Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-01-11
Notes from a ShOrGsEiand Res
porter.

The reporter at public meetings occasionally
finds a man staring at his notes over his
shoulder with undisguised admiration. and
astonishment, sometimes inquiring, incred-
ulously, "Can you take it down just as they
speak it ?" Scan you read that? 2" Yet
shorthand is explained by the very simple
idea that man ought to be able to move
his fingers as rapidly as he does his tongue.
As the tongue forms sound, why may not
the finger also trace it What reason is
there why writing should not be as rapid as
speech The invention Of letters may have
marked an era Of progress at dark period
Of the worlds history, but it is questionable
whether we Of this generation nave any rea-
son to thank our ancestors for saddling
upon lis the awkward and complicated me
thod Of writing which has dragged its slow
length along through the centuries and con-
sumed an inf cite amount Of time OF the hu-
man race in a useless and tedious mechani-
cal or Grafton. But, even with this cum
brous alphabet, there is no sensible argu
r.ent for spelling the word though with six
letters photography, or writing by sound,
which is the system of shorthand now in
general use-dispenses with these encum-
.branees of letters, and is based on pho
netic alphabet Having defined the sounds
of the language, it takes the simplest marks
that can be made-short, straight lines and
curves-to represent the consonants, and
assigns dots, and dashes Of the size Of q
hyphen, to. represent the yowels. The con-
sonants forl,l the outline of the word, and
the dots and dashes, according to their po-
sition, indicate the vowel sounds. But as
the tongue blends particular sounds rapidly,
so it became necessary to introduce contrac-
tons Of the photographic alphabet, and this
was done by means of circles and hooks,
large and small, and by double-length char
acters. The system, therefore, is simply
one of straight and curved lines, circles,
hooks, and dots. The letter occurring SO
frequently at the end as well as at the be-
ginning of words, it was provided that that
letter should be represented by small Cir
ce The letter / is a snort, straight, per-
pendicular mark st, therefore, would be
character something like half note in mu-
sic stricken downwards; IS would have the
circle at the end. K is a short, straight,
horizontal line; to represent KS the line
would have circle at the end. A great
many words begin with a consonant fol-
lowed by = or !, as pray, play, cro'0s, clothes
It was, therefore, contrlyed that little
hook commencing the consonaut mark
should represent these letters. A hook on
the upper side, or right hand side, repre-
scented I; on the under, Or left hand side,
r.; SO clothes, pronounced ktoS,
would bela straight, horizontal stroke, COM
mencing with slight hook on the upper
side, and ending with a small circle, also
on the upper side, all made with a continu-
Gus motion of the pen, and the dash for the
vowel added afterwards. In writing ski a
a little circle was added inside the hook /; in
writing skr the circle was SIMPLY placed
on the side of the character. So u and
ton occur frequently at the end of words,
manner. Thus, with other contractions and
notifications te be learned in the proper
books, q complete system was constructed
by which the fingers easily keep pace with
the vocal organs.
But shorthand is not yet sufficiently per-
feet to take the place of longhand, though
are being introduced every
year which render it more simple, consist
emf, and conspicuous, and remove complica-
lions and arbitrary expedients In short
har as it is practiced, for instance, it is
necessary to make a distinction between
Ii ght and heavy stroke, which, with pen
ell, is very difficult to do. A perpendicular
stroke, as we have said, is t; but the same
stroke made heavier is d, that letter being
essentially only q heavier sound of t. A
horizontal stroke is k; the same stroke
made heavier is 9 hard. A light downward
curve is +, heavy one is q, and so on. Pho
is used almost solely now for GER
5atim reporting. Many contractions which
impair its beauty and correctness, but
which make it more rapid, are the result of
its use merely for this purpose. In Verbatim
the vowels are mostly omitted,
the consonant outline being sufficient to
indicate the word. Many of our commonest
words are represented by oontractions of
their outline used as workshops. These
workshops, in their turn, are blended into
one continuous motion of the hand, so that
hundreds of phrases, such as ~ do not
know" "Under the present circumstan-
ces," "Mr. Chairman" etc., are repre-
scented by distinct character. Some re-
porters join words together more frequently
than others. slight mistake il trans
lating the notes of speech or dictation, or
testimony in courts, sometimes results IN
very ludicrous blunders. The instance in
which reporter is stated to have rendered
the Latin quotation, t'Amicas PLato aaeicus
Socrates, sed MAJOR 0eratos, as follows: 81
may cuss Plato, i may cuss Socrates, said
Major Veritas,'' is probably an invention,
but does very well for an illustration At
a meeting in New York, Elihu Burritt once
closed speech with a sentiment to the
effect that Labor, tbought-honored labor,
may be the only earthly potentate that shall
ba I'd Who4
have been his surprise to have found it
printed in q morning paper, I" Labor, that
honored labor, may be the nail lately pat
ented that shall be crowned on this CONT
nent." The consonant outline Of "only
earthly potentate being similar in his
notes, to email lately patented" the re-
porter was stupid enough to write it out
according to his first impression. Another
reporter, writing the sentence, Shall
awaken all along his path of glory rem
dered it, 'Shall wagon all along his path OF
glory" the outline for wagon being nearly
the same as. that for awaken A reporter,
writing vf1t one Of DR.. Chapin's sermons
which are sometimes full Of large words,
and, when he rises into the ecstacies Of elo-
quence, are delivered with more rapidity
than is the case with any other orator in
America-once came across the sentence,
Christianity has been the orifamme Of
freedom in all ages" His notes were rather
indistinct, and he was not familiar with the
word oridamme. After much cudgeling Of
his brains, he finally rendered the sentence,
"Christianity has been the hornblower of
freedom in all ages" That was the only
word at all appropriate which he could
guess from the peculiar Photographic out
line of orifamme. A practiced and intelli-
gent photographer, however, very seldom
makes a mistake through any imperfectioE