The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1879-01-23

the importance of the subject, the time
spent in writing will be regarded by the
pupils as the most pleasant part of the
day, and the teacher will be richly re-
warded by the rapid advancement of his
pupils.
We will now notice one more feature,
viz: The Gift of Graces. Some men have
an inborn grace which finds expression
in whatever branch of industry they may
have chosen for the best efforts of their
YES. There are graceful orators, states
men, lecturers, editors, teachers grace
is found too in the humber walks of life;
in the shop, behind the clerks counter,
at the bench, in the feld,-anywhere no
matter how lowly the spot, you can find
evidences of this spirit of grace. A man
in whose being is this rare inspiration. is
bound to be successful. There is q vast
amount Of genius in moulding heteroge
neous elements and events, of which the
every day life is full, into beautiful and
enduring forms. The poets genius is
largely the genius of grace. He clothes
the prosaic thoughts and events in the
magic robes of song and puts sweet
| ness into them men never dreamed was
there. In thousand ways the gift of
grace enables men to impress their lives
upon the bright pages of history and hu-
manity; but in no one way, l think, does
it find so full and perfect expression as
in the art of the penman.
Here indeed the key word to success is
"grace, grace in the soul, the heart.
the hand, the eye, grace expressed and
grace suppressed; grace full of boldness
and chastity. Where in all the catalogue
of arts can you find SO many exquisite
forms whose every line is grace? 1t
seems to be the general opinion that all
ND 10
penman, is practice. Now l would by
no means discourage SO noble gift as
perseverance and yet l do assert, that,
just as in music, one cannot become mas
ter of the art of penmanship without
some natural talent Take person who
has fine sense of the proportions of
things, who appreciates symmetry when
he sees it, and set him to work with
good pen and ink, on good paper, with
no teacher, save his own sense of the
beautiful in all art and then, after one
months practice compare his execution
with that of another who has had the
best of teaching and has practiced with
the utmost assiduity for the same time,
and yet, in whose heart there is no chord
responsive to the harmony of blending
line upon line, and curve upon curve,
and the contrast will be very suggestive.
The penman, in order to deserve his
name, must possess, at least in some de-
gree, the gift of grace. This is no sup
position or fine theory Look at our
leading penmen. Are they not men
whose souls are in the work, who under
stand the poetry of motion, and whose
good taste and proficiency in their own
art, is equaled by their appreciation, for,
and delight in the other arts? There
are hands, 1 know, which love the pen
as well as the aute, the violin, or the
harp; and they manipulate their beloved
instrument as cunningly and as soulfully
There is really no enlargement between
all these beautiful arts like the Muses.
of old, they go hand in hand; and there
is one spirit which breathes through
them all, proving that genius lies not in
the hand nor in the eye, but in the
Soul.