Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-01-11
ing military commissions the government

ing military commissions the government
pays seventy dollars a week.
Though photography is not yet sufi-
GENTLY perfect to supersede our present
system Of writing, it has, at least, demon
strated the possibility of such a result 1t
has the balance of argument in its favor.
Longhand is not by any means an exact sys-
TEN. Half the handwriting of the day is
almost illegible to all but the person who
writes it. The simplest combination of
marks must necessarily be the most legible
The word though in longhand requires more
than twenty distinct motions of the pen; in
shorthand it requires only two, and, of
course, the latter is the most legible. The
eye catches the meaning of the figures
';1865" quicker than of the words CO Ell gh-
teen hundred and sixty A perfected
shorthand which shall answer all the pur-
poses of ordinary writing, if taught in the
5 schools, would make its way into general
use by It's own usefulness and economy, until
those who only understood the old system
would wake up some morning to find them
selves obsolete. IF shorthand were adopted,
Of course fine penmen would lose the oppor-
tunity for graceful fourishes N their chi
Biography. for every mark must then mean
something. Those writers who attempt to
make their articles humorous by shocking
photography would be compelled to derend
upon their ideas alone for their wit. The
adoption Of photography would also tend
strongly to hasten the use of phonetic
alphabet in printing, and, perhaps, in the
distant future, a shorthand t7pe might also
be invented. The writer for the press would
give his manuscript in shorthand to the
printer, thus saving him three-fourths of
his labor. This might seem to some an ar
gument against it, rather than in its favor.
The world, we are told, is inundated
with printed matter now, and any innova-
ton which will facilitate writers in furnish
ing copy for the press would be positive
curse to the community. The want OF the
time is not more literature, but less and bet
ter literature AS it is now, man can hope
to read only few Of the volumes put forth
by the publishers If Dumas had the ad-
yagtage of shorthand, the startling result
might occur that he would write novels so
rapidly that man of ordinary intelligence,
reading all the working hours OF the day,
and reading this authors works alone,
would not be able to keep up with him, be-
sides running the risk Of becoming hope
less lunatic in the attempt. But everything
that diminishes labor benefits the oommu-
nifty, and the rule will not be falsiied in the
case of authors. A writer once said of his
book, 81 wrote it in two volumes because |
had not time to write it in one9' The author
viii have more time to think and to con-
dense; he will not write more, but he will
write better. Literature is priced in the
market to-day, too generally, according 20
quantity rather than according to quality.
When it becomes more easily obtained, all
the more care will be given to its quality
1t is when peaches are plenty that we ask
for those that are ripe, large, and luscious.
The minister, student, and author, now
dragging this pen-burden after them, day
by day, will then find time for reading,
meditation, and, above all, for recreation.
The amanuensis, the copyist, the book
keeper, the thousands upon thousands who,
in great city, sit at their desks all day in
dark Offices, bending their spines over the
paper, as the seamstessos used to bend over
their cloth, will find half of their lives re-
stored to them. Somebody has written
parody on
"stltch stitch stitch"
commencing
wildly portraying the miseries of the slaves |
of the pen. But shorthand will accomplish |
greater revolution than the sewing ma
chine, for it will shorten and straighten the
road to learning, and give new impulse
and freer and wider range to thought
And it will, also lift many oppressive bur-
dens of labor, add years to many human
lives, and hasten "that new childhood Of
the world" when
"Life of itself shall dance and play,
Fresh blood through Times shrunk veins be hurled
And labor meet delight half way"
G. w.