The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-08-03
The SIGN MANUAL.

A great deal Of precious time has been wasted,
first and last, in specuations touching the hand
writing as revelation of personal character.
The proposition has been seriously made that
there are direct and readily traceabe analoges
between the style of a mans character and con-
stituton, and the style Of his chirography
Edgar A. Poe went somewhat elaborately into
the matter in his day. Recently, the Round Table
has bad an article on the subject, and the i'm
preston is general that in some way not clearly
understood, a mans handwriting is an index TO
the man who owns and moves the hand. So far
as we have observed, the reverse Of this supposi-
ton is much nearer the truth.
We do not know man or woman in the world
whose handwriting betrays in any respect their
real character. We know of methodiCaI, care
full, iastdious persons, in all matters concern
il & their dress and personal habits and associa-
;ons, who are the yeriest slOvGns in their hand
writing. On the other hand, we know Of others
whose character for slovenliness is ndubitaby es-
tablishI q, with a handwriting which is the per-
fection Gf precision and neatness. Rufus ChOate
was a man with as high an appreciation of
every thing that was beautiful and elegant and
graceful as lawyer can possess, and reeled off
the most delightful rhetoric on the smallest pro-
vocational classical fanCiful brilliant glorious
man-yet he had a handwriting that was simply
barbarous. Cowards write a bold hand frequently
and brave men an insignificant hand-as liue and
nj meaning as schoolgirls.
There are several reasons why mans hand
writing is never to be taken as an index to the
man, any further than 1t may be an index to a
single faculty of the nun. Mr.. Choate was q
poor penman simply because he did not possess
the faculty of becoming q good penman. That
mechanical gift OF mind and that facility of
manipulation which are necessary TO make a
good penman were not his. That was all. HIS
handwriting did not represent his mind in its
general characteristics, any more than IL repre-
SeDtcd the mind of his great grandfather. Some
very small men write skilfully aud boldly
splendid hand, and that hand represents only
their gift in the art OF penmanship. IL goes no
deeper than this. Others write Il very inferior
land, who are tas'efnl cultivated, gifted, and
good. II is exactly with writing as with any
other mechani cal art, or even with a fine urt. If
II should become every mans duty 10 paint in oil
1t such painting should be, like writing, q uni
yersally necessary means of communication be-
tween man and man-we should have precisely
the same result that we do in penmanship.
ThUse who have gift for painting would paint
well, though they might be very insignificant
men, and those who have no gift for painting
would paint in Though they might be kings in
all intellectual and moral excellence. Some men
have no gilt for music-indeed, some have no
love fer music, or tolerance for it-who are, not
| witbstaDding, excellent persons; while others,
with the most exquisite musical taste, enlarged
and chastened by culture, are the loosest, mean
| est, lowest, dirtiest of mankind.
There are other causes that modify mans
handwriting, sufficient of themselves without
any reference TO native gifts, 20 destroy IL as au
| index 10 personal character. Early training in
| the formation of letters, early habits of holding
the pen, infrequent or familiar usage, steady or
| unsteady nerves, purposes for which writing is
| eXecnted-whether for permanent record or only
| Tor personal and passing use-musces used for
| heavy or for light work haste or leisure-all
| these modify a mans handwriting. We mean
| by tins that two men, with exactly the same
constitution and character, starting together "a
learn to write, will, under different circum.
1 "A frnttr hu, IN.
holding bis pen incorrectly, using his muscles
some what in heavy lifting, hurried with his
| work, and not writing very frequently, will
write hand rs unlike tina OF his double, whose
haHd has been formed under an opp lSite set o
circumstances as possible. To bring the matter
into smaller compass, the handwriting Of TIM
present manuscript would have been an entTel
| dff rent one, had tho circumstances undui
which II was acquired been different and thu
without any material difference IN the character
| OF the writer.
Heaven forbid that we should Judge our friends
| by their handwriting! The editorial staff of thi
| journal would fare poorly before any court o
Inquiry which should 2dmt mans handwriting
| rs valid testimony against his character or pur
suits. Ore writes like German metaphysical
| after his nineteenth mug OF beer and his tentl
'mtcr cbaum yet be neither smokes nor drinks
| nor iudulges in metaphysics. One write
| like a converted Chinaman, who discards pen
entirely, and uses the familiar chopsicks
but he was born in the land Of the fEec AM
the home of the brave, and belieye@in il
moreover, we think he has an impression that b
writes an elegant hand, and Is rather proud of It
Another still has originated o system, whiC
must be read while the ink is wet, or It canno
be read at all, every sembRnce Of penmansh
passing away as soon as the ink is dry. We sa
nothing of our most valued correspondents, 70
fear Of wounding their vanity. IL Is enough 70
us 10 say thar we do not lay up their handwritin
against them; and thus we count all this tai
about penmanship as a key 20 character as tli
idlest of all the idle hum6ggs set flying by idl
peOple.-SpraQfeld Republican.