that
all the ills which initiated the inquiry are traceable to the postures

assumed in and required by the Slanting writing.

" The
One writer says postures of young people assumed in
" the
sloping writing are one of the chief factors in the production
" of
spinal curvature."
Another declares these postures to be " without doubt recognis-
"
able as one of the most frequent causes of crooked growth."
Were this the only effect it would be more than enough to justify

an official ;
but when equally
inquiry into the whole question
dismal testimony is borne to the injury of other organs (notably
the eyes) and the interference with other functions, the urgency of
the case becomes irresistible.

Vertical Writing is the only specific for these abnormal

postures and their train of disastrous consequences. The elabora-
tion of the argument in support of this statement will be found in

the able analysis detailed in Appendix II at the end of this

volume. The material difference between this Upright or Per-

pendicular Style and Slanting Writing is in the Direction of the

Downstrokes of the letters ; in the former being definitely and
absolutely Vertical in the latter indefinitely and variously Sloped
or Oblique. It is incredible what a difference this slight and

seemingly insignificant alteration in the down strokes makes, and

what an effect it exerts upon the writer. When found in conjunc-
tion with the minor characteristics of the system, viz. short loops,
minimum thicknessand continuity the results are almost ma-
gical.
Before detailing the several Hygienic merits of Upright Pen-
See also Report of French Commission, by Dr. Javal (Physiology of Writing,
Pocket Pedagogical Library, No. 2).
 WRITING IN RELATION TO HYGIENE 15

manship reference may be made to some of the statements of

Medical Men in regard to its claims. The opinions are dogmatic
and incontestable.
"Vertical Writing is the only system consistent with all
"
Hygienic principles."
" It is impossible for writers to avoid twisting the Spine unless

"they adopt an upright style of caligraphy."

" The absolute superiority of this method of writing over other
" methods must be recognised."

"Upright Writing is very much to be preferred to oblique

"
Writing."
Now what is the posture necessary to the Vertical Writing ?
In one word it is the natural position, indeed it is the posture
that a pupil will instinctively assume in the effort to write

vertically. Granted that the book evenly on the desk in

lies

the straight middle position (as described further on) and that
the Scholar has been duly instructed how to hold his pen, the

writer's position is actually dictated by the style of writing

adopted, and he sits square before his desk both arms evenly
placed thereon, the whole posture being the simplest and easiest
that could be prescribed for the work to be done. The eyes look
straight down upon the page, the hand wrist and arm are in the

best condition and relation for a running handwriting, the body

is not distressed by artificial posing, the spine rests in a normal
condition, the chest remains free from all external pressure, and
the writing is thus produced with the least expenditure of energy
and therefore with the minimum amount of weariness.
By referring to the diagrams (figs. 7 & 8) it will be observed
that instead of the oblique or side position we have the square or
front posture ;
instead of the head all awry we have a straight pose
securing an identity or parallelism of the facial and chest planes
with the edge of the desk instead of the elbows close in to the
;

side we have them both unrestiicted and free ;

instead of the

oblique and hence delusive view of the book we secure an even

and perfect command of the page and in place of the awkward ;
 i6 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING

sprawl over the desk we have the nearly upright position, free
from even the tendency towards an unhealthy or painful attitude.
It may be safely asserted that since all unnatural positions are

precluded from the System, Vertical Writing strictly fulfils every

Hygienic requirement.
When we turn to the actual achievements of Vertical Writing,
as exhibited in the evidence of numerous teachers in schools of
 WRITING IN RELATION TO HYGIENE 17

all grades where it has been

adopted and tested what do we see?
In passing let be remembered that this test of experience is the
it

crucial test, which has once for all determined the correctness and

i?

soundness of medical theories and deductions, as well as of our

own frequently repeated categorical assertions. It is found that
the Evidence is Uniform, undisturbed by a single conflicting
dissentient. Scores and hundreds ot these contributions have
18 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
been received (from all parts of Great Britain and the Continent)
yielding a variety of testimony covering every point in the contro-
versy. Whilst teachers unanimously declare that vertical writing

disposes finally and satisfactorily of the painful postures that have

in the Sloping writing worked such havoc amongst school children
for so many years, they also unite in testifying that the Upright
Penmanship enkindles a greater interest in the art specially with
pupils, that it entails
much less labour in teaching, that it

FIG. 9.

wonderfully accelerates the rate of progress and improvement, that

it secures a much
higher standard of excellence and that it mate-
rially increases the speed of the writer. These points however
will be considered later on.
'

During the discussion which followed the reading of his paper

the author formulated the following resolution, which, being pro-

posed by Dr. Noble Smith (and by Dr. Kotelmann in German)

and seconded by Professor Gladstone (then) Vice Chairman of
the School Board for London, was put and carried.

"That, as the Hygienic advantages of Vertical Writing have

"
been clearly demonstrated and established both by Medical in-
" and and
vestigation practical experiment that as by its adoption
 WRITING IN RELATION TO HYGIENE Ip

"the injurious postures so productive of spinal curvature and

"short sight are to a very great extent avoided, it is hereby
"recommended that Upright Penmanship he introduced and
"generally taught in our elementary and secondary schools."
Every member of the congress that addressed the section
spoke terms of the claims of Upright Penmanship
in unqualified

Hygienic Superiority, and nothing could have been more

to every

unanimous than the feeling which pervaded the entire meeting on

the subject.
To proceed to the aspects of this Hygienic Relation in a

particular sense, we would direct attention to the opinions and

report of the Specialists appointed by the Vienna Supreme Council
to investigate the effect of Vertical Writing upon the attitude of
thebody and the checking of defects of sight Professor A. R. v.
Reuss (University Vienna) in Ophthalmology and Professor A.
Lorenz (University Vienna) in Orthopaedics. Report of
French Commission Dr. Javal, Physiologic del'Ecriture
(Pocket Pedagogical Library, No. 2).
A. PROFESSOR REUSS' (OPHTHALMOLOGIST) OPINION IN
RESPECT OF OPHTHALMOLOGY

For years the School Desk question occupied medical men

and teachers. Short sight and spinal curvature continually

increasing in number and degree called for preventive measures.

The question of School Desks was considered as solved by a

correct proportioning to the size of the writer, by the introduction
of the minimum distance and the application of back-rests. The
question proved unsolved. Children sat upon the new benches

approved by the faculty just as badly as upon the old. . . .

To the oculist and to the surgeon it was always evident that the
position of the head in writing exercises a powerful influence on
the attitude of the whole body, and that an abnormity in the pose
of the head which is at first apparently unimportant soon
brings
in its train a very erroneous position of the entire body. It was

also found that in reading we always turn the head so that the
base-line of the eyes (that is the line connecting the axes of the

two eyes) if prolonged to meet the surface of the page corresponds

C 2
20 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
to the direction of the lines of print. Moreover in writing it will

usually be seen that the ground strokes of the letters stand

perpendicular to this prolongation of the base-line of the eyes.

The direction of the lines of writing and the angle which the
downstrokes make with those lines influence considerably therefore

the attitude of the head and body of the writer. But even here
there soon appeared a difference between theory and practice.

People thought that if

only the ground strokes came to be vertical
to the edge of the desk the base line of the eyes must needs
remain parallel to this edge and so the whole body exhibits an
upright posture. But this was not so. In the so-called oblique
middle position (see Chap. VII. for explanation) of the Copy Book
the above postulate was fulfilled and yet the children sat awry.
It became manifest that the direction of the lines exercised a
^reat influence on the attitude of the body and that the school
:hildren placed the base-line of their eyes parallel to the edge of
the desk when the lines also ran parallel to it
provided that a
turning of the head was not necessitated by the obliquity of the
letters, i.e., provided the ground strokes stand upright on the lines
or in other words that vertical writing is used.
To Principal Dr. Bayr we owe the service of having first

proved by experiments on a large scale the accuracy of the

hypotheses or theoretical considerations we have just briefly
stated. They triumphantly furnished the proof. The position of
the scholars in Vertical Writing is an exemplary one ;
the head is

slightly bent and remains which, to the oculist, is the most

essential point at a suitable distance from the desk, and there-
with the whole body preserves a correct attitude. The desks on
which these experiments took place were not such as to exercise
especially favourable effect on the posture and it was observed
that the same scholars who sat correctly in Vertical Writing at

once assumed the faulty posture which is found in all schools

during writing as soon as they wrote a sloping hand. In fact it

could easily be recognised by the attitude of the body in which

style they were writing when part of the pupils were instructed to
write sloping and part upright.
 WRITING IN RELATION TO HYGIENE 21

One must however at once meet an objection which was made

on the part of a teacher.
" If in " "
a school says he one subject is cultivated so much
"
beyond others as writing is with Dr. Bayr and if the attitude of
"the body is so
closely supervised as by him then it is no wonder
" that the children sit It must not be forgotten that girls
upright.
"especially. when these experiments are carried out easily exag-
"gerate involuntarily the faulty postures of body in oblique
"
writing. Moreover the pupils they do not wish to be in the
if

"way with their pen when writing are forced to a position of the
"hand in which they can only write a round style or Roman
"
hand : thereforeintroduction of vertical writing will be
the

"equivalent to the adoption of Roman hand by the exclusion of

" the current hand the latter is however a national
present :

" and so on. One sees with what remarkable views

peculiarity,"

hygienic questions can be judged.

A reply is necessary because this solitary voice apparently
represents the opinion of a whole party.
Before everything it must be mentioned that the bad position
of pupils in Oblique writing as it was observed in Herr
Bayr's-
school differs as little in character as in degree from the usual
writing position as can be seen at any time in any school and as

has been observed since special attention was given to the bodily
attitude of pupils. A warning from the teacher improves the
position for a few minutes but quite spontaneously the oblique
position soon returns.
Even if the continual upright position during the practice of
vertical writing were only the result of a firm discipline it would
be a circumstance greatly in favour of this style. Furthermore in
other schools where no attention is given to the position of the

ground strokes in which on the contrary the principle of leaving

the slant of the letters to the fancy of the pupil holds good it

was observed that individual scholars who had a specially correct

posture wrote in upright fashion or nearly so and here any special
oversight of the pupils was completely excluded.
If in Vertical Writing (but this is beyond the province of the
22 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
Medical man to investigate) the Roman hand is possible and if

the introduction of the former is equivalent to a monopoly for the

latter this can only be hailed with gladness by Medical men.

By the dropping of one alphabet (there are really two now

writtenand printed) an important relief would be afforded to the
pupil and therewith also would disappear a national peculiarity
which compels the Germans, in distinction to other nations, to
allow their children's eyes to undergo a double strain.
Were one to prove the value of a correct position of the head
from an view this would be going much too far
oculist's point of

and besides would be superfluous^ for one cannot consider the

defence of a position which no one attacks.
This only shall be stated that Vertical Writing, in addition,
makes it who are already
possible to prescribe spectacles for pupils
shortsighted without the subsequent fear that this will help the

increase of myopia through an incorrect position of the head.

That another form of Copy book,
vertical writing necessitates

that is with shorter lines, is a very subordinate matter and one

must in this as in many other respects realise the fact that while
vertical writing is with us an unusual thing, it is as far as I know
a usual thing in England and America.
" recommended that the Imperial and
It is therefore, strongly
"
Royal Supreme Council of Health would support to the utmost
"
the endeavours towards a general adoption of Vertical W'riting."

B. OPINIONS IN RESPECT OF ORTHOPAEDICS

At the request of Herr Bayr, conductor of the City Public

School in Vienna, the Commission composed of Messrs. Coun-

cillor Kusy, Councillor of Health Albert, and the experts Messrs.

Von Reuss, Gouber and Lorenz met in the aforenamed school
building to undertake an inspection of the children who were using
the upright Gtyle of writing.
In the report now presented the theoretical grounds which
were alleged on behalf of the straight middle position of the Copy
Book and against the oblique middle position will not be stated, for
 WRITING IN RELATION TO HYGIENE 23

this question has already repeatedly been exhaustively discussed.

It must however be said that the results of the latest researches
in this field (the eminent work of the Oculist Dr. Schubert of
Nuremberg is here referred to) speak without exception in favour
of Vertical Writing.
The problem before the Commission consisted simply in this :

to see in use the System of vertical writing introduced methodi

cally by Herr Dr. Bayr into the institution under his charge and
especially to observe its influence on the attitude of the children
while writing.
In this connection it must be stated that the Members of the
Commission have unanimously carried away the best impression
of the correctness of attitude of the children who write the upright
hand. By the arrangement made the children on the desks on
one side of the schoolroom writing the customary oblique style
those in the desks opposite on the contrary the upright hand the

extraordinarily favourable impression which the attitude of the

vertical writers made was rendered much more emphatic and im-

portant.
The aforesaid correct posture of body of those children who
used vertical writing showed itself, without any influence whatever
on the part of the superintending teacher, so characteristic and so
constant that in a second class where children who wrote upright
and those who wrote obliquely were grouped quite irregularly the
members of the Commission were able even from a distanceand
more easily upon a close view especially from behind to distin-

guish the two groups one from another.

Further it was evident that also for rapidity of writing the
children insome degree accustomed to Vertical Writing were in

no way behind those who wrote obliquely.

It deserves special mention that the children use for vertical

writing no specially made pens (as was stated in many quarters)

but with the usual and customary instruments wrote a hand which
was as pleasing as it was clear and legible. Specimens of it were
submitted to the Commission.
It was remarkable that the Vertical writers showed a perma-
24 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
nently upright position of the head. With the oblique writers even
if the position of the head were beginning of the work
good at the

gradually in the course of the writing lesson there appeared a

marked tendency to bend the head to the left. The position of
the head is affected in an obvious degree by the direction of the
lines of writing and since these run parallel to the edge of the desk
in Vertical Writing the necessity of turning the head to the left is

done away with for the child who writes upright whereas the

oblique writer is, to some extent, compelled to turn his head

owing to the lines ascending towards ihe right.

A normal position of the head must be received as the primary

essential of a good posture in writing. Each side turning of the
head is necessarily followed, by lateral movements of the spinal
column whose frequent return with longer duration each time is
without doubt recognisable as one of the most frequent causes of
crooked growth.
Quite apart from all other advantages the absolute superi-
ority of this method of writing over other methods must
be admitted, for the children who use it are not in the least

compelled to any lateral twisting of the head owing to the kind

of manipulation used in what we may call their professional work.
The practical use of vertical writing corroborates the theo-
retical inference that it does not by the method and manner of

practising it, conceal within itself the tendency or compulsion to

an oblique position of sitting and consequently to a crooked

growth.
Given rightly-proportioned desks and especially back-rests
which are suitably constructed and adapted to the writing position
by means of which the fatigue which inevitably follows each posi-
tion of sitting is most effectually held in check Vertical Writing

is very much to be preferred from the orthopaedic point of view to

oblique writing, and has been recommended for a long time by

many orthopaedic Surgeons in private practice with the best

results for rendering the writing position a healthy one !

Comment on the tone and conclusions of the above report

 WRITING IN RELATION TO HYGIENE 25

would be superfluous. The investigation was so complete, the

experiment so thorough and the decision so unanimous that
nothing could add to its effect and authority.
We presume there can be no appeal from the almost identical
findings of these two supreme Councils. Indeed who would feel
himself qualified to challenge them particularly as they are
supported by universal experience.
The finality of the verdict is, and must be recognised by every
thinking inind.
But here the obligation and responsibility of Teachers
commence, here the prerogative of our Educational Boards and
Departments should be exercised. Shall Hundreds of Thousands
of our children continue to suffer the injuries and inconveniences
inflicted by an admittedly pernicious System of Sloping Writing
when a perfectly harmless, Hygienic and in every way Superior
System of Penmanship both existing and available?
is Shall

health be ruined, eyesight be deteriorated, body be deformed in

hundreds nay thousands of instances every year by a method of

writing which apart from Physiological considerations is in itself

a caligraphic failure (as was demonstrated in the preceding

chapter) ? Ought not our Bureau
of Education, our School

Superintendents, our School Boards and beyond all our School

Teachers themselves to take vigorous and immediate action in a
matter fraught with such grave issues? Delay is dangerous,
indifference is criminal and inaction equally fatal, both as to

bodily health and our standard of writing as a National accom-

plishment.
26 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING

CHAPTER III

UPRIGHT OR SLOPING WRITING WHICH ?

IF the question of Verticality or Obliquity in writing were to be

decided by the considerations of Hygiene only there would be no
further need of discussion. But there are various other matters
which should obviously receive examination and be definitely
settled ere we finally determine the kind of writing which we have
to teach. In approaching this investigation it is necessary that
we divest ourselves of all preconceived ideas and
personal all

prejudice. It is not a question of what style of writing we like

best though to hear the objections generally raised by teachers
we might suppcsj preference and prejudice to be the only basis
of judgment and decision or even what we think best which
opinions are possibly or probably based on no independent
research but are rather the natural evolution of our environment.
The sole question about which we have to concern ourselves is
" Which is the best ? What or which is the better or best S\
and Style of writing ? Are the down strokes to be Upright or
Sloping? Shall we have Vertical or Oblique writing? If the
latter what degree of slope is the best, what shall be the standard
"
angle ?

We have already seen in Chapter I. that at present there is no

agreement amongst slopers as to the preferential angle, not even
a preponderance of opinion as to any one angle of obliquity, the

angles in Headline Copy Books varying from 10 to 65 or even

70 from the perpendicular.
The tendency of modern thought can nevertheless be seen in
the fact that the latest series of Copies slope less and less, or
more nearly approach the vertical, whilst the publishers or authors
 UPRIGHT OR SLOPING WRITING WHICH ? 27

base their strongest claims to public favour on this close approxi-

mation to the upright. And this is illustrated still further in the
decrees of the Belgian and German Educational Cabinets which
prescribe that no writing taught in the Government schools shall

have a slope of more than 10 and 20 from the Vertical respec-

tively. In order then to decide authoritatively and finally which

(if either) is superior and which (if either) possesses such an excess
of merit as to warrant its adoption and the ultimate condemnation
and abandonment of its rival, an enquiry must be made into the

very essentials or fundamentals of Good Writing.

What are the distinguishing qualities or the prime factors so
to speak of a reallygood handwriting? In the first plade it must
be legible or easily read. Then it should be rapid and easily
written. Moreover it must be easy to learn and easy to teach.
Having already disposed of the Hygienic element we need not
refer to it in this connexion atany length. The best system or

style of Caligraphy then will be that which is at once the Most

Legible, Most Rapid, Most Economical, and Most easy to learn,

teach and produce. Of course it is taken for granted that the

letters are well formed and in strict accord with the accepted
principles of construction. Assuming that this definition of Good,
or the Best, Writing is, if not critically the most perfect, at least
and comprehensive, it
generally correct is proposed to examine the
two Systems on these lines and to test their individual merits by
these four several standards.
Eirst as to

LEGIBILITY :

which is the more

legible, Sloping or Slanting writing?
Which the more
easily read? A very simple illustration will be
sufficient to answer the question. In Fig. 10 there are five rows of

right lines, eleven lines in each row. Now what is the optical effect

produced in the observer, and what is the actual fact as regards

these lines? The impression produced upon any one looking
carefully at these rows is that the lines in the lowest rank are

shorter than the others and that they are drawn closer together,
28 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
that as we proceed upwards the lines become longer and are

drawn wider apart, i.e. to base points at greater distances.

These optical effects are however delusions or deceptions

FIG. 10.

caused by the sloping nature of the strokes. For the actual fact
is that the lines in all the rows are equal in
length and that they
are all drawn to base points equi-distant from each other as can
be ascertained by verifying measurement. The impression that
 UPRIGHT OR SLOPING WRITING WHICH ?
2Q

the sloping lines are nearer to each other than the vertical strokes
is nevertheless true, but this nearness is caused not by the base
points being nearer together but from the geometrical principles

that govern all parallel right lines drawn vertically and obliquely
to any horizontal from points equi-distant from each other, all
lines approaching more nearly to one another as the slope in-

creases until coincidence is reached at 90 from the upright. Since

30 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
then it is a demonstrated law that lines are clear distinct and
legible in proportion as they are separate
from each other, that all

ines but the vertical are more or less delusive in their effects and

FIG. 12.

that the upright lines possess a maximum of isolation or width

apart, it follows both logically and geometrically that vertical

writing must be the clearest and the most legible, rigs, i i and 12

in which the words

"
men " and " nun " are written vertical! vain I at
 Jl'KIGHT OR SLOPING WRITINGWHICH? 31

ordinary slopes exhibit a fair comparison of the relative legibility

of the two styles.

There can be no doubt as to the superior boldness and legi-

oility of the Upright penmanship. The down strokes are of the

same length and weight in each column but the effect is wonder-

fully different. It will be seen that the vertical affords much more
scope for a bold and perfect outline than the oblique style can
possibly admit of, and that the greater the slope, the more
attenuated, the closer and more imperfect the outline. Now as

enthusiasts on both sides claim superiority in Legibility one might

consequently imagine that it was a matter of opinion. The fore-

going remarks prove that this is not so. Our books, pamphlets,
newspapers in short literature of all kinds are printed not in
italics or sloping type but in plain, and plain because vertical,

Roman upright characters. Italics and sloping script are not as

legible as upright type and writing. This superior readableness of

Vertical handwriting is everywhere recognised (notwithstanding the
feeble protests of a small minority of too enthusiastic slopers) by
the Government and Civil Service in which latter the system is

becoming increasingly popular and general in every department.

The instructions on Government Examination papers or in the
"
Blue Books run as follow : Let your writing be as bold and
" "
upright as possible." Writing should as far as possible
" There can be no doubt as
imitate broad printing." to the
inferior plainness of sloping writing and as to the fact that

Upright Penmanship has justified its claim to the maximum of

Legibility.
SPEED OR RATE OF PEN-TRAVELLING
The most rapid writers in the Western Union Telegraph Co. use the Vertical Writing"
BECAUSE IT is THE MOST RAPID and because it can be written with LESS FATIGUE THAN THE
SLOPING. The style is that taught by the author.

At the first glance it might be thought that sloping writing

would certainly have the advantage with respect to rapidity or
speed. The slanting strokes seem to be so much freer as they
certainly are so much longer than the vertical, that one is inclined
to think the oblique style more expeditious than the upright.
When we come however to enquire into the conditions and laws
32 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
which regulate and fix the rate of pen-travelling we find several

considerations must enter into the discussion and that each is

adverse to sloping penmanship. The conclusions of Chapter II.

are both pertinent and vital to the discussion. Position or the

posture of the writer is of the highest moment. A free easy and

normal attitude must be more favourable to and will also secure a

higher speed than a stiff, constrained and painful position could

possibly permit.
If, as it has been abundantly proved, the posture in Vertical

writing be free and natural whilst in Slanting writing it is twisted

and awkward the question of relative speed is conclusively settled.
The advantage which a natural posture offers and secures to the
vertical writer must guarantee a higher rate of pen-travelling. The
slanting writer is heavily handicapped and comes in a very bad
second. (See pp. 23, 121, &c.)
Furthermore it is found that the strokes which a vertical

writer makes in his movements with the pen are quite as easy as
those made in the sloping style and far shorter, for careful calcula-
tions show that the ordinary oblique writing necessitates the pen

moving over 20 to 25 per cent, more length of outline than

same size, that is between the same parallels,
Vertical writing of the
and that it accordingly occupies that amount of extra time. A
reference to Fig. 13 will make this apparent. Approximately
the lengths of the continuous letters in the five lines are as 6, 7,

8, 9 and 10.
Now unless it can be shown that ten units of work require no
more time to execute or perform than six units of the same work
it obvious that Upright Penmanship must be more rapid than
is

oblique. It is not needful to say that six miles can be much more

speedily covered than ten miles, and six inches than ten

inches.
This being so, the amount of waste waste of time (of labour
and material also as will be presently proved) that is going on in
the caligraphic world is a very grave consideration.

Gratifying corroboration of this proposition has reached us

from the continent where extensive experiments have been made
 UPRIGHT OR SLOPING WRITING WHICH ? 33

(in Vienna and elsewhere) to thoroughly test this question, a

remarkable coincidence in the figures being the outcome, Dr.

ZEKZ

FIG. 13.

Scharff conducted several contests between the two classes of

writers, and states that vertical writers the best took 24 minutes
to copy out a poem which the best sloping writers finished in 30
D
34 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
minutes. This ratio is about the same as that shown in the figure

namely 3 or 4 to 5.

From
the printed Report of the .Vienna Commission the

figures were slightly different, "the best verticals were 4, sooner or

quicker than the best slopers." These experiments in Vienna were

conducted by Drs. Schubert, Bayr and others.
Such a slight variance in the ratios may be and probably is
owing to the short time the verticals have been writing that style.
hardly just to institute a comparison between boys say of 15
It is

on the one hand who have written sloping all their lives and
those who of the same age have written vertically only one or
two years of that period. When classes in the upper standards (the
5th or 6th year of school life) that have written vertically from the

first are available, then and only then can an impartial and fair

testbe prescribed. Nevertheless, when under the conditions,

which to Vertical writers are so unusually severe, Upright Penman-
ship is able to establish its superiority as to speed by a ratio of 4
to 5 or 5 to 6, the ultimate advantage to be gained by adopting

the vertical system 'cannot be for a moment called in question.

ECONOMY IN SPACE, &c.

Vertical writing speaks for itself so palpably and so emphatically

in this respect that it is unnecessary to linger long on the question.
The sprawling, straggling scribble so common in the oblique style
becomes compact and characteristic full of individuality in the

upright. Let anyone try the

experiment for himself. After

repeated and various comparisons of Copy Book headlines it is

ascertained that for the same or similar sized writing the vertical
will yield from 30 to 60 per cent, more matter in the same space-
length. Several books being tested page by page the surprising
disclosure was made that where the sloping gave 20 to 25
the upright supplied 35 to 40 letters. A glance at the reduced
facsimile (Fig. 14) of an ordinarypage in the Upright Penmanship
Copy Books convince anyone of the advantage to be secured
will

in space and compactness by the adoption of that system of

 UPRIGHT OR SLOPING WRITING WHICH? 35

writing. Then as to economy in ordinary correspondence and

manuscript what clergyman, lawyer, merchant, student, clerk, has

)
[rsj rg ra rs
iiriidrtr^i^
not resorted to the Vertical Style again and again when
wishing
to compress his writing into the smallest possible space ?

The truth is that sloping induces and begets sprawling whilst the
upright demands contraction. Take as an independent test a batch

D 2
36 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
of letters brought any morning by post, counting the letters and
urrvrls in an equal number of lines of about equal-sized writing in

each style. Two results will ensue. The Vertically written letters
will be more legible, and secondly they will contain about 40 per
cent, more matter in the same space. In a word there is no
question on this point of economy, strongest opponents as its

have conceded the claim and advantage of Vertical Writing without

an exception. Finally it must be remembered that such an
econony time and space carries with it a corresponding saving
in

in both labour and material so that the advantage thus gained is

one of great value to the community at large.

EASE IN LEARNING, TEACHING AND PRODUCING

The last quality or standard of comparison we have to examine

is one of the most interesting first to juveniles, next to teachers

and thirdly to the general public. How do the several styles

affect the pupil or learner, the instructor and the ordinary writer ?
We take the two together. In all
first schools and educational
establishments where any profession of teaching writing is made,
the one great complaint is the insuperable difficulty in securing
the right slope and in obtaining a uniform parallelism of slope.
Hut there is an equal difficulty with the writers or pupils them-
selves, for not one teacher in a hundred is successful in obtaining

satisfactory results. First there is the unnatural position of the

body, sideways to the desk ;

next there is the awkward position
of the arms, pressed close in to the side ;
then the hand must be
twisted outwards, the pen must point inwards or over the shoulder
of the writer and when all this is posed fixed and obtained (we
would ask when is it
obtained) then the worst trouble of all has
to be faced, viz., to arrange the writing, determine its angle of
obliquity, write at that angle, and maintain the angle uniformly
throughout the page.
But it is a notorious fact that children naturally do and
certainly will write vertically whether their teachers sanction it or
not. Is it not true that pupils almost uniformly tilt
up their books
 UPRIGHT OR SLOPING WRITING WHICH? 37

to an angle sufficient to give verticality (optically considered) to

the down strokes, and will hold the pen as vertical writers hold it
in spite of the repeated commands of their teachers to the
contrary?
A pupil is restless and changes his posture or inclination to
the desk and his Copy Book faithfully records the incident by a
painfully apparent break in the parallelism of the writing, or he
tilts his book or straightens it and the same undesirable phe-
nomenon is presented.
In Vertical Writing none of these difficulties and anomalies
distress the teacher, none of these absurdities vex the bodies and
souls of our pupils.
There is no artificial or abnormal positions of head, trunk,

arm, hand and pen to teach and secure, for every child will
naturally assume the right posture ; the book lies evenly on the
desk and the writing follows the one direction of the vertical
instead of the legion of angles of direction peculiar to and in-

separable from the oblique. The difficulties of both teacher and

pupil are reduced to the lowest and so far as they can be, writing
and the teaching of writing are pleasant factors in the daily

routine.

Of equal value is the consideration that this greater ease is

carried outside and beyond the mere teaching and learning of the
art. To the Vertical Writer no weariness or " writers' cramp " will
ensue from any ordinary or even extraordinary exercise of his art.

The task of writing is proceeded with under the best conditions

possible and thus it comes to pass that Upright Penmanship is
not only taught in about half the time that the oblique style needs,
but that it makes a much smaller demand upon the energy or
r
working power of the ordinary writer .o produce.
Another element in Vertical Writing bearing on the same
point is that pupils can approximate very closely to the perfection
of an engraved Headline, whereas this is impossible with the
Oblique Style, unless to boys and girls of exceptional imitative
and mechanical ability. The effect of this possibility upon the
minds of children is
simply incalculable. It is stimulative to an
 38 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
astonishing degree as the young aspirants for caligraphic fame
write with a Consciousness of Power that carries them on to

certain victory but that is entirely absent when writing in the

sloping style. The outcome of such a stimulus is as surprising to

the scholars themselves as it is
gratifying to their teachers.
A
few photographed specimens of such work by pupils from
8 to 15 years of age, and having had from one to three years
instruction in elementary and secondary schools, are here re-
produced (see It will be observed that the same
Figs. 15 to 22).
wonderful uniformity, and imitation are exhibited by the youngest
and the oldest alike, and also that the parallelism throughout is

equally perfect, the vertical being maintained without the slightest

deviation therefrom being apparent.

Reviewing the respective points in our argument we have

found it demonstrated that Upright Penmanship is far more
easily Read, Taught, Acquired, and Written that it can be ;

rapidly traced ;
that it is far superior in all Hygienic principles ;

and that in all the essential qualities which distinguish the best

style or System of Handwriting it is

undoubtedly superior to the
Slanting method and to all forms of oblique caligraphy.

So far then, as to the direction of the writing that shall be

taught, undeniably proved and unanimously conceded
it is that
it must be
Upright and not slanting or oblique.
The advantages of Vertical Writing may be conveniently
tabulated in the following form which we think covers most of the

ground in the discussion. They are classified under four general

heads.

(A.) HYGIENIC

1. The Chest :
Requiring an erect posture and therefore no
compression of the Chest-walls.
2. The Eyes Exercising both eyes equally, entailing
: a
minimum of effort thus avoiding both weak and short sight.
3. The Hand No Writers' Cramp from twisted wrist as
: in

Sloping Writing.
 UPRIGHT OR SLOPING WRITING WHICH? 39

4. The Spine :
Demanding a natural posture, entirely avoid-

ing the painful distortions so productive of Spinal Curvature in

Sloping Writers.

(B ) CALIGRAPHIC
1. Maximum Legibility : Proved both geometrically and
optically.
2. Maximum Excellence : Proved by universal experience of

teachers.

3. Maximum Individuality : The greatest scope for variety

being afforded.
4. Maximum Uniformity : The vertical downstroke requiring
the minimum amount of imitative ability.

(C.) ECONOMICAL
1. In Time : From 30 to 40 per cent, saving, Vertical Writing
being more quickly written, read and taught than any slanting

style.
2. In Labour : Vertical Writing is the easiest to- write and
easiest to read.

3. In space : From 30 to 40 per cent, saved, as Vertical

Writing is the most Compact that cnn be produced.

4. In Expense Involving not only less Time Labour and

:

Space but requiring about half to two-thirds the amount of

Material used in other systems.

(D.) EDUCATIONAL
1. Organisation : The writers are arranged in a more orderly
and systematic manner.
2. Discipline : The tendency to nudge or jolt is removed ;

sprawling is avoided much disorder is thus prevented. Talking

;

is more difficult, more easily detected and more easily suppressed

LO
kDJ l^pj

i'r^ ?r
'
H *
48 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING

CHAPTER IV

SIZE, THICKNESS, CONTINUITY, ETC., OF WRITING

HAVING determined the direction that our Writing shall take, it

remains to settle such matters as the size, thickness, closeness,

roundness and continuity (or otherwise) of the strokes, letters and
words, with special and final reference to their shape or outline.

THE SIZE

We are not here concerned so much as to the size of ordinary

Script writing as with the size of the letters and words which
those who are just learning to write in our schools shall be required
to imitate. Individuality will ever assert itself in limiting the size
of every day caligraphy, butit is a matter of no small importance

whether beginners ought to commence with a very large bold style,

heavy and unwieldy, or with a small light hand quite the reverse.
The books afford us very little assistance ;
Manuals of method
differ Text books on handwriting vary or ignore the question
;

altogether and Copy Books are still more bewilderingly diversi-

;

fied. Who is to decide ? Is it preferable to begin with the largest

sizes and styles found in Fig. 3 (page 4) or with the smallest in

Fig- 4 (P- 5)?

There is a startling contrast between the extremes, and the
world is to believe that each specimen is the best, the orthodox
one. Many are found who advocate the large heavy writing, their
argument being that it stretches the muscles, imparts freedom
and elasticity to the fingers, and secures a correspondingly desi-

rable elegance and boldness to the style. The reply to this by

those who prefer a much smaller size is, that by commencing
with such a large hand for little fingers and afterwards gradually
 SIZE, THICKNESS, CONTINUITY, ETC., OF WRITING 49

diminishing to small hand for fingers of a larger growth, not

only is nature outraged, but the progress of the juveniles
is seri-

ously retarded in the elementary stages and furthermore the;

mind is demoralised by the repeated but fruitless efforts to attain

the unattainable, for the infantile fingers can never succeed in

imitating the Copy, and it is not until years after, when a child's

fingers have acquired both length and command of the pen,

that he is, if indetd ever, able to reproduce
with some degree
of satisfaction the exceedingly difficult combination of hair

lines, tapering curves, and long thick strokes of his elaborate

Copy.
But again, such abnormally large-sized writing can only be
produced by what is called the whole-arm movement, a movement
which is now condemned by the great majority of authorities in

Cahgraphy, because of the wasteful expenditure of energy which

it entails on the writer. And this whole-arm movement is next
to impossible and impracticable with young children. Juveniles
cannot write in a copy book as they would draw on a black-
board. Anything beyond a finger and thumb movement is to be
deprecated with beginners and certainly with pupils at school, as
it is a hopeless task to attempt it.

Passing therefore from these, what about the smallest size

submitted in Fig. 4, p. 5 ? It can be successfully urged against

this specimen that the size is too small for a child of tender years
to appreciate, and that it is vain to exptct anything like a bold
from those who begin with such a diminutive size. A
free style

good medium hand is to be preferred to either extreme, and is pro-

ductive of the best results.
It seems absurd to imagine that children just learning to write

can use the pen with such dexterity as to produce even fair
"
imitations of a word like Permutation" or " Workmanship," and
on the other hand such letters as those in the smallest size

require such delicacy in their formation that they present almost

equal obstacles. A fair medium size where the strokes and

curves are bold enough to strike the eye and present an indi-

viduality of their own are more easily grasped or apprehended and

50 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
are large enough to ensure freedom, and still small enough for the

tiny fingers to manipulate without much effort.

Thickness. With reference to the thickness of the down-

strokes may be asserted without hesitation that all heavy
it

writing is to be condemned. On the sound principle that a child

should be taught that which has to be utilised in after life, heavy
or ponderously thick down strokes are ruled out of court, since

the easiest quickest and best writing is that in which there is a

minimum up and down lines.
of distinction between the
Indeed may be said that with the majority of writers no
it

effort whatever is put forth to thicken the down strokes, what

extra body there is in them being due to the facility with which
the parts of the nib separate when tracing a down stroke with
even the weight or normal pressure of the hand upon the pen.
The best headlines then should have as little thickness as possible :

of necessity the larger or longer the stroke the more body is

naturally given to it to render it steady and even.

Let the aim be to secure a minimum of thickness since every
additional degree of intensity only demands an extra and wasteful
expenditure of force that speedily wearies, and a profusion of ink
that frequently smudges or smears. A further reason in favour of
opposed to thick or heavy writing is found in the
thin or light as

fact that onlyan insignificant we might almost say fractional

percentage of pupils can ever hope to become proficient in
writing the heavy style, it
being remarkably difficult to accomplish.
If partisans of the heavy downstrokes be yet unconvinced we
can produce a still more potent reason against them and it is this,
that of all things, thick writing is most conducive to Writer <

Cramp. The more muscular force is exerted in the act of writing

the sooner those muscles are fatigued and strained, and it is sell

evident that thick writing expends or requires much more energy

than thin. We confess our inability to discover where the virtue
of thick writing lies ;
the light-stroke writers are quicker and better
in their work ;
and the thin writing, or the caligraphy that consists

of one almost uniform thickness, is quite as legible as any other

Teachers should teach a free light style of writing, guarding theif
 SIZE, THICKNESS, CONTINUITY, ETC., OF WRITING $1

pupils against hard downstrokes, the result will then be better

work and less labour.

Junction. What must have often struck the reader as a

serious anomaly in the prevailing styles or series of Headlines is

the mode of joining the letters of a word together. The general

rule has been to join all letters exactly in the middle and this

rule necessitates the lifting of the pen at nearly every junction

and frequently once or twice in the formation of a single letter.

Now it
fairly be argued that, as Continuity in Writing is one
may
of the pre-eminent elements of speed a system of connection
:

which involves the incessant lifting of the pen must be diametri-

cally opposed to such continuity, and therefore absolutely inimical
to a maximum of rapidity. Consequently the principle of joining
both parts of letters and whole letters at the top and bottom is

now fast superseding the central junction just referred to, and
thus Continuity and the highest speed are both attained.
Even as early as the year 1815 a Writer on this subject (G. B.
"
King) says in a note Every word should be finished
"
before removing the pen," he thus recognised the full

value of the principle of Continuity for rapid writing. wise A

teacher will not only cultivate this essential by and through the

ordinary Copy Book, he will give the more advanced scholars

frequent exercise in writing entire lines of words without lifting

the pen, save to begin a fresh line. It cannot be too strongly

impressed upon our teachers that the laws and rules which
determine shape, size, direction and junction of strokes and
letters are not fixed and immutable but arbitrary and conven-
tional ;
that at any rate the caligraphy fantastic and ornate as it
certainly was, of a past agemust not dictate to us of the present :

the exigencies of to-day must modify the writing of yesterday and

determine what it is to be.

As an illustration of the pernicious effects of the non- continu-

ous principle I would instance one letter received recently from a
high Educational Authority. The address on the envelope con-
sisted of nine words containing altogether forty-nine letters. The
pen should have been lifted nine times; it was lifted not less

B2
52 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
than fifty-four times not including dots, crosses and punctuation.
The letter contained seventy- seven words and exclusive of dots &c.
the pen should have been lifted only seventy-seven times. Can
it be credited that it was lifted from the paper Three hundred
and Fifty times, and that it thus made three hundred and fifty

separate strokes ? Calculate, if it be possible, the labour involved

in those hundreds of superfluous acts and when it is added that
;

the gentleman in question is a most voluminous writer and author

and that his correspondence is immense the reader will be
astonished to learn that he still survives in remarkably good health.
But spite such rare and phenomenal exceptions as these Continuous

writing is
winning its way and rapidly becoming universal.

Compactness. Writing in order to be clear and legible

should not be too compact or closely written. A moderate space
between the letters and between their several parts must be ob-
served otherwise an undesirable indistinctness will ensue seriously

detracting from the excellence of the penmanship. At the same

time a series of Headlines should afford ample material for practice
in both the open and close styles primarily the former as if the latter

be indulged in too often a cramped style will be cultivated that will

be very difficult to cure. The curves, hooks, links, crotchets and

loops should all be bold and round not narrow or assimilating
to what is known as Ladies' Angular hand. As to the general

shape of the letters short loops, finals and simple capitals must
obtain. Elaborate flourishes, ornate curves, graceful loops and

elegant finals belong to the department of Ornamental Penman-

ship now nearly obsolete, they are altogether inappropriate to any
system of plain Handwriting. The object of every teacher of
writing should be to have each and every letter formed with the
shortest line or lines possible, consistent with perfect shape and
legibility, as not only will the labour of teaching and learning be
thus reduced to the lowest possible but many other equally
desirable results will be brought about.
When considering the shapes of letters it will be wise to specially
examine a certain number of them about which ideas are both
vague and various. For instance shall we have in a course of writing
 SIZE, THICKNESS, CONTINUITY, ETC., OF WRITING 53

lessons or copies two kinds of 1, h, b,

k and f ? These letters
being geneially made in large hand without the loop but in small
hand with it. Common sense replies Certainly not !
Why should
we ? The rule is not consistently observed in the first place, for
the lower loop letters remain unchanged, and the letter f is some-
times deprived of its upper loop and at other times of its lower.

It is more easy and natural to make a loop, uniformity therefore

should rule the question
and teach writers that

shape of letter they will

adopt in their future life

and practice. How diffi-

cult too, if not impossible

it is for young children to

draw those tremendously

long and rigidly right
lines ! How
seldom they
,..,-,.
ever do it
. FIG. 23.
Fig. 23 is an !

average specimen of the strokes which infantile fingers are sup-

posed to make. In conclusion it should be noted that in actual
script work neither the size nor the shape of the letters under
consideration is ever required. Taking the small letters we
observe that r has been the cause of much controversy. Shall

it be the ordinary script form or the Roman

type outline (see
p. 95, Fig. 27)? To hear the several champions hold forth on
the claims of their respective outlines one might imagine that there
were numerous vital questions involved in the discussion, whilst in
fact there isnothing but the most trivial of differences and the
most imperceptible of advantages on either side. Both forms are
good as initial, medial or final, and what the first or script form

boasts of in the matter of speed for it is undoubtedly more

quickly made than its rival is counteracted to a great extent b)'
its inferiority as to legibility when in union with certain other

letters. The very absence of any weighty reasons will we fear

prolong the agitation to an indefinite extent if indeed it does not

prevent entirely any positive and ultimate decision.

54 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
Two forms of e are also practised, the script and type outlines

(see p. 95). There can be no hesitation here as to which is pre-

ferable. The reduced capital may be more ornate but it is neither
so legible nor so rapidly written. It should consequently be dis-

countenanced and discarded in favour of the ordinary and simple

form which assimilates so perfectly in conjunction with every other
letter of the alphabet.
Anotherletter to be noticed is s, and again the minimized capital

or type form has been introduced as a rival to the script and more

easily written outline. Of course it is a mere fanciful preference

that would use the type s, which whilst it gives a certain artistic effect
to the style retards the progress of the writer to a rather serious ex-

tent. We
should pronounce unhesitatingly for the ordinary script
form of the sibilant and we think we carry nine hundred and ninety-
nine writers out of every thousand with us. Just a word "en passant"
as to the large number of persons who are in the habit, unfortu-

nately, of making a particular shape of letter the test of a System

of Handwriting. Incredible as it might seem many teachers have
denounced Upright Penmanship solely because some special pet
form of capital or small letter was not found in the Series of
Headlines of the Copybooks. Or on the other hand because
some outline of a Capital Letter which was obnoxious to them
had been introduced.
The small letter s which we have just examined has been the
sole basis for a decision between Sloping and Vertical Writing.
To judge any system of Handwriting by such insignificant tests
is both irrational and unkind.

Another vexed question to which we might refer is the vary-

ing heights of the long letters. be three

Shall there continue to
or four sizes of these long letters, or shall there be only one ?
Common sense, science and consistency would say only one, and
custom clenches the argument, for it will be found that in the
current hand of our every- day life all the lengths reduce them-
selves to one almost universal height. When this is so, where
is the necessity or advantage in teaching three different sizes?

Certainly the labour of teaching would be diminished if only

 SIZE, THICKNESS, CONTINUITY, ETC., OF WRITING 55

one height or length were maintained and that of itself would

be a much needed and heartily welcomed relief. In theory and

practice therefore one and only one height is recommended for

long and looped letters whether above or below the line.

all It

may not, and it is to be feared will not, be easy to attain this as

so many series of Headline Copy Books exist with diversified

heights, but if future compilers of such books and teachers of

writing would combine and co-operate there would be little diffi-

culty in bringing about the desired reformation.

In recapitulation, to sum up the essentials of an ideal hand-

writing that shall fulfil the requirements of Hygiene, the demands

of Caligraphic canons and the needs of a mixed community it has
been proved that such writing must be Upright, Continuous,
Simple and Plain, with short loops, and a minimum of thickness.
If such a style and system be generally adopted and taught

there will result a generation of writers wonderfully superior to

the present generation of scribblers whose penmanship will be
a credit instead of a disgrace to their country.

By minimum of thickness it must not be understood that

the very thin hair lines, quite impossible of reproduction with
a pen, are meant as head lines should present an imitation
or reproduction of actual pen writing. The very delicate
engraver's work proves discouraging to the pupil because
impossible of reproduction.
56 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING

CHAPTER V
HEADLINE OR BLANK COPY BOOKS WHICH?

THE subject of this Chapter is one of the first importance.

What kind of Copy Rooks
be employed ? Are they to be
shall

Blank copying books or are they to have engraved headlines ?

There is almost a consensus of opinion in favour of the latter, an
almost endless variety of Headline Copy-Books testifying to the

superiority which in the judgment of the great mass of teachers

is to be found in the books provided with these set copies, one or
more on each page. Nevertheless during the past few years an

agitation has been encouraged to establish the use of Blank Copy-

ing Books, and this agitation has been fanned and fostered by
certain officials in the Educational Sphere who shall be nameless.
The Theory
proposes that writing should be taught exclusively
from the Blackboard and that children should use plain-ruled
blank books instead of the Headline Copy Books hitherto in
"
vogue. Blank Copy Books and Blackboard Teac ir.g"
is the cry. Exception must at once be taken to this watchword
phrase as it is ambiguous and delusive, because it insinuates that

Blackboard teaching is as scarce an element in to-day's system

and practice as the Blank Copy Books are, which is contrary to
fact. Every teacher knows that Blackboard demonstration and illus-

tration are an essential factor in existing methods of teaching writing

with Headline Copy Books. Every Training College inculcates it.
Every Educational Manual imperatively prescribes it, and every
true teacher to the full extent of his ability and opportunity prac-
tises it. In this chapter we have not to consider the question of
Blackboard instruction at all, that having been settled by universal

consent long long ago, but we have to investigate the merits of

 HEADLINE OR BLANK COPY BOOKS WHICH? 57

Blank Copy Books as opposed to Headline Copy Books and to

answer the query with which this chapter began viz. "What kind :

"
of Copy Books shall be used ?
So far as can be gathered from external sources the chief if
not the only reason urged for the adoption of Blank Books is that
under existing conditions, where Headline Books are adopted, the
temptation to neglect Blackboard instruction is too strong for the
great body of overworked teachers, particularly assistant teachers,
to resist. It is said that with Headline Books the teacher is too
often satisfied with merely having the books distributed to the
class and after starting the pupils to their work leaving them to
their own devices and resources for the whole of the interval
devoted to writing.

(for the purpose of argument) that these premises

Assuming
.are true not certain that the conclusion is much to be deplored
it is

as thousands of teachers would not consider such a mode of

teaching as an unmitigated or serious evil. It is asserted more-

over that the only way to ensure faithful discharge of duty in

teaching writing is to provide nothing but blank Copy Books for

the scholars to write in. Assistants will then be compelled to utilize
the Blackboard (at least so far as to set the copies) and thus
children will have theimmense advantage of seeing the writing
actually produced, will observe the modes of junction and will also
witness the tracing of the several complexities of formation which
so painfully abound in our script alphabet (at any rate so far as
they choose to attend to it). Other reasons for the proposed sub-
stitution of Blank Copying-Books are however to be found and

will be fully discussed in the proper place. Meanwhile it will be

advisable to look a little more closely into this proposed security
against dereliction of duty on the part of the teacher, and into the
incalculable (!)
and otherwise unattainable benefit on the part of the
scholar. It certainly would seem to the ordinary intelligence that
ifany given teacher were either too indifferent or too busy to use
the Blackboard in class when enjoying the substantial aid of
Headline Copy Books, it will be still more unlikely or still more
impracticable for him when deprived of that aid and when
58 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
burdened with the extra duty of compiling, arranging, and setting
the copies himself. Surely it is difficult to conceive how when a
teacher through overwork is obliged to omit certain items, we are
to secure the performance of those items by increasing his work
and multiplying its details. Is it not reasonable to conclude that

the assistant who was previously content to allow his pupils to

imitate or parody the Copy Book headlines without note, comment
or reference to the Blackboard, as an effective adjunct to his

teaching, will be more than satisfied that his duty is performed to

the full when he has hastily or otherwise traced on that Black-
board the writing copy for the day ? Obviously there is not the
smallest inducement nor guarantee in the projected innovation that

any teacher will be one whit more conscientious or even puncti-

Blackboard demonstration, but there evidently are for
lious in his

many reasons positive and stronger temptations than before to

entirely disregard the responsibility.

But what of the benefit to the pupil in seeing the master (or

mistress) write the Copy on the Blackboard ? If there is any real

advantage in such a sight it is just as available and profitable in

conjunction with Headline Copy Books, and can therefore be

employed equally in both kinds of writing books. It is not diffi-

cult to show however that the total absence of this exaggerated

boon is hardly a material loss to the scholars. The argument on

these lines may therefore be summarily dismissed as being worth-

less inadvocating the claims of Blank Copying books.

If the new Candidate for public support be more particularly
examined the investigator is surprised at the number of objections
and defects which immediately start into view, any one of which
in itself is or ought to be sufficient to determine the issue.

IMPERFECT MODELS OR COPIES

Of course, and evidently, the first and one of the gravest

defects in Blank Copying Books is the absence of Perfect or
Accurate Copies and the presence of nothing save Imperfect and
Inaccurate Models. Pupils are to have plain-ruled books in
 HEADLINE OR BLANK COPY BOOKS -WHICH? $9

order to fill them up with approximate imitations of the defective

Blackboard models. They are never to see anything outside
these blank books but the very imperfect writing often indeed
little better than caricatures of their respective teachers. They
are never to see anything inside their books but their own faulty and
distorted outlines. Nothing from cover to cover but indifferent,
crude and in most instances wretchedly bad writing. Looking over
the pages of his book, as the pupil is sure to do again and again,
he sees no standard of perfection to counteract the demoralising
influence of a continual familiarity with that which is essentially
inferior and inevitably the writer's own Scrawl becomes his ideal
which the occasional glimpse of his teacher's flourishing on the
Blackboard, when setting the Copy, entirely fails to remove or
destroy. And when may we expect a child to rise above his
ideal ? A remarkable rejoinder is here met with. "
The boys or

"girls will be forced to look at theCopy on the Blackboard when

"writing in blank books. Whereas in Headline Copy Books
"pupils simply copy the Headline once and then -proceed to
"imitate their own handiwork, making mistakes, repeating them
"
and growing worse and worse until they reach the last line in
"
the page.* When they use blank books they cannot perpetrate this
"
abomination. In blank books the writing will improve line by
" line
down the page, and we thus get rid once and for ever of
"that annoyance to teachers which results in such disastrous
"
Scribble."
Is not this the ne plus ultra of nonsense or obtuseness ? How
shall we, how can we reply to these statements ? Is there any
conceivable cause why a lazy or stupid child, who will not take
the trouble to look at and try to imitate a headline under his very

eyes and only two or three inches from his pen, will exeit himself
still more energetically to refer to and try to imitate a copy ten to
twenty feet distant from him ? Is there not rather every reason

to conclude, that a page of blank book writing will, as it proceeds

downwards, deteriorate in a much greater degree than a page of
Headline writing, where the writer can hardly avoid looking at the
perfect model times and again whilst the lines are being written ?

*
Reproduction or imitation of pupil's own writing can be entirely overcome by
using the writing pads which are designed especially to overcome this and other diffi-
culties in teaching.
6O MANUA^ OF HANDWRITING
If it is proposed to supply a panacea for this disease of page
degeneration by withdrawing the only sentinel that keeps guard
over the page, by removing the only standard of comparison
contrast and appeal from every leaf of the Copybook, by getting
rid of the only check ever present check upon such deterio-
ration the remedy is worse than the disease and is devoid of the
most essential ingredient in such specific viz. a perfect Model to

Copy from.
However let us enquire what is offered by way of substitute
for this Perfect Model? What does the Blank Book System offer

in lieu of a perfectly engraved Headline? Blackboard Copies,

written, sketched, or scribbled by Principals, Assistants, Pupil
Teachers, and Monitors ! When it is an admitted fact that

about three-fourths of all the teachers in the United States are

really unable to write a creditable, much less a faultless, copy on

the Blackboard where are the specimens of good caligraphy to
come from *
? Until the System of Upright Penmanship becomes

general there will not be the remotest possibility of our teachers

becoming qualified Writing Masters. Why then agitate for the

impossible and expect from our teachers what they are utterly unable
to supply? No rational mind can imagine that the faulty copy
drawn in chalk on a Blackboard can or
will be accepted as an

adequate substitute for the carefully engraved copy in the

Headline Book. Scores, yea hundreds of these Blackboard

copies, written by every rank of teacher, have come undei our

observation, and we have no hesitation in saying that in the large
proportion of them no Inspector would pass them as fair. One
or two in every score might possibly approach to the regularity
and accuracy required in a writing Copy, but this proportion is
more fanciful than real. Is the principle underlying this inno-
vation tolerated in other branches of a schoo 1 curriculum ? I )o

we adorn the walls of our School-rooms with base parodies of

geographical, botanical, and zoological subjects liiiined by the
veriest tyros in art ?

Do we furnish art classes with drawing copies, or physiological

* See
note, p. 72.
 HEADLINE OR BLANK COPY BOOKS WHICH ? 6l

diagrams, roughly and hurriedly outlined by mere beginners or

untalented novices ? Never ! Do we not the rather take infinite

pains to secure the brightest, the truest, and the best maps,
diagrams, and illustrations which shall have been produced by
our finest experts or specialists in their respective departments?
Why then, in a subject that pertains to every man's daily life, is

itsuggested to offer nothing but second- or third-rate models, the

creations in great part of ignorant, inexperienced or unqualified
individuals for our children to imitate ? A system of this kind
will inevitably lower the standard of penmanship and begin a
decline in the art of caligraphy ;
for the removal of an established
and high standard, and the substitution of an imperfect and
inferior standard can only be followed by one result, and that a

fatally disastrous one.

Further, the advantage of seeing a Master (even a good writer)

write a copy on the blackboard almost purely chimerical, for
is

unless the line is a small hand copy the chalk will not and does
not make the strokes thin and thick to meet the exigencies of
the writing, and the strokes have to be painted or thickened by re-

peated applications of the crayon, which utterly destroys the analogy

between the two acts. Then the teacher does not hold the chalk
as the pupil holds the pen, nor does he write the Copy through
in the same way that they are instructed to do. He is
standing,
they are sitting ;
He writes or draws, erases, reproduces, repeats,

repairs, thickens and revises the whole after being once traced,
they are forbidden to do any of these things where is the
:

similarity or the help ? After the most elementary stages there

exists no necessity whatever for this particular kind of Blackboard
instruction It is not the setting of a Copy nor the seeing of a
Copy written that is needed, but explanation and illustration of
theCopy after it has been written. The Conclusion is irresistible

looking at the question from every standpoint ; that the absence of

a Perfect Model and the substitution of a .Hybrid having all

possible degrees of disparity to an artistic and scientific original,

must be fraught with consequences fatal to any satisfac-ory
development of the science and art of handwriting. Contrast the
62 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
projected state of things with that which obtains under the
Headline Copy Book System, where the highest possible standard
of engraved Models is aimed at by Publishers and Teachers alike,
and where a praiseworthy rivalry is perpetually evolving new sets
and series of fresh beauty or increased excellence, and there can
be but one opinion on the question. Quench this spirit of emula-
tion, withdraw from circulation every Headline Copy Book, throw
Teachers and scholars alike on the resources of Individual vari-
ation and Blackboard Standard, and the final decline of Penman-
ship, alltrue Handwriting, will have been inaugurated.

Irregular and Varying Models. Again it is not only that

these proposed Blackboard Copies are imperfect and defective,
they are also Irregular and Varying. The perpetual changes
that must occur in the style of the models set on the Blackboard
changes that in thousands of cases will not be yearly, or even
monthly but weekly and almost daily are objectionable and most
mischievous in their tendency. As an illustration let us glance at
the career of a Public School pupil under the regime of Blank

Copy Books, and in the hands of Blank Book advocates. The

lad enters Standard One, where he is taught the principles of for-

mation, and where his practical education consists in tracing or

imitating copies written on the Blackboard by his teacher. Cer-

tain elements of outline, slope, spacing and junction are learned,
but the lad never sees a perfect model of writing through the
whole year, and the models that he does see of necessity vary
repeatedly ;
sometimes carefully written, sometimes the contrary ;
sometimes one size, frequently a different size occasionally one
;

slope, generally some other slope ; possibly for accidents will

happen in the best regulated institutions on rare occasions no

copy at all and the be told to repeat the previous head-
class will

line, which they do, and to improve upon it which they as surely
do not On entering Standard Two where the teacher affects a
less sloping style of writing, the pupil is introduced into a new
world a world of round steep characters which require fresh
effort to appreciate and acquire ;
and an entirely different posture
of body and arm in its production. Surmounting the obstacles
 HEADLINE OR BLANK COPY BOOKS WHICH ? 63

thus thrown in his path by the System under examination, Standard

Three is entered where a continuous and very oblique style of

writing obtains. The pupil commences de novo so to speak his

instruction in Caligraphy, and by the end of the School-year has
attained to considerable proficiency in his new mode only to find
that when he reaches the Fourth Standard it is almost worse than
useless.

Writing here assumes quite a novel character, a kind of com-

posite or blend of several styles. The teacher has peculiar ideas
as to junction, length of loops, construction shape &c., all of
which the bewildered pupil is expected to rapidly absorb, assimi-
late and practise. Finally in the stages of the 5th 6th and yth
standards the hapless youth is treated to a series of contradictory

lessons, and conflicting directions, unaccompanied all through by

any perfect copies or examples which would serve as a standard
for reference, or a model for imitation. During all these years
the victim has never seen a specimen of perfect writing, and
the models that he has seen have varied repeatedly, sometimes

carefully written, sometimes otherwise ;

different teachers, vary-

ing and conflicting methods, diverse styles, unequal lengths of

loops, contradictory principles of and junction

construction !

the unhappy pupil is bewildered and overwhelmed in a sea of

such inconsistencies, his writing is cramped and weak, and most

probably ruined for all future time. Where, it may be asked,

in the whole domain of Education is there another such Comedy
of Errors as this of Blank Books, with their capricious and
protean Blackboard models ? Good writing is impossible under
such conditions. Irregular and varying models are an unmixed
evil altogether inadmissible as a medium or agent for the teaching
of writing.
On Copy Books the pupil is sup-
the contrary with Headline

plied with a progressive course of carefully engraved headlines

in a comprehensive series of Copy books, more than enough to

carry him through his entire writing career. All the Copies are
to one pattern ;
one idea, one principle, one style permeating and
governing the whole set. No variation or contradiction in size.
64 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
construction slope or quality, but a system of Penmanship that at
least is consistent with itself throughout.

Thus the child leaving standard, class, or form one, finds

nothing confusing in standard two, meets with everything agree-

able and helpful in class three, and to the highest form or division
in his school, is aided in his efforts to shine in caligraphy by a
series of perfect and unvarying models, uniform in their excellence

as they are scientific in their arrangement.

Ungraded Models. It will occur to the thoughtful reader

that Blackboard models will as a rule exhibit a sad lack in grada-
tion. Who is to see that the copies prescribed to the several

writing classes in our large Schools are properly graded, and

adapted to the powers and ability of the writers. It may be safely

presumed, that in an overwhelming proportion the copies will lie
unsuitable from defective progressive arrangement, and the ad-
vancement of the scholars will be retarded in a like ratio, as every

teacher will recognise. All true gradation will of necessity be

neglected, to the serious endamagement of the pupils, if that

gradation be left to the hap-hazard writing of Teachers on the

Blackboard.

Again the grading of copies as to size text, round or small

and the judicious blending of these sizes (a matter of no small

importance) can receive but scant recognition under the Blank

Book regulations. The rulings in the books, and the sizes on the
Black board will seldom harmonize ;
in short when it is remem-
bered that size, character, words and sentences have all to be
separately and independently graded in an appropriate and scien-
tific order, it would be worse than foolish to suppose this could be

achieved by indiscriminate and improvised copysetting on the

Blackboard by teachers, who generally speaking, would not have
devoted twominutes thought or preparation to their task.
Efficient grading of writing models demands a concentration of

attention,and an expenditure of time, that are simply beyond the

resources of any teacher during the busy hours of a day's routine.

Moreover, what can be done with personal or individual

grading in Blank book Classes? It is an unheard-of phenomenon
 HEADLINE OR BLANK COPY BOOKS WHICH ? 65

to have sixty or eighty pupils in a class all precisely at the same

stage, all gifted with the same receptive capacity, the same
mechanical skill, the same imitative ability. What can be done
when there is only one Copy for the whole form ? Necessarily
all must write whether they are able or not. For some the
it

Copy will be much too easy, for others about right, for the residue
much too difficult. As a rule teachers insist upon the value of
individual instruction ;
here the principle is and
grossly violated,
hence the class becomes completely disorganised and the writing
hour proves the most disagreeable and vexatious in the day.
Such a grievance cannot exist where headline books are employed.
Each pupil gets a book exactly suited to his own need, and when
finished the next is equally adapted to his peculiar requirements,
or, if dictated by expediency, the same book can be repeated.
Ungraded models may be considered as an insuperable
fairly
obstacle to the reception of the Blank Book system, as propounded

by its advocates.

Temporary or Transient Models. In addition to the

foregoing another obstruction perplexes the enquirer, when the
still

Temporary or Transient nature of Blackboard Models is con-

sidered.* They are here one hour and gone the next, evanescent

as a dream they are gone in the twinkling of an eye. They have

no permanence consequently all opportunity of reference and
;

comparison has vanished with them.

Reasoning again by analogy, our maps, diagrams and illustra-

tions preach to our children"All the year round," teaching,

educating, and speaking their history every hour and every day
to their juvenile beholders they are not relegated to the shelves
:

or oblivion of a locked -up store room, but they are on exhibition

always and ever.

Similarly ought the Headlines and Perfect Copies to be per-
petually speaking from the pages of the books and from the walls
of the schoolroom to the pupils from the engraved copies in
:

the former and from the enlarged Alphabet Diagrams on the latter.
It is by the daily and oft
repeated sight of these Headlines
that children derive their only mental perception and conception
F
66 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
of the true outlinesand proportions of the letters they have to re-
produce so frequently and thus their appreciation grows until an
;

accurate knowledge is attained, that imparts cunning to the hand,

that guides the fingers in their caligraphic evolutions, and dictates
the grace and elegance that find expression in a style of hand-

writing, that is as beautiful as it is

legible.
For other cogent reasons it is expedient that the copies or
models should be permanent. It will be found that the members
of a class write at different rates, and some will have finished the
page (or the line) long before their fellows.
Certainly the quick writers can proceed to a second copy, but
this would create another evil very widely condemned but alas too

often practised, viz., writing one and the same copy for too long a

time. Then with large classes how impossible to efficiently correct

each book in the one lesson. Consequently, the Master in making
his rounds is unable to correct any back work even by comparison
with his own imperfect Blackboard copy, thus his correction is

robbed of half its value.

But further these corrections even in the best conditions, are

wonderfully depreciated by the consideration, that in all subsequent

time they will be comparatively meaningless.
A pupil looking over his book sees certain marks on various
letters in the back pages. They are almost absolutely useless to
him as he forgets the signification of the marks, and has no per-
manent model to refresh his memory, or to give him the clue.

A reply to this may be that the Master can re-write the Copy
on the Blackboard. Precisely so. That is possible, but such an
act requires time and labour, and multiplies details to an extent
simply intolerable. One is inclined to predict that as the subject
receives more careful attention, teachers will conclude, that the

absence of permanent models constitutes an objection to the System

of Blank Copy Books which is fatal to its success or survival.

Amongst the minor objections to this scheme may be noticed

the promiscuous character of the subject matter in Blackboard

Copies. They change with every variation in the Teacher's mood ;

trivial, insipid, dull, dry, appropriate or the reverse. This is not

 IIKADLlNli OR BLANK COPY BOOKS WHICH? 67

an inseparable or necessarily an inherent defect of the system, hut

under the existing state of things we fear it is an inevitable one.
For it is impossible to conceive that Head, Assistant, and Pupil
Teachers shall be able to compile or write off hand series of

Educative and Consecutive headlines. We would not unduly

press this point of heterogeneous headlines, but no set of copy
books would secure any approval were this principle
in these days

ignored, as must generally be the case with Blackboard Copies so ;

that the importance and principle of such sequential and assorted

headlines are satisfactorily established by universal consent and

practice.
A second minor difficulty is the position of the Blackboard in
relation to the several pupils in the class. It is a fact that in

many schools the light is bad, and where it is good, myopia or

shortsight, that obtains so generally amongst schoolchildren, will
involve us in the same embarrassment. What shall be done with
these shortsighted pupils that are always to be found in every
standard of an elementary School ? They are at a grave dis-

advantage unless special provision be made for them.

Then if they are placed in the front desks, and the Blackboard
is brought nearer in order to accommodate them, those in the
wings will have imperfect and one-sided views of the Copy that
will render it practically worthless.
Short-sighted pupils render Blank Books with exclusive Black-
board teaching very unsatisfactory if not prohibitory.
A different class of objections to this Theory may now be
examined, and in order to discuss them we will assume that the

Uniform Models,
classes are always supplied with Perfect Models,

Graded Models, and Suitable Models, so arranged that every writer

in the Class commands a perfect view of the same
(all of which
we have seen the System
essentials as utterly fails to provide).
However taking these points as settled it is asked, How will the

change now proposed by these Blank- Book-Theorists affect our

Teachers? For good or evil? We think the latter and for
substantial reasons. On the ground first that it involves too
great a loss of time, or it necessitates too great a sacrifice of time.
F2
68 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
The setting of appropriate and faultless copies on the Blackboard

every day is an additional burden top hard to be borne. If such

an infliction were imperative it would end in setting most hurried
and inferior copies, and in frequent undesirable repetitions of the

same copy, the writing thus degenerating to an alarming degree.

Not only will it thus hamper our already restricted action and
further weaken our already impaired teaching power, but its effect
in large schools will be both unequal and oppressive, for usually
there are some of the teachers who cannot write a copy sufficiently
excellent to serve as a model, hence the strain upon the best
writers will prove not only burdensome but conducive to no small

amount of irritation, or at least to anything but good feeling and

harmonious co-operation. On the other hand the pupils them-
selves are seriously endamaged by this plan of Blank Book
writing. Can juveniles imitate a copy on the Black Board at a

distance of from twelve to thirty feet as readily, easily, and as

perfectly, as they
can a copy not three inches from their penpoint?
No one will deny that it is very much easier to fac-simile a

writing or drawing copy from the book, size for size, than to imitate

by reducing the large sized copies on a blackboard at a consider-

able distance from the pupil. Consequently the Minimum of Imi-

tation is a feature peculiar to the Blank Book System and it is no
answer to say that this Black Board work will help the pupil in Draw-
ing. Writing is of too great importance to take the Subordinate-
position of handmaid to Drawing. Quite the reverse. Drawing
is admittedly the handmaid to writing and will take care of
itself.

The difficulties thus thrown in the way of young beginners

undoubtedly protract the final issue by retarding the pupils'

progress. Possibly the opponents of Headline Copy Books have

overlooked the great loss of time to the children that ensues from
the adoption of Blank Books. With conscientious pupils this loss
is serious indeed and with careless children the loss, though in a

different way, is greater still. An honest child will repeatedly and

continually stop to look at his Blackboard Copy, his rate of pro-

gress is therefore relatively abnormally slow. A heedless child by

 HEADLINE OR BLANK COPY BOOKS WHICH ? 69
contrast will hardly ever look at the Copy at all, and its progress
will necessarily be a minimum.
A very irritating accompaniment to the scheme is the per-
petual movement of the heads (too often of the bodies also) of
the writers as they look up at their distant copy. The temptation
to look at one another is alas often too strong to be always

successfully resisted, and instead of a quiet and uniform attention

to their Copy Books, as is the case with engraved Headlines, there
is a continual motion of heads going on all over the Class causing

shakings of the desk and grumblings from the writers, who are
disturbed thereby. Disorder is both produced and encouraged
by the practice of Blank Book writing.
Lastly the influence of blank Copy Books upon a chss is very
disheartening. Nothing to relieve the monotony of the outlook,
or inlook either for that matter. No fresh or higher number of
Headline Copy Book to anticipate, with its interesting collection
of instructive sentences, its elegant capitals, and its modified
style to stimulate the pupils ! What a valuable element of emu-
lative Education is thus lost entirely.

Summarising these defects of the Blank Book System we

observe that
1. It presents Imperfect Models for imitation.

2. It possesses nothing but Irregular and Varying Models

which preclude any consistent system of Penmanship.
3. It can only produce Ungraded Models so that the
essential element of General Gradation is both ignored and
'

neglected.
4. It also offers Transient Models, thus rendering all true
Correction uncertain or impossible often the latter.

5. It can only give Promiscuous Models which in the

majority of instances are both inappropriate and non-educative.

6. It entirely lacks all Individual Grading so essential to
real and rapid progress.
7. It fails to provide for short-sighted pupils.
8. It involves much loss of time to and imposes much
unnecessary work upon the Teacher.
7O MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
9. It causes irreparable loss of time to the pupils.
10. Itpossesses the
'

Minimum
of Imitation."
IT. It yields the minimum of Interest, Attraction, or Stimula-
tive power to the pupils.

Surveying this formidable array of faults and defects if must

be granted that Blank Books can boast of little that is good, and
of nothing at all that can by any stretch of the imagination be
considered superior to Headline Copy Books, more particularly
when it is found impossible to flank it with any similar list of

compensating advantages.
Since writing this chapter a somewhat profuse correspondence
with the advocates of Blank books has eliminated all that can be

said in favour of the system. Most of the arguments have already

been fully met and confuted in the preceding pages, but the
following four points seem to call for special remark.
" All
1. the children are at the same copy at the same time."
" No blank leaves to fill
2. from absence."
3. "Absentees do not fall out of the running and thus have
"not to work at different copies, scattering energy of the teacher
"who is
compelled to resort to individual correction."
u
4. Blank books allow of Class teaching from Blackboard."
Of these points No. i has already been discussed and shown
to be undesirable and (detrimental to true progress. Number 2 is

beautifully simple and innocent, indeed mysteriously so. The

writer of such a statement must see that the argument is more,
much more, favourable to Headline than to Blank Copy Books.
One illustration will suffice for points 2 and 3. Two children are
absent from School say for a month, and return to their respective

writing classes, one of which is taught on the Blank System the

other on the Headline System. A, enters the first to find that his

schoolfellows have written from eight to a dozen copies in his

absence, that they have received 8 to 12 lessons in the same period,

an 1 that therefore both in theory and practice they are far ahead
of him. He is left hopelessly in the rear, despairingly in the
lurch. We are told he has no blank pages to fill
up aside we
in ^ht suggest he never has anything else to do but it must be
 HEADLINE OR BLANK COPY BOOKS WHICH ? 71

asked what about the pages and lessons he has missed ? Is it

not obvious that this Blank Book victim is quite out of the

running, that he will perforce have to work at the same copy as

the rest of the class when he is admittedly unfit for and unable to

do it? What about the individual attention rendered necessary

if this returned absentee is to get any justice at all in his writing

class ?

His schoolfellow B, on the other hand enters the " Headline

"

class at the same time and under the same conditions. But what
a contrast ! Here also the pupils have written the same number of
copies and received the same number of lessons, but that does not
affect our friend. His book is opened and he commences just
where he Every individual member of his class is an
left off.

independent member, each pupil working at that exact stage most

and best adapted to his personal ability, and therefore he resumes
his labours under the very minimum of disadvantage, conscious
that he can proceed with his copy as satisfactorily as before his

absence, and with no despondent reference to his class-mates. He

feels he is not out of the running, and the teacher knows it, for

there are no lapsed copies and lessons which he can never overtake.
Blank books are certainly inferior to Headline Copy Books in
this comparison.
Lastly as to No. 4 it is somewhat difficult to understand its

drift. "Blank Bcoks allowof class teaching"! Of

course they' do, but are we to understand by implication that
Headline Books do not allow of Class Teaching ? It has been
shown that they not only permit, but that they require and demand
itequally with Blank or any other kind of Writing Copy Books.
If the objector does not see "how the Black Board can be used"

with advantage to illustrate ard demonstrate principles to writers

in Headline Copy Books just as well as to writers in Blank Books
or for the matter of that to writers on slates also anything that
has been said or could be said in that direction would be powerless
to convince him.
It is a palpable delusion to imagine that Black Board demon-
stration is only useful when every member of the class is engaged
72 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
in writing exactly the same copy, word, or letter. One may take

twenty different headlines, say of small hand, and there will hardly
be a single copy amongst them that is not composed of elements
common to all.

Finally the practical use to be made of the Black Board as a

medium for instruction in writing when Headline Books are used,
is identically and precisely the same that a Blank Book advocate
Vvould make of it AFTER he had written the copy, viz. to illustrate
or explain any point of difficulty principle or mistake, that might
arise in the day's teaching.

Indeed such is the preponderating weight of evidence in sup-

port of Headline Copy Books, and so slender flimsy and untenable

all the arguments for Blank Copy Books, as to render the use of
the latter a matter of personal pressure, accidental impulse,
inclination to novelty, or of vested interests.
Isolated cases may occur and particular individuals may
possibly secure good Blank Book results by means of that devotion
and abnormal expenditure of labour and zeal which hobby- ride r s
so generously and so generally indulge in, but it is vain to expect
that the tens of thousands of our teachers will accept a system
which literally bristles with anomalies, difficulties and defects.
It may be words of a zealous defender of Blank
that, in the
" " Headline
Books, The day of Headline Books is past" Copy !

" "
"Books are obsolete !! Headline Copy Books are virtually a

"thing of the Past"!!! It may be so, but appearances are

against it, facts disprove it, and logic derides it, and it must be

asserted with the calmest deliberation that on all counts, in all

aspects and unanimously and unreservedly

respects the verdict is

against and opposed to the introduction of any System of Blank

Copy Books for the teaching of writing in our Elementary and
Secondary Schools.

NOTE Lest the assertion on page 60 reflecting on the

:

quality of the writing of our teachers be considered exagger-

ated or unfounded I here reproduce some extracts just taken
from the Blue Books of current and recent years, in refer-
ence to handwriting in England.
 HEADLINE OR BLANK COPY BOOKS WHICH ! 73

"The writing of the pupil teachers is generally poor" (Her

"
Majesty's Inspector). This latter remark I would specially
emphasize in the case of my own disifict, to which I attribute a

good deal of the poor handwriting that exists in its schools"

(Chief Inspector, p. 308).

"The assistants are too frequently unable to set a proper
"
copy on the blackboard (p. 16).
" Teachers cannot
always write well themselves" (p. 18),
and as to the caligraphy of our Students in Training for teachers
we read :

"Handwriting is
becoming worse every year" (Report on
Training Colleges, p. 450).
These statements surely justify every word in the paragraph
referred coming
to, as they do from those who are best able to

form a judgment on the question.

74 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING

CHAPTER VI
DESKS SLATES BOOKS Pl'NS INK ETC.

WHAT Desk do you use ? How does it answer? Is it adjustable,

rigid, durable, reliable, convenient and efficient?
Again and
again are the changes rung on these questions yet how seldom
are the answers satisfactory. The desk is the most essential,
expensive and important article of furniture connected with the
art of writing. Upon the correct and hygienic construction of the
desk depend almost vital issues, not solely with regard to the
caligraphy, but more specifically to the health and well-being of
the writers. Human skill and ingenuity have been lavished upon
these articles to render them as perfect as the most stringent
demands could require. On the continent, where the interest

excited has been of the deepest character, Doctors of Philosophy

and of Medicine have vied with each other in efforts to evolve

the most perfect and effective desk possible for school use. The
almost unanimous verdict is in favour of a low desk that shall

permit the arms of the writer to rest naturally thereon, when he is

sitting erect, without either raising or depressing the shoulders,
and although this end is seldom actually and individually
attained in large schools can be approximated to very nearly.
it

These low desks about which there has been, and still continues,
such a fever of excitement have not had a sufficiently long test to

prove them to be altogether advantageous and superior to those

that are higher. It is still a moot question whether the support

which the writer receives from the back rest is superior to the rest

afforded by the arms when they are placed upon the desk to

counterbalance the weight of the body as it is inclined forward in

the act of writing. The great weight of evidence nevertheless is in

 DESKS SLATES 1JOOKS PENS INK ETC. /5

favour of the Back rest and it is more than probable that tests and

time confirm the judgment, and that the low desks will entirely
will

supersede those at present in use.

When we come to speak of the slope of the desk fewer
difficulties meet us, and the case is capable of very easy settle-
ment, although the best precise angle has not been definitely
fixed.

Two or three degrees in either direction can hardly make

much difference and as writers on the subject vary between 10
and 15 of slope, teachers cannot go far wrong within these
extremes.
If the erect posture of the writer is to be maintained 12 or 13
degrees would seem to be the Hygienically superior slope to
observe.
The 3 or 4 inches of flat surface beyond the slanting portion
should be provided with a pen groove, and with holes at convenient
distances for the inkwells, which should be protected from dust by

sliding metal covers sunk flush with the desk. For junior pupils
the desks should not be more than ten inches broad, for seniors

they may be eleven or twelve independent of the flat ridge.

A narrow seat is an instrument of torture and should not be
permitted, some we have seen being not more than six inches
broad. The width should not be less than ten inches and may be
increased to twelve with advantage and benefit. If the form be
hollowed out along somewhat near the back it will tend to prevent

slipping, and will yield a more comfortable seat. Care must be

taken that the hollowing out is not made too deep, or the writer
will be thrown backwards too far off the perpendicular. Of course
the introduction of the low desks will render lockers and partitions
forbooks running underneath a matter of impossibility. A ledge
should therefore run under the seat, which, whilst not nearly so
convenient, will still provide some accommodation for the pupils'
books.
Whether single, dual or longer desks are employed is matter
for individual preference or financial consideration, but all desks
should possess the following essential features: a smooth and
76 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
sufficiently broad writing surface, adjustable action (both simple
safe and strong), a workable angle of slope, rigidity, foot rails,

good broad seats hollowed out and furnished with back rests, an
ample supply of inkwells covered when not in use and shelves
for books.

With a desk and seat fulfilling all these requirements the

writing of the children might reasonably be expected to answer

and respond to the most rigid demands of the severest criticism
or Inspectorial examination.
Slates ! Shall slates be used at all in our Schools ? Are they
desirable aids to Education, are they helps, material helps in the
formation of a good handwriting ? Hygiene and Optics reply to
" "
the first query and say Certainly not Slates are dirty and dan-
!

gerous as well as injurious. Discipline chimes in and denounces

them noisy and troublesome.
as But, paper is expensive !

Granted, it will cost a little more money than our old friends the

slates the gain however in Discipline or order Cleanliness, Health,

:

Neatness, and Improvement in writing will prove to be more than

a compensating benefit and blessing. The exclusive use of paper
isstrongly recommended, as being not only highly superior from
an Educational Standpoint, but all things considered ultimately
more economical. Where slates are used they should be of a good
size, framed, strengthened at the corners, and ruled on one side.
They must never be allowed to get dirty and greasy as the writing
on them is then not only difficult but almost illegible, by reason
of its faintness, and it
may be predicated that much of the injury
to sight is caused or intensified by slate writing.

Indeed with the best of slates the ratio of visibility as com-

pared with ink writing or pencil writing on paper is as 3 to 4.
How much tess this will be with dirty and greasy slates can easily
be imagined. White slates are much to be preferred to black
ones. simply cruelty to insist upon children writing on these
It is

black and greasy slates in a room imperfectly lighted and (as in

numerous instances) with the light at their backs. Then in how
many cases are the pencils simply stumpy ends, hardly long enough
to be held in the tiny fingers. This evil must be remedied and
 DESKS SLATES BOOKS PENS INK ETC. 77

holders provided or new pencils supplied. Lastly, soft slate pencils

are the best, if hard and gritty they scratch and destroy the
surface of the slate, thus making an inherently bad article still

worse.
When our Educational Authorities wake up to a sense of their
details of School Life and
responsibilities, all such important

Experience, as these now under discussion, will be thoroughly

investigated decided upon and Reformed.*

Of course the objections to slates have not all been mentioned.
The mode, the general if not virtually the universal mode of

cleaning ! the slates constitutes in our opinion a valid reason

for their abandonment. Who that has witnessed the proceedings

in an arithmetic class where slates are being used can entertain

any doubts on the question ? Get rid of slates and you get rid of
the dirtiest and most demoralizing habits that are born and bred
in the Schoolroom. It is not decent to retain them, it is not safe,
it is not wise.
Let them go, few will be found to mourn their loss.
Books. In the matter of Books their character as to Head-
lines has already been examined. There are other considerations
to which attention may be directed. And first as to paper. It is
a false economy to have inferior paper. Such a thing as Educat-
ing Downwards does unhappily exist and to true teachers this is a

calamity, a deplorable calamity, ever to be shunned.

Competition fortunately cuts out from the market defective
paper, and it is cause for congratulation that the School Boards
generally set such a worthy example in the question by insist-
ing on a certain (and certainly good) quality of paper in all
contracts for Writing Copy Books. Poor thin paper is no longer
a recognised entity, and as a rule Copy Books are now unex-

ceptionable in this respect, those that are not will soon possess
only a past history.
The Shape of the Copy Book is an interesting topic to
examine. Shapes vary (Fig. 24), and so do sizes very considerably.

The Sizes of Books differ so very much that we give the extreme
dimensions between which there is every possible variety. One
* "
Jolly's Education in its Physical Relations" gives very clear and sensible direc-
tions on these points.
7# MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
of the largest will measure TO inches by 8 whilst the smallest is 7

by 4, or 80 square inches and 28 sq. in. Some are Square as

No. i, and some oblong, the latter having two kinds, those which
are longer horizontally (as No 2), and those which are longer
in the Vertical direction as No. 3.

No. i No. 3

J
FIG. 24.

Germany and Austria, where these and similar points are

In

professionally and exhaustively discussed, a very strong movement

has set in opposing shapes Nos. i and 2 and approving of style 3.

Many critical and clever essays have been written on the question
and after careful study of the arguments it is almost impossible to
resist the conclusion that the advocates of short lines or narrow

Copy Books have the best of it.

Correspondence forms one of
the most common and largest classes of
penmanship (Commercial
and Professional). found that small, medium and larg^
It is

si/ed note papers are the most convenient and practically useful
sixes and shapes for letter writing. On this ground it is
surely

expedient to assimilate as far as possible to common usage in our

School practice. Indeed most
books such as Day Books,
office

Journals, Ledgers, Cash Books, &c. take the same form and arc
narrow from left to right, and long from base to top. It is evident

therefore that by using Copy Books of an entirely different shape

with juveniles an unfair strain is put upon the pupils at a time
when they are least able to bear it, and that we are exacting from

them a task which both unnecessary and inexpedient.

is But

again, it is found by medical men, Oculists, that as the writing

recedes to the right it becomes injurious to the eyes, and that the

only remedy for this danger is to use narrow books, and preserve

what will subsequently be described as the middle straight

position.
It has been advanced as an argument for the Long-line Copy
Books, that there is a not inconsiderable advantage in the
 DESKS SLATES HOOKS PENS INK ETC. 79

superiority of the Headlines greater facility being afforded for

:

Educative copies than is possible with narrow books. But in

reply can we not make the short copies quite as suggestive as the

longer ones are explicit, so as to reduce the difference to an

insignificant compass and secondly, does not the disadvantage
;

peculiar to the long copies of being detrimental to eyesight more

than counterbalance any slight benefit such as the one just
described?
It is strongly recommended that no Copy Book Headline
exceed seven and a half inches in length, and that this size be
used alternately with another, of say five or five and a half inches.
Such a width would bring the work of the pupil well within the
circle of vision that oculists inform us is a healthy limit, their

decision of cour>e, on matters pertaining purely to eyesight, being

of the utmost value and authority.- The narrow books (or short
line books) are being rapidly adopted on the Continent, and it

may be surmised that it is only a quesiicn of time and that not

far distant when the very large books will have entirely disappeared.
Whether our English Teachers will easily become converts to the

New Shape remains to be seen. It is be hoped that any real

to

advance, however small it may be, will immediately be appropriated

by the English profession, although we are proverbially slow to
appreciate and still slower to adopt substantial reforms in whatever
direction they may be made.
Ink. Although usually regarded as a minor point of little or
no importance the kind of ink that is used in School writing will
be found to materially affect the welfare of the classes. Even when
good desks and seats, good light, paper, and pens are all given
to write with, a thin pale ink proves very distressing especially

with young people. What it must be, how much more aggrava-
ting, where the desks are not commodious, the light is inferior,
the paper thin and the pens bad we cannot say and would
rather not imagine. The consequences under such conditions
must be serious. Who does not recall with feelings akin to

produce decent specimens of rali-

disgust his futile struggles to

graphy at school when using ink that was best described as sooty
 8O MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
and greasy water ? The ink used in schools should not be
chemical, i.e. writing faint and turning dark afterwards, but it

should be of an intense blackness, so that the writing is plainly

visible, as it is being traced on the paper, without straining the

sight. Excellent school inks at very moderate cost and to which

no exception can be taken are now manufactured by many makers
in all parts of the world.

Pens. Only a word is

necessary with reference to pens and
penholders. The market is glutted with an abundance of nibs

many of them utterly unfit for use, being made of poor metal and
furthermore badly finished. Good durable pens will always prove
the cheapest and best ;
so-called cheap pens are invariably the

dearest and most unsatisfactory, as the constant changing of nibs

that is required creates much disorder and loses much valuable
time. Nothing disheartens a <:hiid more than to write with a
"
"scratchy" or Bad Pen." Lei teachers see to it that no scholar
has such an excuse for the " Bad Writing" that always follows in
its train. Fancy and fanciful penholders are undesirable and use-
less. The plainer and simpler the holder is the better. We
have yet to see steel-tipped holders, a contrivance which by pre-
venting nibbling and gnawing of the tops so widely practised in

our schools would be as beneficial to the pupils as economical for

the management. As to length the penholders should not exceed
sixinches nor fall below five and a half and they should not be
thinner than an ordinary lead pencil, the thickness varying with
the size of the hand 01 writer. To employ a thin holder is con-
sidered a dangerous practice, as much writing therewith will induce

spasmodic tightening of the grasp and thus favour the habitual

contraction of the muscles which causes writer's cramp.

Blotting Paper. Blotting paper is essential to and a de-

sideratum in every writing class It is difficult to understand why
many teachers forbid its use and discountenance its
very presence.
For cleanliness utility and saving of time blotting paper is invalu-
able. When a page is finished much time will perforce be wasted
if blotting paper not forthcoming, and during the waiting
is
(or
wasting) time thus entailed temptation tc talking and disorder is
 DESKS SLATES BOOKS PENS INK ETC. 81

terribly strong. It is also equally imperative that the copy books

be kept as clean as possible. How is this to be done if there is

no blotting paper on the page for the hand to rest upon ? Chil-
dren do not enter their classes with clean hands as a rule (unfortu-

nately the reverse is generally the case) and the unavoidable

consequence is that the copy books bear very objectionable
evidence of these dirty fingers from the first page to the very last.
Besides this the surface of the paper is almost destroyed for

writing purposes by the grease and heat from the hand if no

blotting paper is allowed. Lastly on this point, in all good offices

the usage is to have blotting paper undr the hand (and at
hand) in every kind of writing, and if it is thus found to be
requisite for adults how much more necessary is it with juveniles.
A word as to the mode or modes generally adopted for clean-

ing the pens. In numerous schools the pens are never cleaned
at all, in others they are cleaned by processed as manifold as they

and in some few establishments penwipers are

are objectionable,

used and the pens are cleaned as they ought to be, daily and
effectively.
Of course teachers should aim at inculcating habits of neatness
and cleanliness, and in the Writing Class these habits may receive
material strengthening and stimulating by the mode of pen-clean-

ing that shall prevail. It will not always be possible in

elementary
schools, but if penwipers could be introduced generally, much
that is slovenly and dirty would disappear from our classes
82 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING

CHAPTER VII

POSITIONS OF WRITKk HOOK AND PEN

THE Hygienic demands upon the teacher with respect to the

teaching of Handwriting have already been fully established. The
obligation cannot be evaded, for as we have seen in Chapter II. the
posture in writing is a matter of the highest importance, and we
must add of vital consequence. Moreover it must be understood
here at the very outset that we tolerate no compromise with half

measures or superficial treatment. The question is too grave to

be tampered with, and no honest mind after reading the reports
of medical men, who have given this special subject their most
earnest attention, can remain indifferent to its claims.
Ever since the incursion of Slope have its followers been

trying but in vain to find and fix the best posture of the body
in the act of writing. Every conceivable attitude, from the
extreme right side to an equally extreme left side position, has
been in turn tried, advised, and ultimately abandoned, the be-
wildered experimentalists in despair giving it up and crying out
with a last gasp "Sit as you like, everybody to his own fancy. It
" doesn't matter how you sit.'
;
Teachers have indeed been heard to

say, (did I say teachers ? I will add eminent Educationists have

"
declared, even in print) that rules for posture in writing are absurd.
"
Every writer should find his own easiest position, hold the pen as
"
he feels best he can, and move or tilt his book to suit his own
" convenience." This is after all not a bit surprising, for there are
no lengths to which " Slopers will not go to justify the obliquity
"

"
of their penmanship and so when
: Sit up straight to the right,"

"Sit up straight to the left," and all the intermediate degrees of

twist and erectness have been exhausted to no avail the only

 POSITIONS OF WRITER BOOK AND PEN 83

safety is in pooh-poohing the necessity of any rule at all. Hence

we have had the convenient "carte blanche" system insisted

upon for years by numerous exponents of the cahgraphic art,

scattering dismay through the ranks of all law-abiding teachers,

and destruction through the masses of victimised pupils, whose
misfortune it has been to come under their jurisdiction. This

trilling with serious matters is not to be tolerated, it is unique in

the whole range of Instruction and Education. In no other
domain of Literature Science or Art is such a state of things
permitted or even mooted.
Robust bodies and reckless minds may ignore and even deny
the evil effects of bad postures, but in these days it can only be
at the sacrifice of either veracity or prestige.

The straight upright position of the body then must be insisted

upon, the arms of the writer being freely and equally placed on
the desk at what distance from the sides the elbows are to be,

will be regulated by the relative heights of the desk and seat the
lefthand steadying the book or paper in use. Every advantage
must be taken of the back-rest (where it
exists) as it is calculated
not only to yield support and diminish or prevent weariness, but
also to impart confidence to the writer and strength to the writing.

Make the posture as natural and easy as possible, and the healthier
it is, the better for both writer and writing. The head should not
remain stiffly erect in a constrained manner, but should incline

forward sufficiently to command" the most perfect view of the

writing, the feet being supported on a footrail or drawn up some-
what under the body.
Crossing the legs or sprawling them about is both undesirable,
and injurious to the cause of good writing.
In the act of writing the body should be well braced up and
held together la/iness and looseness of posture beget looseness
;

and slovenliness in the caligraphy. A distance of from twelve to

twenty inches or even more will thus be maintained between the

eyes and the book, varying of course in accordance with the

heights of the writer and of the desk.
If the opinions concerning bodily posture in writing have been
O 2
84 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
countless and conflicting, equally so do we find them in the matter
of position of the Copy Book. Nothing definite or determined
has been arrived at amongst the advocates of Sloping Writing, but
in striking contrast to all this uncertainty we have with Vertical or

Hygienic writing but one possible position, and that is the straight
middle position.
To Dr. Paul Schubert, the eminent oculist of Niirnberg,

belongs the honour of triumphantly demonstrating by numerous

measurements and observations the only practicable and truly
Hygienic position of the Copy book. The results of his able and
exhaustive experiments are given in the Journal of School Hygiene

1889, from which we quote largely in the following arguments.

The question as to what position of the Copy Book is
hygieni
cally the best and least
dangerous column and eye
to the spinal

of the writing child has for many years been occupying the minds
of teachers.
We have at the outset to distinguish between a middle posi-
tion and a right position of the Copy Book according as the

latter, in the writing, lies exactly in front of the middle of the

body, or to the right of it.

Left positions do not concern us in right-handed penmanship.
Further we must make a distinction between straight and

slanting positions of theCopy Book, according as its edges have

or have not the same direction as the edge of the desk.
In our right-sloping caligraphy oblique position consists

exclusively in making the upper edge of the Copy Book revolve

towards the left.

There are accordingly four positions to be considered Straight

and Oblique Middle positions, and Straight and Oblique Right

positions. Each of these stands in closest relation to direction of

writing.
In the Straight Middle Position only Vertical Writing can
be produced, in the other three positions only the ordinary

Sloping Writing.
from the point of the writing pen a line is drawn towards
If

the middle of the breast and termed the line of direction of

 POSITIONS OF VVKITKK HOOK AND TEN 85

the last written downstroke, then for all four positions of the

Copy Book the proposition holds good that downstroke and

line of direction approximately coincide. This relation can be
confirmed by measurement in every School, where the children
write without being subject to influence or constraint. Ex-

periments made by Dr. Schubert with 316 Scholars embracing

some 1586 measurements fully supported this hypothesis. It

would lead too far to pursue in detail the process of movement in

writing, in order to explain the agreement of the downstrokes with

their lines of direction in every position of the Copy Book.
Suffice it to say that the relation put forward is abundantly

approved. Since therefore in Middle position the downstrokes

stand perpendicular to the edge of the desk, they will stand

perpendicular also to the edge of the Copy Book and to the

writing line if the Copy Book is placed straight.

If however the latter be turned with its upper edge towards
the left, the writing lines rise from left (below) to right (above) but
the downstrokes remain as before perpendicular to the edge of
the desk, hence they come to stand in a right oblique position as

regards the writing line, and their obliquity depends on the degree
of the turning of the Copy: we repeat consequently that Vertical

Writing only can be writtQp in Straight Middle Position, and

Sloping Writing only in the oblique. In all right positions the
downstrokes like their lines of direction stand right oblique to the
edge of the desk. If now the edge of the Copy Book is parallel
to the latter the letters stand just as oblique to the writing line

also. Should the Copy Book be turned towards the left the incli-

nation of the down strokes towards the writing line increases. But
never in right position can vertical writing be produced ;
for to

attain this object, the Copy Book would have to be turned in the

direction in which the hands of a watch move, so that the lines

would run from left above to right below. To write in this way is

impossible.
Consequently in straight and oblique right positions, only
sloping writing can be produced.
From this standpoint we then advance to the principal ques-
86 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
tion viz. in which position of the Copy Book does the child adopt
the best bodily posture, endangering or unduly burdening no

organ? The most gratifying unanimity prevails with the whole

body of investigators on the fact, that all right positions of the

Copy Book are thoroughly injurious and utterly to be rejected.

For They compel the head to turn to the right, the
:

shoulders follow more or less, the right arm slips on the desk to the

right and to a certain degree downwards, the left arm is pushed

up causing the shoulder to rise, the right sinks, the spinal column
loses upright posture and assumes a bending towards the left,
its

the body to which this wearisome distortion becomes in the long

run uncomfortable collapses more and more, the lateral bending
is accompanied by a similar one forward, and the head, approaching
the writing in a way extremely threatening for the eye, even sinks
down upon the arm which is pushed before the middle of the
left

body.
Beginnings of this bodily distortion are found in every child
who adopts the right position of Copy Book, and in the majority
of cases the result is really wonderfully Cramped postures, on which
the stamp of danger to health is
unmistakeably imprinted.
There are two organs in particular which are distressed by this,
the Spinal Column and the eye, as we have seen in a previous

chapter, for according to Dr. A. Baginsky amongst 1000 cases of

crooked growth 887 or 887 per cent, took their rise between the

ages of six and fourteen.

Dr. Mayer found that the faulty posture of

body, most frequently observed in the case of children writing with

right position of Copy Book, exactly corresponded to the permanent

distortions which were most common in those very school classes,
viz. the C-shaped bend of the whole spinal column towards the
left.
"
Dr. Schenk (" The Aetiology of Scoliose Berlin 1885), with
instruments of very exact action examined and measured 200 chil-
dren, with the result that 160 were found to sit at the writing so that

they displaced the upper body opposite the pelvis towards the left,
manifestly in order to convert, for the sake of easier production of
sloping writing, the original middle position of the Copy Book into
 POSITIONS OK WRITER HOOK AND PEN 87

a right position. All these 160 were found to be more or less

affected with pronounced curvature of the spine.

1

As to the position of the head, a bending forward is common

and more or less necessary in all positions of the Copy Book, but
the right position of the Copy Book requires two other movements,
a turning of the head towards the right, and a moving forwards
of the left eye which causes it to stand deeper or lower down
than the right, thus constituting the first step in the deterioration of
the whole bodily posture.

FIG. 25.

The eye is endangered by the right position because every

deviation from an erect posture of body, every twisting of the

trunk, and every cramping contraction of whatever kind bring the

eyes nearer the writing and force them to stronger convergence of
the lines of vision and to greater exertion of their power of accom-
modation by which the genesis of Shortsight is encouraged. (See
Fig. 25.) These observations are the outcome of investigations
by different authors such as Schmcller, Hahnel, Berlin, Florschiitz,

Remboldt, Schmidt- Rimpler, Seggel, Emmet, &c., which involved

the examination of no less than 21,949 cases.

1
See Appendix III. for further details
88 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
There accordingly a sufficiency of reasons for prohibiting the
is

right position of the Copy Book, and there appears to exist

entire unanimity on this point amongst medical experts.

It remains only to determine whether the Straight Middle

position with Vertical Writing, or the Oblique Middle position
with Oblique Writing is the better. Here also observation and
measurement are the decisive agents employed, which show that
in oblique middle position the head is inclined considerably more

than in straight middle position.

In 400 experiments in writing with straight middle position,
the inclination amounted to 2'8, but in 543 experiments with the

Oblique middle In 258 positions of the copy

position to 7 '9.
where no directions were given but where the right position pre-
dominated, to 9 and in many extreme cases to 16.
These results are borne out by general practice, and it is

conclusively proved that the oblique middle position of the Copy

Book not only induces the inclination of the head, but draws the

body bending and twisting the spinal column, thus pro-

after it,

ducing according to Dr. Schenk that form of spinal curvature which

we find described as the most frequent and characteristic school
Scoliosis. ^
It is moreover an error to suppose that everything has been
done, if the child is protected hygienically in the School building
itself. The influence of the teacher is often limited to School

hours, but in the question of caligraphy an excellent opportunity

offers itself for demanding and exerting such influence in the pre-

paration of home lessons, when the supervision of a teacher no

longer exists. For if Vertical Writing be introduced into the

School we may be sure that what is done at home is also, without

any supervision whatever written in the Straight Middle position,

as Vertical Writing can be produced in that position of the Copy
Book only, and therefore there is no lateral Curvature of the

spine.
Unless however the Straight Middle Position with its insepa-
rable accompaniment Vertical Writing be insisted upon, there can
and will be no security against the continuance of the prevailing
 POSITIONS OF WRITER BOOK AND PEN 89

evils,since Oblique Writing can be produced just as easily (if not

indeed more easily) in the obnoxious and injurious Right positions
of the co[-y book as in the Middle.
The final conclusion is then, that the Copy Book should lie

before the writer, not outside to the right of him. Nevertheless

we are not inclined to go quite so far as our German critics, who
say that the middle paper should if produced be
line of the

coincident with the line down the middle of the chest or sternum
as this position would necessitate the right hand stretching over,
across and beyond the medial line. Such a requirement would
inevitably bring with it a
bending over of the entire
tilting or

upper trunk, which would cause a most painful twist of the spinal
column.
The diagram (Fig. 26) will illustrate all the positions hitherto
considered.
When in the middle straight position the book must be so

m>^ \
\>
 9O MANUAL OF HANDWRITING

POSITION OF THE PEN

The pen should be held firmly but not tightly between the
thumb and two fore-fingers. One writer informs us that the pen
should be grasped only by the thumb and fore-finger but
the ex

periment has only to be tried to entail a speedy abandonment. If

the pen be properly held the first finger can at any time be lifted
without danger of the pen falling from the hand. Whilst the
thumb is bent up away from the ends of the fingers the latter are

to be kept easily straight, perhaps slightly but only slightly bent

and not approaching too near the point of the nil), or soiled and
inky fingers will be the result. The end of the second finger may
rest on the side of the penholder or may fall somewhat below it at

the discretion of the teacher or writer. The penholder furthermore

should ever rema.n on or above the piincipal knuckle of the fore-

finger never being allowed to sink into the hollow near the second

joint of the thumb. As to direction let the pen follow the hand
and arm which are in one and the same straight line.
A common and not less pernicious habit is to allow the pen to
take an outward direction to the right, when as an inevitable con-

sequence the writing takes a backward slope and all the curves
and lateral lines become thickened at the expense of the down-

strokes, which attenuate off into hairlines imparting to the writing

an appearance as peculiar as it is illegible. Broad nibs (as the J)

conduce greatly to this abuse which appears to be prevalent
amongst female writers.
Another danger is in holding the pen in a nearly upright posi-

tion. This mistake often happens. People think vertical

writing calls for a vertically held pen which latter brings in its

and not good temper. Let the pen slope

train spluttering blots

at an angle of 40 or 45 to the paper, when it will be found to

write with a maximum of ease and safety. Do not turn the pen
on one side, but use, and press on, both points of the nib equally.

Juveniles are particularly prone to write on the side of their pens,

itbeing universal experience that the worst penmen hold their
pens in the worst fashion. Instructors of youth in Elementary
 POSITIONS OF WRITER BOOK AND PEN QI

departments where pens are first used in the Writing Class

should see to it that they are held in the correct way. A little

labour bestowed on this point at the beginning of a child's

writing will save a ton of trouble in after years.

Eccentricities in the modes of holding the pen must not be
entertained or encouraged for a moment, such as placing the pen
between the first two fingers or between the 2nd and 3rd. These
and similar vagaries are as absurd as they are clumsy and un-
scientific, and remind one of the directions given in a manual
treating (in part) of writing and how it should be taught. Said
thisauthor "let your scholars hold their pens as they like it is ;

"quite immaterial how they hold the pen SO long as they

" "
learn to write well !

Briefly then we may consider the positions to be as follow,

of:
1. The Writer square, erect, easy, natural.
;

2. The Book the Straight Middle Position.

;

3. The Pen obliquely between thumb and two forefingers, in

;

a line with arm.

By a consistent observance of these rules much will be done

towards a great and marked improvement in the writing of our
School-children.
At this point it will be appropriate to speak about the direction
of the light under which children should write. Obviously pupils
should not sit with their backs to the light, neither should a
brilliant South light fall directly upon them from the front, the
effect ofwhich would be injury to the eyes from the insupportable
glare and the reflection from white paper. Side lights are there-
fore to be preferred, and of the two the left side-light is superior

and should be secured whenever possible. This conclusion har-

monizes with general experience, in the office, the study and the
Schoolroom. 1

It is highly gratifying to learn that on the Continent many

1
The light must be sufficiently strong and fall on the table from the left-
hand side, and, as far as possible, from above (Dr. R. Liebrich, "School-life
in its influence on Sight ").
92 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
Educational Bodies have decreed that Vertical Writing be adopted
in their Schools, and have also issued directions and instructions

for the use of their teachers.

For example, the Imperial and Royal National School Board

of Bohemia appends to its decree concerning Vertical Writing the

following recommendations to its teachers.

Careful attention should be paid to the strict maintenance
1.

of the straight middle position of the Book so that the lines of

writing run parallel to the edge of the desk.

2. In the initial teaching the lines should be short. For this

reason the pages of existing books must be divided by perpendi-

cular strokes into two sections and be written consecutively like

separate pages.
3. Copying from subject-matter lying sideways to the left is

to be avoided, because otherwise the children would sit between

the writing surface and the matter to be copied, and so the Middle
position of the former would be lost.
4. Both lower arms must rest two-thirds on the desk, quite
symmetrically, so that they meet before the middle of the body
and there form a right angle. Both elbows, and therefore also the
right-, should be at least a handbreadth distant from the trunk.

5. The hand in the act of writing should be placed in such a

way that the palm (the inner surface of the hand) is perpendicular
to the desk, or only a little inclined to the left. The little finger
edge of the palm must not touch the writing surface, the hand
must rest on the outer edge of the nail joint of the little finger,
which should be slightly bent like the ring finger resting on it, on
which again, the middle finger and through it the whole group of
the three fingers that guide the pen-holder have to be supported.
6. The
pen-holder should be light, thick, not smooth, and
suitably long. It should be lightly grasped at a distance of 3 c.m.

from the point of the pen, the middle finger should be laid on
the holder in such a way that the latter is pressed lightly against
the middle of the nail-joint cf the middle finger by the thumb
lying on the left side. The fore-finger forms a plain curve with-
out any cramping of its joints.
 POSITIONS OF WRITER BOOK AND PEN 93

7. The upper end of the holder must be directed towards the

elbow, but never towards the shoulder of the writer and be inclined
about 45 to the surface of the writing. The pen should not be
too fine but somewhat broad and elastic.
8. The writing arm must again and again be pushed to the

right so that its successive positions always remain parallel. This

gliding takes place on the nail-joint of the little finger, but not on
the ball of the hand which should be slightly elevated over the
base point of support.

9. The book or paper must, after every line, be pushed up

accordingly, in order that a suitable distance may be always
preserved between the point of the writing pen and the lower
edge of the desk.
10. The upper body ought not to bend forward, the breast
should not be supported on the edge of the desk, the head should
be bent only s ightly, the distance of the eyes from the writing
should amount to from 30 to 35 c.m.
11. The writing never ought to last for a long time uninter-

ruptedly, but should be broken by a few minutes at short intervals,

and in the pause thus made easy free-exercises should be
executed.
12. With respect to the fact that the first part of the primers
hitherto in use is still written in the oblique style, the exercises in

the reading and writing of the Vertical Style are to be taken on

the black-board so long as no primers with Upright Penmanship
are approved.

Other bodies are issuing similar instructions. Indeed .the

seven rules drawn up by the Commission on Vertical writing,

appointed by the Society of Public Hygiene at Niirnberg, are

identical with a corresponding number of those already given from
the Bohemia School Board.
How closely these approximate to the English instructions
formulated and circulated by the Author seven or eight years ago
the reader can observe for himself.
No teacher need have the slightest hesitation in introducing
94 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
and adopting the Upright Style and Posture. Even without a
knowledge of the principles of the system, it can advantageously
be employed in classes and schools with the assurance of satis-

factory and superior results.

The only variation on the above canon is in Ornamental

Penmanship, a subject which we do not contemplate discussing at
length in this work. A passing reference is all that is
necessary.
The phrase includes the production of Ornate Alphabets such as
Old English, German Text and the like, and also the department
of Striking or Flourishing which consists in embellishing alphabets
or letters with free graceful and intricate curves, and further
in striking out animals, birds and other objects in flourishing
outlines with the pen. Our Writing Masters from the i6th

Century to some fifty years ago excelled in this Artistic acquire-

ment, indeed their specimens of elaborate design and flourish
are something wonderful to behold. In order to arrive at any

degree of perfection in this branch an immense amount of time

and much laborious practice are required. Consequently Orna-
mental Penmanship is now almost entirely relegated to the

lithographer and engraver, as even were it easily acquired (which

it is
not) the pressure of modern commercial life would render it
both superfluous and impracticable. Hence nothing beyond
Handwriting is taught in our best Schools, and
plain Writing
Masters, whose recommendations consisted in the marvellous

Caligraphic and beautifully written

specimens flourishing of

Designs they could display, have disappeared and left not a

vestige behind, save in the preservation of some of their Master-

pieces in our National Museums and Libraries.

The rules for holding the pen in flourishing are quite different

to those obtaining in plain writing. The pen should point quite

outwards to the right and the two forefingers must be bent up
and not kept straight or nearly so as in ordinary current hand.
 95

CHAPTER VIII

ANALYSIS OF ALPHABET AND LETTERS

THE English Alphabet is both written and printed in two kinds

of letters- Capital and Small. In this chapter we are concerned

solely with the written or Script Alphabet. So many diversified

forms have been given and are at present in use for Script

Capitals, and also, but in a much less degree, for small letters
that it
may be advisable to give a series of outlines, which shall
contain as far as possible all the essentials of a clear bold and
elegant simplicity, and shall at the same time, by the facility with
which they are made, secure the highest possible rate of speed.
On this series will be based the analysis which, so far as general
elements can be grouped, arranges the letters for class instruc-
tion.

The small letters are

a Ir c ct e I a fi i i It I

m Tb a h, CI T4 t tl TJ

(JO XU Ty

FIG. 27.

with the following duplicate forms \j S "X, Z which

have a numerous following of ardent supporters. In selecting the

96 MANUAL OF ilANDWRITING
outlines for our Capitals the aim has been to adopt as far as could
be done the assimilations to the small letters whenever greater

simplicity, ease or speed would be thereby attained.

The Capitals are

FIG. i8.

The variations on the above are simply legion, but it would be

difficult if not impossible to find shorter outlines or plainer.

Returning to the small letters, they naturally group themselves

into about eight classes which are fairly distinctive. For all teach-
will be found sufficiently elaborate in
ing purposes this analysis
its gradation and scientific in its principle of arrangement.

Class I.
t Class V '
Tb
(JU I/

IT. Tb TTL h, vi. I/ aU

in. c -e o vii. fr ir v
iv. Ou ( O/ ,,vm. A

Variations on the above scheme can be made without

materially affecting the efficiency of the teaching.
Many eminent authorities for nstance object to the early
 ANALYSIS OF ALPHABET AND LETTERS 97

introduction of the long letters and there is admitted force in their

objections. Naturally if we permit expediency to enter intc the

analysis the scientific aspect and character must suffer, at least to

some extent.

Recognising however the strength of the arguments adduced, a

second classification is offered which it is hoped will fully satisfy
all requirements as to the gradual introduction of the long
letters.

Class 1. b W n TTL Class V. t K (L

11
TT
** c
Vy
jp
*O rr
vx " vi

, in. 1^ 07 LAJ vii. L O.

iv. CL A X VIIL

The
Class I. letters

l to /

t
consist

FIG. 31.

solely of the right line and the final curve line, which is generally
called a link, the dot of the and the cross of the t not being
i

constituent elements properly so called. As all words and com-

binations of letters are written continuously the letters of this
class will join each other chiefly at the upper end.
A set of headlines on these three letters will begin with the
right line, then the link should be introduced, lastly combinations
of the character formed of the right line and link. Even at this

early stage the teacher should endeavour to secure perfect rigidity

of the down strokes, and strange as it
may seem, such honest
endeavour will generally be successful.
H
98 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
Class II. introduces but one new element viz. the initial

curve cr as it is called the hook. Again but three letters

compose this group one of

FIG. 32.

which, p, will offer some difficulty because of its extraordinary

length. Why should not English teachers introduce the custom
so common on the Continent and begin the p at the top of the

small letters instead of commencing it so far above them? It

would be quite as legible and distinctive.

FIG. 33.

For our own part we much prefer the short stroke whether from a
practical oran educational standpoint. The junctions in this
group will principally be at the foot of the stroke and at or near

the top, as shown in Fig. 34.

Exercises and Headlines on this and succeeding classes will of

course contain abundant practice on all
preceding letters and
classes.

Class III. including the simple curved letters will require some

(}
care, the tapering strokes peculiar to

w
f I)
-\y
FIG. 35.
U
 ANALYSIS OF ALPHABET AND LETTERS 99

being novel and not easy to accomplish. Blackboard illustration

with a profuse series of varied headline copies will overcome every

difficulty.
In forming the letter e the up stroke must never be broken
but the up stroke from a preceding letter must be continued
without any angular deflection into the loop of the e as shown in
the diagram (Fig. 36).

wron

FIG. 36.

With regard to the letter o it is begun on the top and not at

the side which would necessitate a lifting of the pen.

OTb TUT FIG. 37.

Class IV. The three members of this class

cu cLa
FIG. 38.

are merely adaptations of elements previously given. There is a

notion abroad that, since a and cognate letters are apparently
made up of the letter o and other characters, consequently a
perfect o must first be written before the remaining parts of the
letters (a, d, g and q). To restrict writing to any such arbitrary and
rigid laws would be to greatly discount its highest function. And
besides such rules are never observed in ordinary penmanship
where utility will over-ride all such limiting and cramping regula-
IOO MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
tions. What we must have is
simplicity of outline, ease of junction
and rapidity in tracing ;
it is therefore recommended that for pur-

poses of continuity and speed the connecting upstrokes of these

letters rise from the outside in large and set small hands, whilst

for running or corresponding writing they rise from the inside.

Class V. brings us to the upward loop letters of which the

simplest representatives are 1 and h. The Joop as a rule forms

half the extreme length of the letter although in small hand it

is
slightly longer. The
loop should be well and boldly made
particular care being taken to guard against the common danger
and fault of curving the down strokes, as in the right-hand figure.

RIGHT WRONG

Inverting the loops we reach

Class VI. composed of

L
FIG. 40.

in which the same* rules as to length apply so far as the loops

are concerned. As previously stated the loops in all letters

should be made sufficiently long for legibility, but not a fraction

of an inch longer than is necessary to achieve that end.
As in the preceding class the greatest danger will be in the

down stroke. must be made absolutely right or straight

It

When loops are curved an insipid and imperfect style is deve-

 ANALYSIS OF ALPHABET AND

loped whereas when the rigid right lines^ ^r^^msistei upon; t^e
writing becomes strikingly precise, nervous and pleasing.

Class VII. contains the crotchet letters

UJ
FIG.

The crotchet is not hard to make and the open form is pre-
ferable to the closed style as itis made with greater ease and

imparts more freedom to writing, although in very rapid caligraphy

it resolves itself into a mere Both kinds however are in
angle.
constant use.
Class VIII. The five remaining letters of the alphabet which
form this group have no principle in common, nor can they con-
veniently enter into any other class.

DA
FIG. 43.

The letter s rises above the other small letters as does also
 ^ MANUAL OK HANDWRITING
ruvhsrr written in this form. The two following ex-

tremes of the s must be avoided.

L
FIG. 44.

X may be considered as formed of two c's placed back to back

the first being inverted. This letter has several modifications and
it is the only letter that as a rule requires the pen to be lifted
in its formation. Two of the modifications however are continu-
ous although neither of them is very
frequently met with.
F is a very long letter having two loops both of which should
be boldly made as in Fig. 43.

Z is also totally unlike any of its fellows and will require sepa-

rate treatment.

Ample practice should be afforded on these unique outlines.

Lastly the letter k comes in with its compound and difficult

FIG. 45.

curves. How often is it that we see a graceful or a nice-look-

ing k ? Very seldom indeed, and the four outlines in the

adjoining figure are typical of the distortions that do duty for the
genuine article.

The Capitals may be dismissed with but few remarks. They

are made up primarily of Curves and it is the shape and several

or relative sizes of these Curves that cause most trouble.

The characters should be analyzed on the blackboard and
full) explained, the relation of the various parts being clearly
defined and illustrated.
Afterwards the pupils may be left to imitate their headlines,

careful supervision being all that is required. An approximate

 ANALYSIS OF ALPHABET AND LETTERS IO3

classification of the Capital letters is the only possible one, unless

the divisions be unreasonably multiplied.

They may be arranged in the following order :

Class I :
V, U, W, N, M, Y.
II :
O, A, C 5 G, E.
III: P, B, R.
IV :
I, J, T, F.
V :
S, L.

VI :
D, H, Q, X, Z.

This or some similar gi on ping of the Capitals should be

followed that the instruction may be properly graduated, the
scholars being specially urged to examine and imitate the
engraved headline copies, for if the pupil succeed in securing a
vivid mental conception of the true outline of any letter he will
find little
difficulty in transferring that conception to paper ; the
trouble as previously intimated is not so much with the fingers as
with the brain.
IO4 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING

CHAPTER IX
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION AND DIRECTIONS FOR
CLASS TEACHING

Two methods which have been propounded for the teaching of

writing have commendedthemselves strongly and successfully t j

the approval of the profession. One of these was elaborated by
Mulhauser with whose system every teacher is more or less
familiar, the other emanated from Locke. Both methods have
their merits and both their disadvantages, as might be expected
when the undeveloped character of the art and science of writing
at the time is taken into consideiation.

Mulhauser's Method is
analytic and then Synthetic. He first

decomposes the letters into their fundamental strokes, calling these

respectively the right line, curve line, loop and crotchet. The
letters of the alphabet are then classified according to this analysis
as follows :

Class i. i, u, t, 1
(right line and link).
2. n, m. h, p (hook, right line and link).

3. c, e, o (curve line).

4. a, d, q (curve, right line and link).

5. g, j, y (loop letters).
6. b, f, r, v, w (crotchet letters).
7. k, s, x, z (anomalous or irregular letters).

As an aid to the pupils the Copy Books are ruled in rhom-

boids (the style being slanting) to regulate the size, width and
slope of the writing.
The advantages of this method are that it is scientific in its

analysis, graduated to an extent in its arrangement, and

 METHODS OF INSTRUCTION IO5

intelligent in its general construction and j.resentation to the

juvenile mind. Many objections have been taken hovever to the

scheme by teachers, some of which are more fanciful than real and
others more prejudiced than pertinent. There are certainly how-
ever (apart from the vital objection of slope) some few drawbacks,
but these do not militate sufficiently to destroy its value as a
feasible and workable method on which to teach writing, if

teachers will only modify it as the requirements of their classes

demand. be noticed that the classification given in these

It will

pages (p. 96) resembles that of Mulhauser from which it varies

only in a slight degree warranted we think by the incongruity of

presenting as Mulhauser does the very difficult long letters
h and 1 before such easy letters as c, e, O, and elsewhere simi-

larly.

Many of Locke's ideas are forceful, but some are certainly

peculiar. He insists that children shall be taught, and perfectly

taught, how to hold the pen before they are allowed to make a
stroke. He also maintains that large hand shall be taught before
small hand, and that writing shall for a considerable length of time
consist of tracing over faint red-ink outlines printed in the Copy
books. His method may therefore be briefly summarized as
follows :

Stjp i. How to hold the pen.

2. How and to place the book.

to sit

3. Tracing over large hand copies in faint red ink.

}> 4- small ,, ,, ,, ,, ,j n
5. Copying from large-hand Headlines.
6. small

There is an unquestioned advantage, which none can fail to

recognise, in teaching a child how to hold the pen at the very

beginning of his caligraphic course, but whether it is better to do

this before a stroke is made or whilst the strokes are being made
is a question for discussion. So long as the right way of holding
the pen is secured (and it may certainly be secured by both
methods) it will matter very little as to the exact and relative
106 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
moment when it shall be accomplished. The tracing, especially
so much of it as Locke recommends, is now considered injurious
rather than otherwise by the majority of critics. In the most

elementary stages tracing is helpful ;

afterwards we believe to be
harmful. Lastly, beginning with a very large hand is an evil

already proved and we need not recapitulate.

The general method prescribed in this manual may be looked
upon as being compounded of the two just reviewed, one in which
the danger of too much science in the one case, and of too much
mechanical art in the other are euually avoided.

In offering, shall we say in presuming to offer, a few directions

for class teaching there is great risk in running foul of many old-

fashioned and established prejudices. Perhaps on no point

connected with School Work is there so great a multiplicity of

opinions as to how writing should be taught. No two persons in

a hundred will agree on half a dozen given questions. Authors of
Manuals on Education, Inspectors, Training College Lecturers,
and Teachers are all individually so many separate, independent,
and oracular authorities as to how to teach writing.

And we are not now referring so much to methods in general

as to processes in Whatever method be adopted

particular.
"
How shall it be taught successfully " ? is what concerns us.
Presumably there is a satisfactory answer to this question. It
is certainly possible to invest the teaching of writing with an
interest that shall render the subject most attractive to the pupils

and there is no reason why the writing lesson should not be one
of the most fascinating studies in the schoolroom. Of course to

attain this the master must first of allbe enthusiastic himself,

for Enthusiasm is Contagious. To do a thing well it must be
done thoroughly ;
in the teaching of penmanship equally as in

other departments. Teachers must be energetic, lively and earnest,

then and not till then will the classes be interested, enthusiastic
and determined. It will be found profitable to introduce dis-

cussions in the class when such and such outlines are analysed
or illustrated on the Blackboard. Intense excitement for instance
can be roused on the duplicate forms of such letters as s, r,
 METHODS OF INSTRUCTION IO/

X, z, and whilst inviting and encouraging the free expression of

opinion the teacher can guide the minds of his pupils to a right
and sound conclusion by his own matured views and higher
knowledge.
Another valuable adjunct is Class Practice on the Blackboard.
Nothing in the round of everyday School life is more appreciated

by children than this interesting exercise. A certain word or

phrase is proposed, and selected pupils are required to write it on
the Board. (This selection of pupils should include the entire
class in rotation,any preferential distinctions being invidious and
quickly detected by the juveniles.) When the Blackboard is filled,
or a sufficient number have written, the \\ork of criticism begins
and may occasionally be allowed to culminate in a vote as to which
is the best line.

During the criticism, which in the hands of the teacher may

be rendered highly educative as well as deeply absorbing, and
whilst the faults, exaggerations, defects, &c., are carefully noted
the scholars should be encouraged to discover the several points
of excellence, as it must never be forgotten that Commendation
animates the (juvenile) mind and proves one of the most powerful
levers at the disposal of the teacher.

A lesson of this kind once a fortnight or so will be eagerly

anticipated by the pupils, and it will prove also an efficient and

agreeable relief to the ordinary routine of the writing class.
A further variety consists in a given copy being written in
different ways by the teacher on the Blackboard, to be inspected
and by the class. The zest displayed in criticising his
criticised

work willbe as amusing as surprising, and not the less profit-

able. Every defect will be keenly scrutinised, every possible
shade of opinion expressed and progress proportionately stimu-
lated.

Then again interest of a totally different kind may be intro-

duced by occasional competitions amongst the pupils, such as

racing against time or against each other. Let a certain extract

be prescribed and instruct the class to copy out accurately, and
well, and as quickly as possible until the signal to stop is sounded.
IDS MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
Then the work being collected it is arranged in order of merit, due
allowance for quantity being made when marking for quality.
A modification of this exercise is to write a Copy on the black-
board for imitation and repetition during a certain specified time
as before. The pupils who are conspicuous for their slowness in

these practices should have extra time given them for separate

tuition, that they may become more expeditious. If each week

the best specimens thus produced were on exhibition in th-j Class
or Schoolroom, the writers would be encouraged to a still
greater
degree of effort and ambition.
Yet another variation is to get a volunteer to write a copy on
the Blackboard and afterwards to criticise it himself. This varia-
tion frequently gives rise to very entertaining but also beneficial

remarks. Pupils grow increasingly expert at the task and thus

insensibly to themselves, the development of their mental apprecia-
tion and mechanical ability in the art of writing progresses with

great rapidity. A word or two with reference to Home Work.

All the labour of the teacher will be greatly discounted if not
neutralized should he neglect to strictly supervise the written
Home exercises of his scholars. Special marks for neatness in all

written work should be awarded, and penalties of varying character

be inflicted for deliberate carelessness in this matter. Where the
ordinary arithmetical and written exercises are thus made to sup-
plement and support the class teaching, results of the happiest

kind will inevitably follow.

A flagrant case of scribble reproduced by the Master on the
Blackboard for the adverse criticism of his Schoolfellows will

generally act as a specific for either spasmodic or chronic cases,

since boys do not relish the idea of being'tield up to either ridicule

or censure from their own companions.

Many other expedients of a similar kind can be resorted to for
the purpose of engendering a praiseworthy emulation amongst the
writers. Every week will possess its special opportunity and
supply material wherewith to point a lesson or adorn a rule. Now
it may be a curious manuscript ; again it will be an
equally curious
letter that can thus be utilized. Finally a most powerful stimulus
 METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 109

can be infused into the class by periodically placing the Copy

Books in order of merit and exhibiting the list on the Notice
Board a test of their comparative merits which finds favour

immensely with the pupils, who are thus encouraged to strain

every power in the desire and struggle to get well placed.

The following general instructions for class-teaching include

most if not all the chief points that can arise in a writing lesson.
1. Secure and maintain correct position of writers, books and

pens.
2. See that every pupil is provided will all
necessary material.
3. Remind the class at the beginning of each lesson that the

writing must be uniform in Size, Shape and Direction.

4. Strongly forbid all
quick writing.
5. Make a liberal use of the Blackboard for purposes of ana-

lysis, correction and illustration.

6.Permit no pupil to remain idle or unemployed waiting for

others to finish let each writer work independently of his
:

fellows.

7. Insist upon continuity in the writing of every word save

those in which the letter x occurs.
8. Frequently remind the Class that writing is a kind of

drawing and that the sole object is to fac- simile the Copies.

9. Let your motto be approval rather than censure.

10. Pens must not be wiped on the dress nor must ink be
jerked or thrown upon the floor.
11. Writers must not paint their letters, that is thicken or
mend them after 'being once made.
12. Always mark the writing relatively, and not apart from the
age and ability of the writer.

13. Avoid favouritism ; encourage naturally poor writers ; be

severely strict with all careless pupils.

14. Rather give copy books that are too easy than those
which are too difficult.

15. Utilize all available Competitions for your classes. The

stimulus of " Prizes or
" "
Rewards " is universally needed in every
walk of life, more particularly in a juvenile writing Class.
I 10 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
1 Make a special study of any hopelessly bad writers
6. : never
despair of entirely reforming such.
Post the names of the best writers and of the most diligent
17.
writers on the walls of the Class or Schoolroom.

1 8. Caution the class against plunging pens to the bottom of

the inkwells.

19. Guard against writing too long at once; relieve by rests

in which theory may be illustrated on blackboard.

20. In writing, more than in any other subject, strive to keep

the pupils in a good humour.

We shall conclude this chapter with a few hints to writers.

MULTUM IN PARVO.

1. Write vertically.
2. Write continuously.

3. Write uniformly.
4. Write plainly.

5. Write slowly.
6. Discard all flourishes.

7. Make the simplest capital letters possible.

8. Avoid heavy or thick writing.

9. Make short loops.

10. Don't grasp the pen tightly.
11. Keep the fingers' ends clear of the nib.
12. Use plain penholders not fancy ones.
13. Avoid striking pen to bottom of inkstand.
14. Use a wet sponge for penwiper.
15. Always keep the thumb slightly bent up.
16. Write evenly with both points of the nib.
17. Push up the book as the writing descends.
1 8. Sit easy and erect before the book.

19. Avoid
all twisting of the body.

20. Keep both arms free from the sides.

21. Point the pen towards the elbow.

22. Keep the fingers easily straight.

 Ill

CHAPTER X
HISTORY OF VERTICAL WRITING AND ITS REVIVAL

THE History of Vertical Writing is the History of all Writing, as,

up about the middle of the i6th century such a thing as Sloping
to

Writing was unknown. In its earliest and crudest forms writing

was upright, whether pictorial, hieroglyphic or alphabetical. It
has never been definitely ascertained and probably never will be
whether writing originated in one centre, radiating thence to other
and surrounding Countries, or concurrently in several and all
independent of each other. The Mexican and Chinese yield us
the most ancient specimens, whilst the honour of discovering the

Alphabet alternates between the Egyptians and Phoenicians.

In England and on the Continent alike all writing is vertical
until we reach the time of Elizabeth. From about A.D. 596 to the
Norman Conquest the writing in Britain was Saxon and of five
distinctive kinds. The Roman Saxon, 2. The Set Saxon,
i.

3. The running hand Saxon, 4. The Middle Saxon, and 5. The

Elegant Saxon. William the First then introduced the Norman

style which like its Saxon predecessor was perpendicular and

remained so until the introduction of the Italian Sloping hand as
mentioned. The Vertical Style survived much longer in some
parts on the Continent but as will be seen from the plates of speci-
mens chronologically arranged (Figs. 46 to 49) German handwriting
succumbed to the new fashion much in the same way and at the
same time as its neighbours. The posture, erect and straight,
adopted by writers in those times is depicted in Figs, i and 2,
as is also the middle straight position of the book or parchment.
In the sixteenth century, then, Lawyers began to engross their

conveyances and legal instruments in Sloping characters or letters

112 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING

tin
J 1
- i l

i ! 11
3
*b-S

era
-i
n J-

J'
a g

1 o
* ^
a
x
;
^v ffi

"5 o

B
i

C
CD
HISTORY OF VERTICAL WRITING AND ITS REVIVAL 113
114 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
HISTORY OF VERTICAL WRITING AND ITS REVIVAL 115
Il6 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
" "
called Secretary which with only slight modification
still survive.

These Secretary letters, forming the first loping written alphabet

ever introduced into England, are reproduced here as being of a
most interesting nature (Fig. 50). It will be noticed on examina-

5"-

tion that more complex outlines have now been dropped as

all the

r, and p, and where not dropped have become

for instance the S,

much simplified e.g. the Capitals D, H, K, M, N, &c. This

sloping alphabet has been in general use for two centuries, Verti-
HISTORY OF VERTICAL WRITING AND ITS REVIVAL I
I/

cal Writing having disappeared one may say almost completely

from every department of Caligraphy.
The sloping innovation was considered so favourable to the
development of a new art (the art of flourishing) by which
Writing Masters could exhibit their wonderful caligraphic gym-
nastics that it quickly became general and in a comparatively

short time universal.

Mysterious and incapable of explanation are the phenomenon

and the fact that no recorded serious attempt has ever been made to

revive the discarded and forgotten Vertical Style until about seven

years ago, when the first Series of Headline Copy Books in

Upright Penmanship appeared, as the pioneer of a movement
that hasgrown to most gratifying proportions. Literature on
Vertical Writing followed, as did also a more complete and
still

comprehensive series of Vertical Writing Copy Books, and these

may fairly be looked upon as the precursors of a revival that
shall replace Upright Penmanship on a foundation, which is as

scientific and permanent as it is ancient and unrivalled.

Several remarkable coincidences have attended the revival of

Upright Penmanship in England and on the Continent. In the

former both Educational and medical strivings and aspirations
towards the Vertical were made independently and simultaneously.
Indeed it was not until some time subsequent to the publication
of the first series of Vertical Writing Copy Books, that the author

discovered, quite accidentally, that medical talent had been

engaged on a similar quest, had prosecuted a similar investigation,
had arrived at the same conclusion, and had given utterance to
the same decisions in various books and pamphlets.
The Educational movement was originated and promu Igated
by Teacher who had been a Vertical Writer from his youth, and
a
itwas therefore the natural outgrowth of a life study, the inevitable
development and expression of a long and varied experience, in
which the superior claims and advantages of the System of Vertical
Writing had been demonstrated repeatedly; and demonstrated, be
it added, under circumstances the most unfavourable and crucial.

The Medical Investigation which was carried on simultaneously

Il8 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
appears to have arisen from quite a foreign source although it
resulted in an identical issue. Spinal Curvature and Short Sight
had become so general amongst School-children and were increas-

ing to such an alarming extent, that a special enquiry into the

cause of such prevalence by medical men was considered impera-
tive. In the course of this important enquiry many valuable dis-
coveries and suggestions were made, and as previously intimated
these researches culminated in the astonishing revelation that, first,

Slanting Writing was the undoubted cause of such seriously im-

paired functions and health, and, second, that Vertical Writing was
the only remedy that could be prescribed. The wording of their
decision and prescription has already been given, it could not be
in more positive and unqualified terms (see page 15).
These concurrent agitations dated from about the year 1870
to the year 1887 when the two forces combined (each being com-
plementary to the other) and now the united powers are concen-
on the same enterprise, and towards the one
trating their energies

object ofEstablishing the Writing of Our Country on a

Sound Hygienic, Educational, and Caligraphic basis viz. on the
principles of Upright Penmanship.
But stranger still, whilst all this was proceeding in Great Britain
an exactly identical and dual movement was being prosecuted in

several centres on the Continent with precisely similar features,

the Medical taking the lead or predominating over the Educational

as it has done at home.
Teachers in Switzerland, Wurtemburg, Austria, Germany and
Denmark, as well as in England, strongly resented this imaginary
encroachment upon their rights ; and that they therefore denounced
the finding of the Doctors as an infringement of their prerogative
" Was it
goes without saying. to be thought or even dreamed of
" that teachers did not know what
they were about ? that the entire
" had been teaching an absolutely pernicious style or
profession
"
System of Writing for all these years and generations ? Perish
"the thought! Doctors were well, to put it mildly mistaken,
" and "
knew nothing about Educational matters at all !

Unfortunately a lamentably large number of teachers, both at

HISTORY OF VERTICAL WRITING AND ITS REVIVAL 119

home and abroad, still shelter themselves behind this disreputable

and unworthy protest, wilfully closing their eyes and ears to the

evidence and facts, and refusing to be either convinced or con-

verted. This kind of opposition soon melted away on the con-
tinent and resolved itself into a much modified but rational mode

of objection. As will be seen immediately, the logic and facts of

the Experts have won a hearing and established their verity, thus

opening up avenues along which "Vertical Writing" is rapidly

riding on to victory. But here the phlegmatic character of the
Britisher asserts itself for notwithstanding the most vigorous circu-

lation of literature on the subject, despite the unanimous and

united testimonies of hundreds of professional gentlemen both
Medical and Scholastic, and in the very face of the numerous
of the wherever "
triumphs System introduced, the English
"
Teacher is in many cases supremely indifferent to the matter,
the Educational Press gently pats Verticality on the back, whilst
the English Government and Education Department appear to be
oblivious to the whole question. (See note, p. 125.)
If we cross the channel what a contrast meets us. Teachers
there have become alive to their responsibilities in the matter,

large numbers of the most prominent educationists have embraced

the system and adopted it numerous teachers are using and re-
;

commending Educational Societies and Corporations are pro-

it ;

nouncing in favour of it ; Hygienic Councils are approving of

and promoting it and Cabinets are not only sanctioning its use
;

but prescribing it in the schools of their dominions. The crusade

is active and countries are rivalling each other in their endeavours
to be in the van. From a voluminous correspondence with Drs.

Bayr (Vienna), Kotelmann (Hamburg), Lorenz (Vienna), Scharff

(Flensburg), Schubert (Nuremberg) and other eminent Physicians
and Teachers it appears that "Vertical Writing" is being
adopted eagerly by the profession in many districts of these
countries. In Vienna alone for example Upright Penmanship
ispractised in no less than 80 Schools with 300 classes, and by
100 Schools in Bavaria. A brief epitome of the chief events in the

history of this agitation on the Continent will not be out of place.

I2O MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
The question as to the importance of Slope or direction in

writing was by Drs. Ellinger and Gross in 1877-8, with

raised
the result that Roman characters with vertical downstrokes were

recommended in preference to sloping German letters. Dr.

Martins of Ansbach district Medical Officer of health next

brought the subject before the Central Franconia Medical

Chamber in
1879. In the following year Dr. Paul Schubert

addressing the same Medical Board made an attempt to show that

perpendicular writing must supersede the present sloping style,
and Dr. Cohn at the Naturalists' Congress in Danzig simultane-
" "
ously declared himself for steep writing, being quite in ignorance
of Dr. Schubert's action. Following immediately upon this come
investigations by Drs. Mayer (Fiirth), Daiber (Stuttgart), Weber
(Darmstadt) and by the Paris Commission who in a body declared
themselves in favour of Vertical Writing. * Opinions were of
course still divided, and in his prize essay on the Causes and
Prevention of Blindness, Professor Fiichs declared that the final

decision was only to be arrived at from experiments, systematically

conducted, in Vertical Writing in whole classes and beginning

with the first school year. It was reserved for the Central Fran-

conia Medical Board, which at its sittings never lost sight of

Upright Penmanship, to attack and promote this question bringing

it nearer to the final issue. In consequence of a motion passed in

1887 by this board, The Royal Bavarian Ministry of the Interior

decided that experiments in Vertical Writing should be undertaken
in Schools, on a larger scale. Hence in the Autumn of 1888 two
first classes of the public School in Fiirth and two similar ones in

the training college in Schwabach began instruction in writing ex-

clusively in the perpendicular style. These experiments were

supplemented in the Autumn of 1889 by three first public School
classes in Nuremberg as well as by the first class for preparation
of the humanistic gymnasium. At the same time perpendicular
writing was introduced by Dr. Bayr in
into a series of Classes
Vienna and inFlensburg under Principal Dr. Sch rff.

From all these schools the experiences were most favourable

to Vertical Writing. The declaration of its superiority in relation

*See Dr. Javal "

Physiology of Writing," Pocket Pedagogical Library, No. 3.
HISTORY OF VERTICAL WRITING AND ITS REVIVAL 121

to erect healthy postures has been verified and confirmed to the

fullest extent, whilst as to speed both Drs. Bayr and Scharff testify
to greater rapidity with which Upright Caligraphy can be
the
"
produced. My
best vertically writing scholar requiring 24
"
minutes whilst the best oblique writer required 30 minutes to
"
write off a certain prescribed poem."
The results obtained by Miss Seidl municipal teacher at
Vienna are identical and equally gratifying.
Her letter on the point is so interesting that we reproduce
a translation of it.

"
My female pupils whose instruction I directed from the first
" class
onwards till they passed over into the City middle class
"school (i.e. for five )ears) during the four school years from
"
1885-6 to 1888 9 wrote the usual sloping writing with oblique
"middle position with a 30 to 40 angle of inclination of the
"
copybook marked on the desk before them.
"At the beginning of the school year 1889-90 I introduced
"
some of my pupils to Vertical Writing whilst the others kept
"
to Sloping Writing. In this way it was possible to ascertain
" in
the course of a year by personal inspection what were the
"
essential advantages which Vertical Writing offers over Sloping

"Writing.
"
During the whole of my nine years' experience in the School
" I contended with all conceivable means against the crooked
"
sitting and oblique vision of the children in the writing lesson,
"
but I must honestly admit it without the desired result, and in
" the
cases where I obtained a good bodily posture, the Cali-
"
graphic outcome did not correspond to the demands hitherto
" made
by Sloping Writing, that is to say it was too steep or too
"
near the Vertical.
"
What I with Sloping \Vriting obtained only in an imperfect
" and tiring effort, Vertical Writing made
in spite of long
way
" weeks of its use viz. a fine upright
possible even in a few

"position of body, avoidance of the haimful inclination of the

"head, and of the no less injurious leaning of the chest on the

" desk.
122 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
" From the correct attitude of body follows also a greater
"
distance of the eyes from the writing. The pupils wrote
" some very with the
throughout short-sighted ones excepted
"
normal distance of the eyes from the Copybook, several indeed
"
with more than the normal distance.
"
The transition from the Sloping Writing, which had been
"
practised for four years, to Vertical Writing involved no kind of
"
difficulty to the children, either in regard to posture of body or
" in technical
respects.
" As
regards faultless posture and beauty of Writing, all the
"pupils yielded thoroughly satisfactorily and indeed often
" In a short time most of the Vertical Writing
surprising results.
" made
children twice as great improvement in their Writing, a
" number even four times as great.
large
"
On comparing a Copybook in which the Writing is at first
"
Sloping and afterwards Vertical, it could be seen with satisfac-
tion what an incomparably more favourable impression Vertical
"
Writing made on the beholder in contradistinction to Sloping
"
Writing.
" In met with no
respect to rapidity of production too I have
" to the
difficulty of any kind as regards keeping the lines parallel

"edge of the desk and maintaining the correct attitude. Indeed

" in
Writing Competitions undertaken for the purpose of putting
" the
question to the test of experiment, many of the Sloping Writing
" children fell behind those who wrote
Vertically.
" In
respect of clearness and legibility, and therefore beauty of

"Writing, specimens of Sloping and Vertical Caligraphy and

"rapid Writing show a very significant difference, decisively in
" favour of Vertical
Writing.
"
Finally it should be remembered too, that School Discipline
"finds a great support in Vertical Writing, because it renders
" and easier supervision of the children in the
possible a better
"Writing lesson.
" CAROLINE
SEIDL, Teacher.

" Vienna, November, 1890."

HISTORY OF VERTICAL WRITING AND its REVIVAL 123

Many associations of teachers as well as individual Head-

masters have approved of and adopted the Vertical Writing, e.g.
the Lubeck Association in May 1891, so that now in a very large
and increasing number of and centres the new system is
cities

making rapid headway. can therefore

It be safely stated that in
Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France and Denmark the Veitical
Writing has got a sure footing and has every prospect of making
good its claims and position.
The Royal Bavarian Ministry prescribed Experimental adop-
tion of Vertical Writing on a larger Scale 1892.
The Royal Imperial National School Board of Briim (Moravia)
decreed Experimental^ Introduction of Vertical Writing in its

Schools for School year 1891-2.

The Royal
Imperial District School Board Inschkau Bohemia
in June 1891 decreed the discussion of Vertical Writing in the
Conferences. Consequently some 500 Schools have adopted it.
The Imperial Educational Authority of Grand Duchy Baden
ordered experimental introduction of Vertical Writing into their
Schools.
The Berlin Teachers' Union requests City School Commis-
sion to introduce Vertical Writing experimentally.
In Troppau (Austrian Silesia) the District Teachers' Conference

unanimously resolved to introduce Vertical Writing into all public

and City Schools.
The Educational Authorities have already set on foot the

practice of Vertical Writing in Frankfort on Maine.

In Flensburg all save three schools write Vertically.
Dr. Bayr says that "over 400 Educationists have visited the
"Vertical Writing Classes in the Institution under my control;
"enquiries are coming in from every side."
The Royal Imperial National School Board Bohemia (May
1891) declared :

1. Vertical Writing to be preferable to Sloping Writing from

the Hygienic Standpoint ; and also
2. Declared itself favourable to the Experimental introduction
of Vertical Writing into its Schools.
124 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
The twin Resolutions of the Vienna Council and the London
Congress are a very fitting consummation to the sister campaigns
and to the previous deliverances of authoritative Educational
and Medical Corporations to which reference has been made

throughout the pages of this work. The appended list of

Congresses, Councils and Celebrities, the latter distinguished for

their scientific and educational attainments, who after patient and

exhaustive research aided by profuse experiments have emphati-

cally declared in favour of Upright Penmanship will indicate the

extent of the reaction on the Continent.

CONGRESSES AND COUNCILS.

1. Naturalists' Congress, Dantzic, 1880.
2. Medical Council of Middle Franconia, 1887.
3. International Congress of Hygiene, Vienna, 1887.
4. ,, ,, ,, Paris, 1889.
5. German Educational Union of Prague, 1891.
6. Royal and Imperial School Board, Bohemia, 1891.
7. Imperial and Royal Supreme Council of Hygiene, Vienna, 1891.
8. Seventh International Congress of Hygiene and Demography,
London, 1891.

In addition to the above many other Corporations have ap-

proved of and recommended Vertical Writing as the Lubeck

Association, previously referred to, The Paris Commission and the
Buda-Pesth Supreme Council of Education. The Supreme Hun-
garian School Board in March 1891 prescribed Experimental
adoption of Vertical Writing by its Schools.

UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS AND MEDICAL SPECIALISTS.

1. PROFESSOR GLADSTONE School Board for London.
:

2. MR. NOBLE SMITH Surgeon and Specialist, London.

:

3. PROFESSOR DR. JOSEPH HEIM Chief Physician of : the Theresian

Academy, etc., Vienna.
4. PROFESSOR DR. E. FUCHS Ophthalmologist and Specialist, Vienna.
:

5. PROFESSOR DR. TOLDT University Professor of Anatomy, Vienna.

:

6. PROFESSOR DR. PAUL SCHUBERT: Oculist and Specialist, Nurem-

berg.
7. PROFESSOR DR. A. VON REUSS University Professor, Vienna.
:

8. PROFESSOR DR J. CSAPODI University Tutor of Ophthalmology,

:

Ystvan.
 HISTORY OF VERTICAL WRITING AND ITS REVIVAL 125

9. PROFESSOR DR. JULIUS DOLLINGER :

University Professor and
Member of National Council, Hungary.
10. PROFESSOR DR. ALBERT : Commissioner of Health and Specialist on
Spinal Curvature, Vienna.
n. PROFESSOR DR. J. VON FODOR : on Hygiene, Buda-Pesth.
Specialist
12. PROFESSOR DR. ALOIS KARPF : Custodian of Library and Royal
Commission for Entails, Vienna.
13. PROFESSOR DR. KOTELMANN : Educationist and Editor of Journal
of School Regimen, Hamburg.
14. PROFESSOR DR. AXEL HERTEL: Medical Officer, etc., Copenhagen.
15. PROFESSOR DR. A. LORENZ University Professor, Vienna. :

16. DR. W. SUPPAN Director of Academies and Member of National

:

Council of Education, Hungary.

17. DR. MARTIUS: Medical Officer, Ansbach.
18. DR. GLAUMING : Examiner for the City Schools, Nuremberg.
19. DR. WEBER : Darmstadt.
20. DR. LOCHNER Medical Officer, Schwabach.
:

21. DR. G. MERKEL Medical Officer and President : of Medical Council,

1879, Nuremberg.
22. DR. W. MAYER Specialist and Medical Officer, Furth.
:

23. DR. O. SOMMER Brunswick. :

24. DR. A. SCHARFF Educationist, etc., Plensburg. :

25. DR. GOUBER Commissioner of Health, etc., Vienna.

:

26. DR. E. HANNAK Principal of the Vienna Training College.

:

27. DR. KARL STEJSKAL Royal Imperial School :

Inspector, Vienna.
28. DR. FRANZ WIEDENHOFER Vienna. :

29. DR. E. BAYR Headmas'er of City of Vienna

: Public School.
30. DR. KARL TOMANETZ Vienna. :

31. DR. DAIBER :

Stuttgart.
32. DR. KRUG : Dresden.
&c. &c. &c.

Dr. Eulenger declared for Vertical Writing in 1885.

The celebrated oculist Dr. Hermann Cohn after visiting Ver-
tical Writing Classes at Vienna has declared for the Upright
System (1892).
INSPECTORS, ETC.
ALOIS FELLNER :
Imperial and Royal Inspector, Vienna.
LAURENZ MAYER :
Imperial and Royal Inspector, Vienna.
FRANZ KLIMA Imperial and Roynl
:
Inspector, Littan, Moravia.
L. WIESMANN :
Secondary Teacher, Winterthur.
FRANCIS WAAS : Member of School Board, Vienna.

NOTE : Since the passage on p. 119 was first written, a change

has come over the spirit of the scene, and many signs of vitality
and growing interest have exhibited themselves both amongst
126 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
and the Education Department. The last-
teachers, the Press,
named has made a material advance, and from being antagonistic
have now declared that "The revisors of Handwriting for the
" Education " "
Department (Whitehall) will place Vertical writing
" on the same
footing with other styles of writing." Through many
of its representatives (H.M. Inspectors) the Department speaks still

more decisively in favour of Upright Penmanship. We quote

from the Blue Books of 1890, 1891, and 1892 "Vertical Writing :

"appears to be most easily taught, and to be the best for the right
"physical conditions of the eyesight and the spine" (Rev. T. W.
Sharpe, M.A., Senior Chief Inspector).
"Many schools are now adopting the Vertical style of writing.
" It is said to be and to enable the children to
easily acquired,

"adopt a more upright and -therefore more healthy posture while

"writing. It has also the merit of clearness and legibility, so
"that I have no doubt it will spread" (Rev. C. F. Johnstone,
Chief Inspector).
"Agrowing tendency to an Upright rather than a sloping
"style" (R. Ogilvie, Esq., M.A., LL.D., Chief Inspector).
"
Handwriting has improved, especially in those schools in
"which the Upright style of writing has been adopted" (F. B.
de Sausmarez, Esq., H.M.I.).
Another Chief Inspector says "The writing was about the
" best I have seen. The
boys are taught' the Upright or Jackson's
"
Style."
Then finally the attitude of the Press has entirely changed ;
from being cynical, then patronising, it has become appreciative
and sometimes enthusiastic. There is no doubt whatever that all
classes of the community are recognising the claims of Upright
Penmanship more widely every day, and that the lethargy of the
past is quickly disappearing and giving way to an interest which
occasionally rises to excitement.
 127

CHAPTER XI
BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH SHORT DESCRIPTIVE NOTICES

THE following list may be accepted as fairly representing the

literature on the subject of Penmanship and Handwriting pub-

lished during the present century, so far as it affects the question

of Education. Many small brochures are omitted as their inser-

tion could serve no good purpose. It will be found that the
majority of these publications are merely collections of specimens
of the Engraver's skill, and also of the writer's ingenuity as indicated
in most intricate and beautiful designs in flourishing and orna-
mental lettering, and that the remainder are more or less books of

instructions, hints or directions how to write or how to become a

good writer,one or two of these containing suggestions on how
to teach the art. Few could imagine the anomalies and con-
tradictions with which these manuals abound when compared with
each other, in regard to every point connected with the science
and art of penmanship. A somewhat entertaining diversity of
opinion e.g. on the position of the body may be referred to where
elbows must be close in to side and not touching the side;
where the body must be absolutely erect but at the same time
bending forward : and where it must be able to present the right

side the left side and the Chest front all simultaneously to the

front edge of the desk. Rather a difficult feat for an ordinary

individual we imagine !

" The Art of "

748 Writing illustrated with eight copper plates. John New-
bury, London. i6mo. To which is added a collection of letters and
directions for addressing persons of distinction, etc., with some six
" General Instructions for
pages of young Practitioners in the art of
Penmanship."
128 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
" The Penman's Win. Milns. London. 4to. 36 plates.
*795 Repository."
Containing 70 correct alphabets, a valuable selection of flourishes, and
a variety of new designs.
iSoi *'The Select Penman." London. 8vo. "Consisting of copious ex
tracts from all the most excellent performances now in esteem. Being

alphabets, copies, sentences, etc., in all the Hands carefully digested

and beautifully engraved on twenty copper plates by the best hands."
" The
1803 Origin and Progress of Writing." Th. Astle. London. Folio.
A most admirable production, illustrated with valuable and numerous
plates. The talented author has done his work well, and has written
a book which thoroughness, detail, information and originality
for is

a standard of reference and a classic on the subject.

1804 "The Art of Reading, Writing, etc." London. 8vo. A general

handbook of 44 pages containing miscellaneous hints on " Writing a
free and expeditious hand which may be attained in a few days." (!)
Some plates of headlines are inserted.
"
1805 Geographical and Commercial Copies." H. Genery. London". 8vo.
Twenty -six plates of Copies (chiefly plain) in various sizes of writing,
with some ornamental alphabets.
" "
1809 New Universal Penman. Butterworth. Edinburgh. Folio. Thirty-
two large plates of Capitals, Designs, Plain and Ornamental Lettering,
Writing Copies, and Flourishings.
iSio "The Desideratum of Penmanship." G. C. Rapier. Leeds. I2mo.
"The true principles by which to teach the art." Fourteen plates of
letters (small and capitals) and headlines with seven pages of text

supplying instructions as to position, etc.

1814 "Writing on an Improved Plan." London. 8vo. Four pages of
directions and six plates of exercises.

1815 "Superior, Free, Elegant, and Swift Writing." G. B. King*. London.

In six lessons to which is added a System (entirely new) for writing
exercises. Six piges of text and six plates of specimens.

1817 "The Preparative Writing Book." J.Dobbin. London. 410. Twelve

plates of Headlines with lines ruled for writing. (A copy book of
12 pages.)
" "
of Celebrated Personages. J. Netherclift. London. Fol.
1835 Autographs
Several plates of grouped autographs.
" Plain and Ornamental
1839 Penmanship." F. D. Sutcliffe Warley. Man-
chester. Fol. Five large plates of designs in plain and ornamental
Penmanship.
" Flowers of
1840 Penmanship." W. Paton. London. Folio. Fourteen
plates illustrative of Ornamental Penmanship and Lettering with
portrait of Author. No text save preface.

1842 "Penmanship." H.B.Foster. Boston, U.S. I2mo. 88 pp. Fifty-

two pages of instructions for positions, analysis of letters, formation of

Capitals, etc., with thirty-six pages of headlines in red for tracing

over.
" Beauties of T. Tomkins. London. Fol.
1844 Writing." Forty-one
 BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH SHORT DESCRIPTIVE NOTICES 129

plates of plain and ornamental writing, Ornamental Lettering,

Flourishing and intricate designs.
1849 "A collection of one hundred letters." J. Netherclift.
London. Fol.
This work is interesting on account of the variety in style of tne

writing.
" The H. N. Humphreys.
1853 Origin and Progress of the Art of Writing."
London. 4to. 176 pp. Illustrated by 28 plates and 29 woodcuts.
The origin of Writing and its history traced through the Mexican,
Chinese, Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonic and Per ian (Cuneiform),
Phoenician, Hebrew, Greek and Roman or Latin, to the Modern
National Styles of Writing in Europe, concluding with an account of
the writing material of all ages.

1855 "Ornamental Penmanship." G. J. Becker. Philadelphia. 8vo.

Thirty-three plates of plain and Ornamental type and Script

Alphabets.
" A preface, four pages
1858 Writing without a Master." London. 8vo.
of remarks on positions, six plates of Headlines in Smallhand (with
notes) and sixteen blank leaves for exercise are supplied in this
manual.
1858 "Handbook
of Autographs." F. G. Netherclift. London. 8vo. A
most interesting collection of Autographs.
" The Penman's Manual." New York. A practical Manual
1859 36 pp.
on Business Handwriting, with rules, numerous illustrations and two
plates.
1860 "The Art of Writing." J. A. Cooper. London. 8vo. Twenty plates
of small hand graduated copies, preceded by an essay on the Art of

writing and 5 pages of general directions.

1862 "Ornamental Writing." H irdy. London. 8vo. Six plates of
Alphabets, ornamental lettering, and Script.
1862 " The Commercial Penman." E. A. Porteus. London. 410. A title

page, twenty-four plates of Commercial letters, and 24 blank leaves

for exercise.
1862 " Designs for Illuminated and Ornamental Letters.'"' E. A. Porteus.
London. i6mo. Four plates of designs for illuminated and orna-
mental lettering. No text.
1866 "Autograph Album." J. Philips. London. 4to. This is a very
valuable selection.
"
The Art of Rapid Writing." W. Stokes. London.
1873
l
%75 "Judging Handwriting." E. Lumley. London. i6mo. 176 pp. The
art of judging the character of individuals from their Handwriting and

Style with 35 plates containing 120 specimens of writing.

" of Practical Daniel T. Ames. New
1877 Compendium Penmanship."
York. 410.Forty-eight beautiful plates of (twenty-four) plain and
ornamental alphabets, with most intricate designs in flourishing and
Ornamental Penmanship.
" The Don Felix de Salamanca. London.
1879 Philosophy of Handwriting."
8vo. An introduction on Writing in
general followed by 135 auto-
graphs of various celebrities with notes on each.
K
I3O MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
1880 " Character indicated in Handwriting." Baughan. London. 8vo.
One hundred Autographs with notes and explanations.
1880 " Practical Penmanship," or how to acquire a good Handwriting. W. ^

D. Prior. London. 8vo. Numerous illustrations, examples, and

practices. Hints on Position and Desk with a few remarks on Orna-
mental Writing.
1882 " Penmanship. ?> C. H. Mitchell. London. 8vo. 38 pp. Introduc-
tion ; Attitude Holding the Pen ; Appendices A to E (plates of
;

Models).
1886 "Guide to Beautiful Handwriting." J. Barter. London. 8vo. 48pp.
A series of copies in plain and ornamental writing, each copy being
preceded by directions, concluding with some specimens of flou'ishing.
1887 "A Manual of Handwriting." F. Betteridge. Bradford. 410. 55pp.
" A
course of 19 lessons with notes ;
prepared for Junior teachers."
also remarks on Desks, Postures, German Time-writing and Capitals.
Copiously illustrated.
1887 "According to Cocker." The progress of Penmanship from the earliest
" Penna
times, with upwards of twenty illustrative examples from
Volans," and other old works on the subject. By W. Anderson
Smith. There are nearly 30 pages of text giving the barest outline
of the progress of Penmanship, and six of those 30 pages deal exclu-

sively with the incidents of Cocker's career.

1888 "Writing and How to Teach it." J. C. Sharp, M.A. London. 8vo.
One hundred short lessons for the guidance of teachers diagrams, of ;

copies and errors, accompany each lesson.

1888 "Writing Simplified." Freeman. London. 8vo. Thirty pages of
plates and some text in which a new longhand alphabet is given, also
a style of shorthand with observations on parallel symbols of Holy
Writ.
1889 "Rapid Writer, Own Instructor." D. Dixon. Preston. 8vo. 40 pp.
A collection of Alphabets, Headlines and Specimens of flourishing,
with general hints and instructions.
" Prize London. I2mo. the
1889 Specimens of Handwriting." Being
four 5 prize specimens and others (thirty-two in all) gaining special
distinction in the Competition offered by "Tit Bits." It is worthy

of note that both (and the only) ladies gaining the '5 prizes were
Vertical Writers.
" Art of how it "
1891 Handwriting and should be taught.Hughes, London.
A collection of some 14 full-page engravings, and other diagrams, with
about 32 pages of text. "Specially prepared for the use of pupi)

teachers and students in training colleges."

 APPENDICES
APPENDIX I

CONTRASTS or specimens of the two styles of caligraphy written (as

in Fig. 51) by the same persons save in Figures 52 and 61.
;
APPENDIX 1
133

.2 *
134 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
APPENDIX '35

ddd6
MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
APPENDIX I 137
138 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
APPENDIX I 139
140 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
 142 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING

APPENDIX II

" ON Perpendicular Writing in Schools A Lecture delivered by Dr.

"

Paul Schubert, on the 23rd Oct 1890 before the Society of Public
:

Hygiene at Nuremberg.
The proposal to replace the customary oblique writing by perpen-
dicular characters arose from the endeavour to obtain an upright

healthy writing posture in school-children, an object which hitherto,

though means of every kind were tried, had never been attained.
Every teacher knows how much patience and lung-power the constant
injunctions to sit straight demand, how much time is thereby taken
away from the proper tasks of instruction, and how nevertheless after
a short period the children always sink back again into those bodily
distortions with which we are all so familiar, as if a strong magnet
were dragging down their heads towards the left side of the copy-book.
Complaints about this are of very ancient date and are repeated in
almost every treatise on school hygiene. The worst of it is that every
child very soon gets accustomed to his own peculiar cramped way of

sitting, which he always resumes during the many hundred writing

lessons of his school-life, so that always the same organs are again
burdened and the same functions hindered. Everyone thinks chiefly
of the dangers of short-sight and crooked growth scarcely less pre-
;

judicial is the hindrance to full respiration and the impeding of the

circulation of the blood in the organs of the lower body, with all their

consequences, Into the details of which we cannot enter here.

To two medical authors, Ellinger and Gross, belongs the glory of
having explicitly pointed out in numerous publications, about 1874 5,
that the cause of the bad posture of children while writing ought not to
be looked for as hitherto in external matters, nor should the blame be
laid on the teacher, but that the ultimate reason for oblique sitting lay
rather in the way of writing itself this latter would have to be entirely
;

revolutionised, and in particular a copy-book pushed sideways towards

the right must not be tolerated in the case of any child for herein
;

lay the root of the worst distortions of eye, head, and trunk. In the

positive part of their labours, however, Ellinger and Gross were

neither in agreement with one another, nor did their views coincide
with what we to-day believe should be pronounced the solution of the
question.
At first Ellinger demanded oblique writing on a copy-book lying
obliquely before the middle of the body but in the year 1885 ne
;

joined the Middle Franconia Reform Movement and professed the

 APPENDIX II 143

conviction that Vertical Writing in straight middle position is the

only correct one.
Gross on the other hand desired perpendicular writing, but,
strangely enough, at the same time a slightly oblique position of the
copy-book. This is, as I hope to make clear further on, an internal
contradiction which the first practical experiments in writing must
have rendered obvious. Nevertheless it was the very fresh and stir-
ring pamphlet of Gross that directed the attention of a wide circle to
the need of a writing-reform, and thereby gave the impulse to all sub-
sequent efforts. Thus it came about that Dr. Martins, District
Medical Adviser, discussed the proposals of Gross in the Medical
District Union at Ansbach, and carried a motion in the Middle
Franconia Medical Council, to the effect that the Government should,
through the official organs, have data collected as to the possible
dangers of oblique writing. Simultaneously a critique by Mr.
Methsieder, District School Inspector, was produced, which strongly
advocated perpendicular writing. At the same sitting of the Medical
Council in 1879, the president Dr. Merkel, Medical Adviser, also
declared very decidedly in favour of Vertical Writing, which he him-
self had been exclusively using for many years.
Without going into details on the labours and counter-currents of
the next ten years, I will now try to explain our present knowledge of
the physiology of writing, and, in connection therewith, give an account
of the results of the experiments with perpendicular writing in separate
school-classes in Central Franconia, Flensburg and Vienna. In the
question before us the direction of the clown-stroke as regards the
line of writing
is the principal point everything else depends on this.
;

Downstrokes are formed by simple bending of the three writing-

fingers, with the assistance at the same time of a slight bending at the
wrist. In the upstroke the fingers by extension return again to their
original position, while simultaneously the point of the pen is, by
movement of hand or arm, pushed away a little towards the right.
The first consideration, then, that forces itself upon us is : What
direction of down-stroke is unconstrained and natural, and best suits
the organs concerned in writing ?

The following experiment will show.

Assume a straight symmetrical posture of body, lay a sheet of
paper in the mMdle before you and place your hand ready for writing
on it, leaving ihe hand however still in its position of rest withcut any
sort of muscuiar tension. It will be seen that the palm of the hand is

then not turned downwards towards the paper, as many ancient and
modern writing-rules wrongly require, but that it stands perpendicular
to the surface of the desk, and the whole hand lies exactly in the
144 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
direction of the extended lower arm. The plane formed by the fore-
finger and thuiiib has a very slight inclination to the left, the fourth
and fingers are moderately bent,
fifth and the hand rests on the nail-

joint of the latter.

This posture of hand secures to the fingers that hold the pen the
greatest freedom of movement for up- and down-strokes. If now you
close your eyes and, without turning or twisting the hand, blindly
make a few movements and extensions of the three fingers that hold
the pen, the strokes produced will be directed pretty exactly towards
the middle of the body and at the same time stand perpendicular to
the edge of the desk, supposing that the point of the writing pen is
exactly in the middle, in front of the writer. The direction of these
strokes, with regard both to the edge of the desk and to the breast,
will of course remain exactly the same, if, other conditions being kept

unchanged, the paper lies at one time oblique, at another straight

before the middle of the body. Only their position relative to the
edges of the sheet and to the line will change. They will stand per-
pendicular to the latter if the sheet lies straight, they will stand
obliquely on it if the sheet is placed obliquely. If, however, you push

the paper and the blindly writing hand away towards the right, and
are careful that in this position the, action described above is main-
tained and the writing-motion completed without constraint by the
bending and extension of the three fingers, then the down-strokes
though directed as before towards the middle of the writer, will at the
same time stand obliquely to the edge of the desk. Their inclination
to the line will obviously here too be entirely dependent on the turn-

ing of the paper.

From experiment the rule seems to follow that in
this preliminary

writing, as well in middle position as in right position of the copy-

book left positions do not conceivably occur in right-handed writing ,

it is always those down-strokes which are directed towards the breast of

the writer that flow most easily from the pen. At the same time the
possibility of producing other directions of the down-strokes by
violent twistings of the hand is not to be denied, but, as the experi-
ments described above seem to teach us, only such down-strokes as
fallon the line of connection between pen-point and breast-bone
are executed in accordance with the laws of hand-motion and
without constraint.
Let us now
see whether these personal observations are confirmed
when we others write, without influencing them at all, in any
let

position of body and copy-book they please. In boys from eight to

twelve years of age I measured in 1,586 cases the direction of the
down-strokes in regard to the body, and found that with those who
 APPENDIX IT 145

had their copy-book p'accd in the middle before them only slight
deviations towards the right took place, amounting to 10, in rare
cases to 15, and on the other hand also quite inconsiderable devia-
tions towards theleft, amounting to 5, but that the average direction

was with tolerable exactness straight towards the middle of the

body.
This rule was found to be still more absolute in the case of those

children who in writing had pushed their copy-book strongly towards

the right ;
here almost in all cases the down-stroke coincided with a
line drawn towards the breast. If the above observation really attains
the importance of embodying a regular relation, then this must declare
itself in the direction of the different down-strokes of every long line.

Since in the course of such a line the position of the pen-point moves
considerably towards the right, it is to be expected, presupposing the
correctness of that observation, that the first and last down-strokes
are not parallel but converge downwards, that is, towards the breast
of the writer. Indeed, I was able to demonstrate such a relation in
pupils' handwritings in a >out 90 per cent, of the cases. That it was
not always to be found is sufficiently explained by the care taken to

give the down-strokes the same direction. It would now be in place

to explain the regularity which has been discovered in the direction

of the down-stroke from the anatomy and capability of movement of
the writing-joints, a task to whose solution Dr. William Mayer of
Fiirth has devoted himself.
The danger of remaining incomprehensible to persons who are not
medical men, however, makes me renounce this attempt. From the
law (which has since been recognised by all writers on the Vertical
Style) that in unconstrained writing all down-strokes are directed
towards the breast-bone, the relations which prevail between the
direction of the writing and the different positions of the copy-book
follow quite naturally. If the copy-book during writing is before the
middle of the body, we have to distinguish whether it lies straight, so
thatits edges are directed parallel to those of the desk, or the side

edges of the copy-book run up obliquely from left to right. The

former is called the straight middle position, in which only and solely
perpendicular strokes can be produced the latter, on the other
:

hand, is known as oblique middle position, in which the downstrokes

must stand obliquely as regards the line at about the same angle as
that which the copy-book edges form with the corresponding edges of
the desk.
Further it is
quite evident that if the copy-book lies to the right,
whether itbe straight or turned in the way just explained, the down-
strokes must stand obliquely on the line. All right-posit ions
I
146 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
therefore, are inseparably connected with sloping writing". At this
point let us once more sum up in straight middle position only
:

Vertical Writing can be written, and, vice versa, Vertical Writing only
in straight middle position. Sloping writing, on the other hand, can be

produced equally well in oblique middle position and in straight and

oblique right position. It will now have to be examined which of

these positions of the copy-book is hygienically the best, and along

with this decision judgment will also be passed as to whether the
sloping writing, hitherto customary, is without injury for the school-
child, or whether it is in this respect inferior to Vertical Writing. At
the outset, then, both the right positions must be struck out of the
competition they are, according to the unanimous verdict of all
;

experts, inseparably connected with dangers to the bodily develop-

ment of the child, and ought as soon as possible to be most strictly
forbidden in our schools.
The Spinal Column suffers in this position of the copy-book a
twist to the right and at the same time an arched bend towards the
is developed, as William Meyer
left, and with many children there
and Schenk have proved, from this faulty way of sitting at the
writing, spinal curvatures with elevation of the left
permanent
shoulder. Further, with this posture the two eyes approach unduly
near the writing, so that the production of short-sight is favoured.
The right eye in particular is injured by greater nearness to the
writing, stronger extension of the external muscles and increased
internal strain (see Fig. 25, p. 87). It was against the obvious incon-

veniences inseparably connected with every right-position that Ellinger

and Gross opened the fight, and since then in all the strife of opinions
not one even among ihe warmest friends of Sloping Writing has been
found capable of defending this way of writing.
The right position having thus disappeared, as completely imprac-
ticable, from the sphere of our further deliberations, it is to be
hoped
that in the not far distant future it will finally disappear from school
teaching also, we shall now have
occupy ourselves in greater detail
to
with estimating the rival merits of the two ways of writing still left,

Perpendicular Writing in straight middle position and Sloping Writing

in oblique middle position. That in both positions of the copy-book the

downstrokes are directed towards the middle of the breast and stand
perpendicular to the edge of the desk has already been proved the ;

difference therefore lies only in the the paper is placed under the
way
writing-hand. Since in straight middle position the edges of the copy-
book are parallel to those of the desk, the down-strokes will come to
stand perpendicularly in the copy-book too if the page is twisted,
;

then the down-strokes, whose direction is not twisted, receive an

 APPENDIX II 147

oblique position as regards the lower edge of the copy-book and the
line.

So it is lines that the whole difference (which,

on the course of the
however, not to be underestimated) of the two positions of the copy-
is

book rests, and a contest has for years been going on between the
defenders and opponents of Sloping Writing with regard to the in-
fluence which the direction of the line exercises on the bodily posture
of children.
Let us first of all consider the action of the eye in this respect.
Berlin and Rembold maintained that for our organ of sight it was of
no importance whether the line ran parallel to the edge of the desk,
or rose obliquely up from left to right for though the eye in the
;

course of the writing followed each single down-stroke, yet it did not
follow the line. It was an easy matter to prove the contrary. In
children at the age of from 8-12 years I found the movement of the
eyes in the course of a line to amount on the average to 13, and

movement was hardly ever absent.

This oblique movement of the eyes up from left to right, however
simple it may seem to the layman, is for ophthalmological reasons
which cannot be stated in detail here, but are estimated at their full

value by all specialists by no means a matter of indifference for the

eye in the long run, having as its result a left inclination of the head
with deepening of the position of the left eye. This was very plainly
evident in measurements of the posture of the head assumed by children
writing in oblique middle position the left inclination of the head
;

amounted, in the preponderating majority, to about 10, sometimes

even to from 20 to 30 in straight middle position of the copy-book
;

the posture was far better William Mayer, who repeated my

;

measurements on the school children of Fiirth, has also confirmed this

difference.
If now on the one side we have reason, with respect to the eye, to

prefer straight middle position and Vertical Writing, on the other it

was urged by the friends of Sloping Writing, that the obliquely rising
line in oblique middle position was more comfortable for the hand to
write than the horizontal one running parallel to the lower edge of the
desk. The former could be written by simple turning of the arm
round its point of support on the edge of the desk, whereas the latter

required a repeated pushing of the arm towards the right in the course
of every line. This offended so Berlin in particular declared
against the laws of movement of the hand, and on that ground Per-
pendicular Writing with its direction of the line was "unphysiological,"
that is, contrary to nature.

Let us briefly examine these views. A more frequent movement

L2
148 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
of the arm is indeed requisite in Vertical Writing, but nothing un-
physiological can be discovered in this fact. Otherwise we should
have to suppose that in all the Middle Ages, which, as is well known,
knew only perpendicular characters, or characters inclined at the most
10 to 15 to the right, violence was done to the wrist in the writing of
every line for what reason no one understands and yet throughout
those many centuries not a single person among millions of writers
observed that this way of writing was uncomfortable, nay unnatural, and
that the laws ofmovement of the hand demanded Sloping Writing with
oblique direction of the line. In all the antique representations hitherto
accessible to me of monks, women, and children in the act of writing
the straight middle-position is without exception to be seen (see Figs. I
and 2). To venture to describe such time-honoured customs as contrary
to nature is really to depreciate the inventive faculty of our ancestors.
At the same time it is by no means to be denied that in very quick
writing, to which particular callings at the piesent day see themselves
forced, Sloping Writing with oblique position of the paper is requisite ;
indeed 1 even think that in the growing need for rapidity of writing
lies the cause of the predominance which within the last two centuries

Sloping Writing has been gradually acquiring. The excessive right-

inclination of the down-strokes, amounting to 45, which to the detri-
ment of the clearness and legibility of our handwritings has only in
recent times become customary, must in any case be described as an
error which nothing justified, not even haste and hurry. To attain the

objects of quick writing a slightly oblique position of about 20 would

abundantly suffice. But it seems to me no way justifiable to use the
in

oblique style in elementary teaching ;

it no advantage at all except
offers
in writing atheadlong speed, and is therefore entirely unnecessary for
the great majority of children not only at school but also throughout
life. Moderately rapid writing, as school experiments to be mentioned
later have shown, is quite compatible with perpendicular characters
(see p. 122, also p. 153).
If sloping writing with oblique middle-position of the copy-book
involved slight left-inclination of the head only, then a serious objec-
tion could scarcely be raised against this way of writing every side- ;

inclination of the head, however, has as its result, on statistical grounds,

a compensatory twist of the spinal column, whose far reaching effect
cannot be underestimated if we take into account the many hours
which in the course of the whole school-time are spent in writing.
The principal danger lies in the fact that there are no means of keep-
ing children who write the sloping style fixed in middle position with
moderately oblique position of the copy-book ;
even under the eyes of
the teacher, and still more in writing without expert oversight, there
 APPENDIX II 149

appears almost m all scholars a nearly irresistible mania for turning

and pushing the copy-book, till the body is twisted in a dangerous
way and assumes a posture which seems incredible when seen before
one fixed in a photograph. Some chi'dren carry the turning of the
copy-book too far, the direction of the lines becomes uncomfortable
for the arm in the normal posture of writing, the right elbow is pushed
on to the desk, the right shoulder foil nvs, moves forward and rises,
the body supports itself with the right side against the writing desk,
the spinal column is turned towards the left about its axis of length
and shows an arched curve towards the right, while the left arm en-
tirely slips down from the desk, on which only the fingers of the left

hand find a sorry support.

still Others, and indeed the majority of
children, fall into the opposite fault, the copy-book is placed only
slightly oblique, and therefore pushed so much the further towards the
right, while the bodily distortions characteristic of right positions now
show themselves.
This, then, is the most serious hygienic disadvantage of Sloping
Writing, and there is absolutely no way of obviating it, that it
allows the children to abandon the oblique middle position recom-
mended by Berlin, with moderate turning of the copy-book of 3O-4O,
in which the posture, though worse than in Vertical Writing, is at any
rate tolerable, and to assume middle positions in which the copy-book
is turned through much too great an angle, together with
any degree
of right position they choose, with all conceivable bodily distortions.
Perpendicular Writing, on the other hand, can only be produced in
straight middle-position, and so gives a guarantee that the children
will be preserved in the preparation of their home-lessons also from
the bad cramped postures which threaten health in so many ways.
The Hygiene of the home-work forms an exceedingly important
section of school organization, but lies, in the nature of the case, to a
great extent beyond our influence.
We are deprived of the possibility of securing for the child in its

parents' house, good light, a writing-desk suited to its stature, and a

well-ventilated room ; and all that school hygiene has up to the present
been able to do in favour of the home-lessons has been limited,
besides quantative restriction of them, to the improvement of the

printing. We ought to gladly and vigorously take hold of the new

and exceedingly important handle which Vertical Writing offers for
hygienic regulation of the writing-posture in the parent's house ; in it

I see by far the most essential

advantage of Perpendicular Writing.
Though Sloping Writing be encompassed with well-intentioned
and carefully thought out regulations as to the position of the copy-
book and the posture in writing which must be maintained, it will
I5Q MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
never be possible- to" attain a certainty or even any probability that
the children \vi 1 remember these precepts when writing without
supervision. Slopirg Writing, aoid this is its fundamental fault, can
be written in many different posture?, and by preference in the most
distorted of all ;. Vertical. Writing, however, possesses a kind of auto-
matic- steering, apparatus, whereby it avoids bad sitting during writing.
Let what has been said suffice to indicate the scientific basis of
the writing reform in its :
main points. At the present day, after we
have accumulated several years' practical experience in schools with
regar^l to Vertical Writing, detailed investigation of many of the
more Difficult divisions of the preliminary inquiry may well be
"omitted ; especially it seems to me unnecessary in this place once
more to enter into details on the alleged law formulated by Berlin of
the rectangular intersection of downstroke and eye-base line, since
I venture to consider it contradicted by numerous measurements of
my own which were confirmed by Schenk, Daiber, and Ausderan,.
and since besides it has no bearing whatever on the practical solution
of the question. In our writing-reform, as in .all the departments of

Hygiene, no matter how thoroughly theory may have prepared the

way, the decisive word is always to be looked for only from the test
of practice. The eailiest experiments in schools were undertaken in
Middle Franconia, the ciadle of the Vertical Writing question in its
present form individual teachers of Fiirth and Schwabach
;
have now
been practising Vertical Writing for three years, those of Nuremberg
for two years, and what those men say, who have not employed
Vertical Writing only cursorily and superficially for a few weeks,
but have used it exclusively in their classes throughout the full school-
year from the first stroke on the slate to copy-book writing,
what
critics give, in this lies the decision with
judgment these competent
regard to Vertical Writing as a school writing. The teachers
of our
district know that these tests have turned out exceedingly favour-
able.
Written reports trom the gentlemen at Fiirth and Schwabach, as
well as the lecture of Herr Wunderlich at the last Nuremberg District

Teachers' Conference* allow me to cut short my account of the pro-

obtained here
ceedings at home, and the more so as the results
coincide in all essential points with those collected abroad. There is
of
only one thing I should like to mention, that my photographs
children writing vertically and obliquely, which caused some. sensation
here as well as in Munich, show better than many words the
difference in the posture of body. The objection raised from many
sides that an attentive teacher would not allow such awkwardness
even with Sloping Writing, rests on a complete misapprehension of
 APPENDIX II 151

the object of these photographs. They ought by no means' to raise a

complaint against the teacher of the obliquely-writing children I am ;

convinced that he'at sight of such a bad posture at once interposes

with severe reproof, that he does this incessantly every day from
year's end to year's end, and is forced to do it' because the children,
after a
not by his fault, but through the fault of the oblique writing,
few minutes always wrinkle up again like moistened pasteboard.
What the photographs ought to teach is, that the teachers in
obliquely writing classes perform a labour like that of Sisyphus
when :

they try to train the children to sit erect,' that the little ones only pull
themselves up by fits and starts in consequence of the command, and'
almost only during the time it lasts, and that in the home-lessons a'
picture such as that represented presents itself without any resistance.'
We must really also confess to ourselves, quite in confidence,
that'
" sit'
even in the school, when the teacher does not constantly preach
straight," when, following his principal task, he buries himself
in the

subject he is teaching, often enough the photographic pictures present'

themselves. In the taking of them neither the children who wrote
vertically nor those who wrote-obliquely were commanded to sit up-
right, in order that the conditions might resemble as much as possible
those that exist in the daily horne-lessons. That the posture of the
former, therefore, is incomparably better, is obvious from the photo-
graphs.
It is a matter for congratulation that the theoretical treatises on

Vertical Writing issuing from Middle Franconia have been tested also
in other parts of Germany and caused practical experiments in many
classes.
to letter from Principal ScharrF
According informatioryeceived by
at Flensburg, in May 1889 the Prussian Government of Schleswig-
Holstein issued through the district School- inspectorate a circular in
which it was required that in writing the -angle of elevation of the

characters should amount to not less than 70. By this enactment the
authorities in Schleswig seem desirous of
finally doing away with the'
excessive obliquity of 45which has hitherto been generally demanded.
At ScharfPs suggestion the teachers of Flensburg went a step further'
still, and after the above-named teacher had first had one class '

writing vertically since December888, 1

June 1889 introduced
in

Perpendicular Writing into most of the public schools. At the close'-

of the school year ScharfT declared in a lecture that the bodily posture }

in Perpendicular Writing is an unconstrained one, does not hinder ^

the writing-activity, and is employed by the scholars in their borne- J

lessons also. Perpendicular Writing, he said, by its superior clearness
most perfectly accomplishes the object of writing, and is easiest to-
152 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
learn, since the child brings the idea of the perpendicular direction
with him into the school, and since this idea can here at any time
be easily rectified by reference to perpend cular walls, doors, etc.,
which is not the case with any other angle of elevation.
In a writing competition which Scharff instituted between his
scholars and those of an equally high class in another school, it was
found that at least as great rapidity was attained with Perdendicular
Writing as with sloping. His best scholar required twenty-four
minutes to copy a poem, the best among the rivals thirty minutes.
In December 1889the " Schleswig-Holstein School News" con-
tained the following intelligence from Flensburg " The enactment of
:

" the
Imperial Government, concerning the less oblique position of
" the letters in writing, has led to an experiment being made here with
"
Perpendicular Writing, the results of which up to the present may
" be described as favourable almost
beyond expectation."
Vertical Writing has attained prominent importance in Vienna,
where Principal Emmanuel Bayr has adopted it with great success.
His first experiments began in April 1889, with from three to four
children in each of the five lower classes, while the others wrote in
oblique middle-position, in which the prescribed angle of inclination
of the head was marked on the writing-desk.
Afterwards, in the District Teachers' Coherence of the sixth
Vienna Communal District, Bayr delivered a lecture on the result of
his experiments, in which he very decidedly advocated Vertical
Writing, relying on a critique by Herr Toldt, Prof, of Anatomy, which
"
appeared pamphlet entitled
in print in Bayr's The Vertical Roman
Style and contains a critical sifting of the reasons
of Writing,"
adduced by authors for and against Perpendicular Writing, with the
result that Vertical Writing is given the preference on account of its
favourable influence on an erect posture of body. Bayr as well as
Toldt, and with them the whole subsequent reform-movement in
Vienna, put forward at the same time the demand that the so-called
German Current Hand should be abandoned and be replaced by the
Roman character. The Middle Franconia Medical Council, as is
well-known, has thought it more desirable not to connect the question
of the Roman character with that of Vertical Writing.
In the autumn of 1889 Bayr beganto employ Vertical Writing to
a greater extent in the public school of five classes which is under his
control. Both parallel courses of the first school-year, and also one
parallel course of the second class, wrote vertically, while the other
course wrote obliquely in oblique middle-position (according to
Berlin) as hitherto ; similarly in the third class. In the fourth and
fifth class individual scholars wrote perpendicularly, the others
 APPENDIX II 153

obliquely in oblique middle-position. Principal Mock, too, began

with Vertical Writing in the first class of his public school, as also
some first classes in the ninth district. At Bayr's request these
experimental classes were repeatedly visited during the past school
year by the most prominent educationalists of Vienna, as well as by
medical authorities, who, according to intelligence received by letter
from Bayr, all without exception were convinced of the hygienic
superiority of Vertical Writing and have since then for the most part
themselves actively led the way in favour of Vertical Writing. For
example, on the 9th of April a commission, consisting of the District
School Inspector Herr Fellner, Principal George Ernst, and several
teachers, inspected Bayr's schools in the fifth class the vertically
;

writing children were required to place their copy-book obliquely and

"
to write obliquely The children now wrote obliquely, and their
:

"
fine posture vanished ; they sat badly ; nothing more was to be
" seen of a But when ordered to place their
straight bodily posture.
"
copy-book straight again and to write vertically, they sat as straight
"as a rush." On the iQth of April Prof. Fuchs, the Vienna
ophthalmologist, spent two hours in Bayr's school. In the first verti-

cally writing class he found a model posture and clear writing. In

the case of one child the eyes were found to be 32 c.m. distant
from the writing. In the other cases no measurement was made,
because it was seen that the distance was approximately the same.
In the obliquely-writing course of the second school-year Prof. Fuchs

found, in spite of the fact that oblique middle-position was enjoined,

some children writing with straight right-position. The governess, on
being questioned, explained that the children always abandoned the
oblique position in spite of admonitions.
"Prof. Fuchs now observed the chi'dien who had their copy-
" book
placed in the way required by Berlin and Remboldt. These
" children sat
badly, like the rest." In the fifth class some wrote
vertically, others obliquely. ..."
Of those who wrote vertically only
" one out of about
twenty sat badly, of the obliquely- writing children
" the
majority. At his request the children were colectively asked
. . .

" before the to sit straight, but only the vertically writing suc-
writing
" ceeded in this." "The following direction was now given to the
. . .

" children :
'
All write as quickly as you possibly can.' The . . .

"
vertically-writing were ready simultaneously with the obliquely-
"
writing children, and no difference as regards rapidity was apparent."
Prof. Fuchs found that the perpendicular writing was clearer than
tne oblique. One vertically-writing female pupil attracted his atten-
tion by her bad way of sitting it turned out that the child had only
;

been writing vertically for three days. The results in the other classes
154 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
were similar. Prof. Fuchs has meanwhile published in the " New
Free Press" (morning edition, 2oth May, 5th year) an article in favour
of Vertical Writing, in which among other things he says that the
expectation that Sloping Writing in oblique middle position must
allow an equally good bodily posture as Vertical Writing in straight
"
middle-position has not been fulfilled. Theoretically the two ways
" of should be almost and both ought to be capable
writing equivalent,
"of being produced with equal ease in the correct posture of body.
" But all
theory is vague of this our recent school-visit ought to
;

"'have convinced us."

The Middle Franconia Medical Council is well acquainted with the
fact that the author as early as 1880 had declared the oblique middle-

position incompatible in the long run with an erect posture in sitting,

on theoretical grounds, and on account of the necessity of pursuing
the obliquely rising line with the eye. On the loth of May Bayr re-
ceived a visit from Max Gruber, Professor of Hygiene, who delivered
a ccture at the next sitting of the Supreme Council of Health on the
very favourable impression which the posture in Vertical Writing
made upon him, and moved that a commission be entrusted with the
testing of Vertical Writing.
Accordingly Herr Albert, Court Councillor, Professor Gruber, and
Dr. von Wiedersperg from the Supreme Council of Health, and also
Pr.f. E. Fuchs, Prof, von Reuss and Prof. Lorenz were named extra-

oidinary members of this commission, which then on the 4th of June,

vi h the accession of Dr. Immanuel Kusy, Ministerial Councillor and

Sn-iitary Adviser in the Ministry of the Interior, inspected the verti-

cal'y-writing children in Bayr's school and expressed themselves in
terms of praise. Meanwhile, however, as the "Journal of Education
and Instruction" (No. 8, 2nd year) informs us, Herr Albert, Court
Councillor, has already in his lectures declared for Vertical Writing.
In July, Vertical Writing with the Roman character stood on
the order of the day of the tenth Vienna District Teachers' Confer-
ence.
The speakers had all taken an opportunity either of testing Vertical
Writing themselves in their own classes or of studying it with Bayr.
Theses were heard at all the conferences in favour of Vertical Writing }

and were accepted, with exception of the tenth district, where the
thesis on Vertical Writing was defeated by 66 votes against 62.
Finally a few more reports received by letter on Bayr's vertically-
writing classes may be mentioned. Principal Bayr says with regard
to the experiments in the fifth class, part of which writes perpendicularly}
" The
part obliquely (with oblique middle-position) :
governess lays
" stress on the erect nosture of the children."
great
 APPENDIX II 155

At the beginning the children all sit straight. To the specialist,

however, even at the outset, the straight posture of the vertically-
writing children is remarkable th'e others lose this fine erect posture
;

at the first stroke which they make obliquely. After the lapse of three
minutes the sloping writers will fall together (collapse). After ten
minutes they assume the most peculiar posture, after a quarter of an
hour their head is scarcely 12 to I4c.m. distant. The vertically-
writing children remain sitting straight during the whole writing lesson,
and in as good a posture as at the beginning. Usually after four to
fiveminutes the stranger can distinguish all those who wrote vertically
from behind without having seen the writing. Dr. Aloys Karpf,
Custodian of the Imperial and Royal Trust Commission Library,
writes :
"To-day I had an opportunity, along with Principal Francis
"
Zdarsky and Teacher H. Saik, of observing the progress in this way
" of
writing among the children in several classes of Principal Immanuel
" It was observed that the posture of the children, on
Bayr's school.
" each of the times set themselves to with
many they write, was,
"
astonishingly few exceptions, a model one. The advantage of the
" endeavour to attain such a
posture cannot, from the standpoint oi
" school
hygiene, be sufficiently often emphasised. Attempts to make
" the children write
rapidly in this way succeeded to the particular
" satisfaction of
Principal Zdarsky, who attached special importance
" to this To judge by the experiments, especially in the first
point.
class, I am disposed to adopt the psychologically explicable assump-
*

" tion that more

pleasing forms are more quickly attained with those
" children who
begin at once with Vertical Writing than with those
" who are
urged to Vertical Writing only when already practised in
" the
sloping writing."
Caroline Seidl, city governess, who teaches under Bayr in the fifth
" The female
writing class (mixed) reports :
pupils of the fifth class
"
were introduced to Vertical Writing only at the beginning of the
"school year 1889-1890. The transition from the Sloping Writing
"
practised during four years to Vertical Writing involved not the least
"
difficulty for the children in respect to the posture of body, hold-
" It was also an easy thing for
ing of pen, or technical execution.
" them on command to pass from Vertical Writing at once back again
" to
Sloping Writing. . . .

"... All the children who were introduced to Vertical Writing

"afforded, in respect to faultless sitting and caligraphy, thoroughly
"
satisfactory and frequently even surprising results. ... On com-
"
paring the writing of a copy-book in which the writing was first
" and one could perceive with satisfaction how
sloping later vertical,
" much prettier and more regular an impression was made* on the be-
156 MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
"holder by the Vertical Writing as contrasted with the Sloping
"
Writing. What a salutary tranquil look a vertically writing class
"
keeps, what a restless spirit prevails among a number of obliquely
"writing scholars with the constant change of the posture of the body
" and
position of the copy-book which can never be completely kept
" in check even with the most attentive
supervision. This year I have
" made
repeated experiments in regard to the point just mentioned,
" with the female scholars of the fifth class. In respect to rapidity of
"
execution, too, I have not been able to find any kind of hindrance
" in the use of Vertical there were, indeed, many sloping
Writing ;

" writers who could not follow the vertical writers.

When compared
" these
rapid writings show a great difference in respect to their clcar-
" ness and
legibility, which decided in favour of Vertical Writing."
From the remaining parts of Austria also come reports as to the
growing interest in the question of Vertical Writing, which am ng
Others has been discussed at the District Teachers' Conferences of
Schwanenstadt in Austria, of Egydi-Tunnel in Styria, and of Salzburg.
The educational literature of Austria is much occupied with Vertical
"
Writing see for example Rieger's
; Journal for the Austrian Public
School System," 1890, Nos. 8 and n. "The Public School," 3cth
" The Lower
year, Nos. 24 and 26. Austria School News," 3rd year,
No. 22. "The Journal of Education and Instruction," 4th year, No. 8.

In Buda-Pesth, Prof. Joseph Fador advocates the introduction of

Vertical Writing. In Hamburg also on the initiative of Dr. Kotel-
mann Vertical Writing was experimentally introduced into a higher

girls'-school. In Antwerp Vertical Writing is recommended by Dr.

Mayer, school doctor (" The Female Teachers' Guardian," ist year
No. 6, p. 13). For a series of years Dierckx' writing has been prac-
tised in Brussels though not quite perpendicu'ar, it is at any rate
;

steep and only inclined about 15 towards the right. With it the
children maintain a hygienic posture, as has been recently boasted
again by Dr. von Sallwurck, Member of the Council of Education
("Journal of School Hyiene," 1890, No. I, p. 56). In France, as was
evident at the International Congress of Hygiene in Vienna 1887 and
in Paris 1889, there prevails the most gratifying unanimity on the part
of all the authorities of public hygiene in favour of Vertical Writing.
With gratifying unanimity the experiments made in the most
diverse parts of Germany show that Vertical
7
W
riting quite materially

improves the posture of the children, that it allows the degree of

rapidity required in the school and quite sufficient for the preponde-
rating majority of callings, is in case of need easy to convert into
Sloping Writing, surpasses the latter in clearness and offers besides
many kin^s of educational advantages.
 APPENDIX II 157

It is my firm conviction that Vertical Writing when generally in*

troduced does not burden the teachers, as many believe, with a new
and difficult work, but on the contrary quite materially lightens for
them the very heavy and rather thankless labour of constant exhorta*
tions to a better bodily posture, and gains them time and strength for

working at their principal task, education and instruction. I trust that

a not too distant future will confirm this prophecy.

APPENDIX III

MR. ADAMS FROST examined a Board School in London and found

among 267 scholars, 73, or 27-3 per cent, with sub-normal
therein
vision.
The (Philadelphia) Report explains that while some of .the classes
in the primary and secondary schools had had hygienic surroundings
and grammar schools the arrangements were not of the best,
in the
in the normal schools the greatest possible care had been given to the
lighting and seating of the classrooms with the result of making them
as nearly perfect as possible in the present state of our knowledge of
the requirements. Yet in spite of this and of the fact that the pupils
were much older and therefore less susceptible to unfavourable circum-
stances " The for
showing was almost as
myopic eyes bad as in
" the lower schools."

(R. Brudenell Carter F.R.C.S., Ophthalmic Surgeon to St. George's

Hospital Medical Times and Gazette, April 25 and May 2, 1885.)

Shortsightedness is developed almost exclusively during School-

life rarely afterwards and very rarely before that time.
;
Is this coin-

cidence of time accidental ? i.e. does the shortsightedness arise at the

period about which children go to school ? or has school-life caused
the shortsightedness ? Statistical enquiries prove the latter to be the
case.
The well-known orthopaedic surgeon Eulenburg also states that
90 per cent of curvatures of the spine which do not arise from a special
disease are developed during school-life.
These statements have particularly struck me as coinciding exactly
with the period of the development of shortsightedness and I have
paid the more attention to this relation between spinal curvature and
shortsightedness as they seem to form a circulus vitiosus in so far as
shortsightedness produces spinal curvature, and curvature favours
shortsightedness.
'158 MANUAL OF -HANDWRITING
The frequency of the so-called scoliosis or lateral curvature of the

spine has its principal origin in the position in which the children sit

during their school time especially while writing.

But what now is the normal posture ? The upper part of the body
is tobe kept straight, the vertebral column neither twisted to the right
nor to the left ;
the shoulder-blades both of the same height, are,
together with the upper arm, freely suspended on the ribs, and in no
way supporting the body both elbows on a level with each other and
;

almost perpendicular under the shoulder-joint without any support ;

only the hands and part of the forearms resting on the table the ;

weight of the head freely balanced on the vertebral column and not
on any account bent forward, but only turned so much round its hori-
zontal axis, that the face is inclined sufficiently to prevent the angle at
which the eye is fixed on the book from being too pointed.
(Dr. R. Leibrich, Consulting Ophthalmic Surgeon to St. Thomas 1

Hospital.)

The twisted and curved position of the spine caused by writing is

doubtless a very potent factor in the production of Lateral Curvature.
The more slanting the writing the worse the position, and I would
strongly advise that upright writing be universally substituted for the
slanting (p. 73).
The posture necessitated by ordinary writing is probably that which
causes more harm to the spine than any other, but the system of up-
right writing so ably advocated by Mr. Jackson is calculated to reduce
this harm to a minimum. I have referred to this subject in another

part of this volume but I take this opportunity of advising the reader
to obtainMr. Jackson's publications upon this system of upright writing
with which I have become acquainted only since urging the advan-
tages of substituting upright for slanting writing in the Second Edition
of this book.

(Curvatures of the Spine by Noble Smith, F.R.C.S. Ed., L.R.C.P.

Lond., &c. Third Edition, pp. 73 and 108.)
 159

INDEX

ACTIOLOGY of scoliose, 86 DEFECTS of blank books summarised,

Alphabet, written, small letters, 95 69
capital letters, 96 Delusion of slope, 28
Ancient and mediaeval writing, 112 Desks, kinds of, 74
Angles of slope in copy books, 26 widths of, 75
''
Argument against use of slates, 76 Detroit Free Press," 9
Diigram of eyes, 18, 87
BAGINSKY, Dr. on Spinal Curvature,
, Diagrams of contrasts, 131
86 legibility, 28-30
Belgian cabinet edict, 27 lengths, 33
-
Blackboard, criticism of, 107-8 positions, 16, 17
writing, 57, 61, 107, 108 Directions to writers, HO
Blank copy books, minor objections Diversity of positions, 127
to, 66 Drawing and writing, 68
and class teaching, 71
Blotting paper, necessity of, 80 E, different forms of, 54
Body, hygienic position of, 82 Early Saxon handwriting, 1 12
Bohemian School Board's Instruc- Ease in teaching, 36
tions, 92 Economical merits of vertical writing,
39
CALIGRAPHIC merits of vertical Economy in space, 34
writing, 39 Educational merits of vertical writing,
Caligraphy, qualities of good, 27 39
Capitals (model alphabet of), 96 Elizabeth, Queen, writing of, 131
Catalogue of recent works, 127 Elizabethan period specimens, 132
" "
on writing, 8 Enthusiasm in teaching, 106
City Press
Class teaching, general instructions Example of non-continuity, 51
for, 109 Experimentsin Vienna schools, 22
Classes of letters, details of, 97-100 Engraver's hair line models, 55
Classification of capitals, 103 FASHION in writing, 12
- - small
letters, 96-7 First English sloping alphabet, 116
Compactness, 52 Focus, perfect in vertical writing,,
of vertical writing, 35 18
Comparison of lengths of outlines, 33
GERMAN alphabets, two, 22
Congresses and Councils, 124
Continent, decrees of Boards, etc., cabinet, edict of, 27
123 handwriting, in
Government instructions, 31
Continuity in writing, 51
Copy books, kinds of, 56 HANDWRITING and hygiene, 26
shapes of, 77 Headline copy books, 56
writing specimens, 4, 40 Heights of long letters, 54
 i6o MANUAL OF HANDWRITING
History of vertical writing, ill R, variations in form of, 53
How to write, no Report of Vienna Commission, 19
Hygienic defects of sloping writing, Resolution of London Congress, 1 8
14, 158 Reuss, Professor A., opinion of, 19
merits of vertical writing, 38 Revival of vertical writing, 117

IMPERFECT models, 58 S, different forms of, 54

Ink, quality of, 79 Scharff, Dr., Flensberg, 151
Inspectors, etc., 125 Schenk, Dr., on scoliosis, 86
Irregular models, 62 Sc' olars' writing, specimens of, 134
Italian style, introduced, ill Schubert, Dr., experiments of, 48
his researches, 23
JAVAL, Dr., 14, 19, 120 lecture by, 142
Jolly, Inspector, 77 "
Secretary" letters or alphabet, Il6
Junction of letters, 51 Seidl, Miss Caroline, letter of, 121
KING, G. B., on continuity, 51 Shapes of certain letters, 53
LEGIBILITY of writing, 27 Shortsighted pupils. 67
Shortsightedness, 157
Leibrich, Dr., statements by, 157 Size of writing, 48
**Locke's system, 105
Slates, evils of, 76
Long lengths of. 54
letters, use of, 76
Lorenz, Professor A., opinion, 22
Sloping writing, specimens of, 4, 131
MINIMUM of imitation, 68 Smith, Dr. Noble, statement by, 158
Models or copies, 60 Specialists and educationists, 124
Movement on Continent, 1 1 8, 119 Specimens of vertical writing, 40
Mulhauser's method, 104 Speed of vertical writers, 32, 34, 153
Multum in parvo, IIO writing, 31
Myopia and sloping writing, 19, 87 Spinal curvature and sloping writing,
blackboard copies 67 19, 86, 158

NELSON, Lord, writing of, in two TABLE of merits of vertical writing, 38

styles, 133 Teacher's objection, 21
Norman handwriting, in Temporary models, 65
Nuremburg, lecture at, 142 Thickness of writing, 50
Tritton, Mr. ,
at the Mansion House, 8
OPHTHALMOLOGY and vertical writ-
ing, 19 UNGRADED MODELS, 64
Ornamental penmanship, 94
Orthopaedics and vertical writing, 22 VARYING angles of slope, 26
Other merits of vertical writing, 37 Vertical writing, a specific, 14
revival of, 117
PENS and penholders, 80 Vienna, Council, I
54
Perpendicular writing in schools,
142 WHOLE-ARM movement, 49
Position in vertical writing, 16, 17 Writer's cramp, 38, 50
of copy books, 84 Writing and drawing, 68
the pen, 90 Hygiene, 10
as it now is, I

QUALITIES of good writing, 27 of teachers, 60, 72

REPRODUCTION of pupils' copies, 59 Western Union Telegraph Opera-
tors, 31
Harison's Vertical . .

. .
Penmanship Pads.
(PATENT APPLIED FOR.)

The purpose of these pads is to enable the teacher

much practice as may be deemed necessary
to give as
with any particular set copy, the pupil writing one,
two or more sheets, if it is thought advisable to do
so, before exposing a new model. It is advisable,
also, to avoid the discouragement, incident to failure.
By the use of these pads failures may be removed,
and a new copy sheet used, or several of them, until
it is deemed advisable to proceed to the next
step.
Pads will be made to order in any of the different
rulings that may be desired when not
;
otherwise
ordered, the double guide lines will be furnished on
the first numbers of the series only, single ruling on
the higher numbers the "finishing" numbers to be
on unruled pads.
The copies are compiled from the JACKSON
system for the reason that it is considered well to
follow what has been found best after many years
experience.
The position considered best is that assumed in
drawing, viz With the body straight before the
:

desk, the copy slightly to the right and set squarely

before the pupil, the pen held so that both points of
the nib are in constant action, the pen handle inclined
slightly away from the direction of the shoulder.

WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON,

59 Fifth Avenue, N. Y. City.

SCHOOL BOOKS SCHOOL SUPPLIES

OF ALL PUBLISHERS. OF ALL KINDS.
"
"One Piece Patent Adjustable School Book Covers.
One Piece Adjustable Book Covers,
WILL FIT (WITHOUT CUTTING) ANY SIZED BOOK.
of:
ltMrtmcni

.
Q*. . .,.

Mr. William B. Harisen,

3 Bast 14th Street.

Kw York City,

Dear Sir:

Some time since we received at the Bureau a pacXage of yent* new

adjustable book covers* You ask whether I consider the device of value for

public school use as it has been recommended on the grounds of sanitation. 1

think that the point is well taken, and the simplicity and ingenuity of th

device is something astonishing to a person who has often experimented on the

proper form for a convenient book cover- It deserves to come into general use

where book covers are used*

'

Very respectfully,

Price per 100 Delivered to Any Address U. S., Canada or England.

No. i. Fits i6mo., I2mo. or small 8vo. - -
$1.50
2. Fits 8vo., small geographies, etc., -
2.50
3. Fits 4to., large geographies, etc., 3,50

Contract Price to Boards of Education.

In lots of 1,000 or more with labels.
No. i. $12.50 No. 2. $17.50 No 3.
 FOREIGNER'S
MANUAL OF ENGLISH
BY

H. F, CLARKE.

8vo, Cloth. Introduction Price, 75 Cents.

is a generally conceded fact that any language may

IT be taught more' successfully by employing that lan-

guage only.
Gouin has demonstrated that the most direct method
is that associating tbe object or action with the spoken
words, thus giving a mind picture and leading to thought
in the language to be acquired; also he lays great stress

upon the systematic building up of a vocabulary by fre-

quent repetition and use of the simple words and phrases,
practically as a child first learns to talk.
For the purpose of -teaching English to foreigners,
especially where classes may be composed of several nation-
alities, as in our-large city public schools, the want of a
practical method, capable of being used by an English
teacher has long been felt It is quite impossible to obtain

teachers with sufficient command of the several languages,

as well as English, to prepare the children of our foreign pop-
ulation so that they may take their place in the regular
classes ;
in recognition of this fact the Fore'gner's Manual
has been prepared.
French Songs and Games,
PER SET, 5O CENTS.

Verbal Quartettes,
PER SET, 5O CENTS.

By ALICE WERNER STEINBRECHER.

The aim of the FRENCH SONGS AND GAMES is to

amuse and at the some time familiarize pupils with
the niceties of French pronunciation. The songs
and many of the games are with music and
are a careful selection from the most
popular in use in Paris.

"VERBAL QUARTETTES" is a game to be played in

French German or English, for the purpose of
promoting conversation in either language;
it is similar to the game of

"Authors.''

"DIVIDED PROVERBS."
By the same author. Per set, 50 cents. French, Spanish,
and English game. To be played in a similar

way to Verbal Quartettes.

Any of above mailed upon receipt of price.

WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON,

59 Fifth Avenue, New York.
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