, 1880-04-07

%So0 In AAA
gers quite alike. The pupil is then
taught to make lines in a certain direction,
and to copy characters so large that they
have no resemblance to writing at all;
and to care particularly about upstrokeS
and downStrokes, and all manner of
minutie, which, II they are of any value at
all, will soon come of themselves. So
stron-. in spite OF centuries OF experience,
is the belief i'll this method, that machines
for controlling the fingers while writing
have repeatedly been invented; and the
author of q bocG before MS, a professional,
is inclined to Tic them UP iii some fashion
with ribbon.
We believe that the whole of this method
is a mistake, that there is no single system
OF m~6cdnigNe for writing; and THAT a child
belon- inF to the educated classes would be-
taught much better and more easily if,
after being once enabled 10 make and
recognize written letters, it were let alone,
and praised or chidden not for its method
but for The result. Let the boy hold his
pen as he likes, and make his strokes as he
likes, and write at tie pace he lkeS-hUrry,
Of course. being uIScOuraeed-but insist
strenuousiy and peISistently thai his copy
shall be leeible, shall be clean, and shall
approach the good copy set before him,
namely, a wellwrirten letter, not a ruhbishy
text on a single line, written IS nobody
but a writing-maSter ever did or viii write
till the worlds end. He will make a mud
die a. first, but re will soon make a pasSablo
imitation OF his copy, and ultimately Gevel-
ore a characteristic and strong hand, which
may be bad or good, but will not be either.
meaningless, undecided, or illeeible. This
hand will alter, of course, very greatly as
he grows Oldtt. It may alter at eleven,
because ii is at that age that the rance of
~ 800 = I-Al - -AA - IL
itself: and it Will alter ct seventeen, be-
cause then The system of taxing notes at
lecture, which ruins most hands, will
nave cramped er3 temporarily spoiled
the writing, but The character viii form
itself again and will never be deficient
in cloa.Eess and decision. The idea
that it is to be clear viii have stamped
itself, and confidence will not have
aeon destroyed by worrying little rules
about attitude, and angie, and slope, which
the very irritation OF the pupils ought 10
convince the teachers are, from some per-
sonal peculiarly. inapplicsble. The lad
will write, as ne does anything else that he
cares to DC, rs we'll ss he can, and with q
cettain efficiency end speed, Almost
every letter he, gets will give him some
resistance, and the masters rsnlonstrauce
on las lie gibiIitv will be attended to like a0y
Other caution given in the curricu!vm.
As it is, he simply thinks that he does not
write well. instead OF thinking that not
to write well is to tall sbolt in q very
useful accomplishment.
We are NOT quite sure that another pro-
cess ought not to be gone through, before
wiling is tSught ct all. Suppose our boys
ard gi,is were taught to read manuscript
ahttIe? They nre taught to read print, but
manuscript not psint, nos very like it, and
they are left to pick up the power of
reading that The best way they can /; they
never devote halt.an.hoor a day for six,
months to manuscript reading. If they
did, it would be easier to them all their
lives, and they would learn to believe in
Eligibility as the greatest, or, at any rate,
the most useful. quality that writing can
display,-an immense improvement If our
experience can be trusted, on the usual
youthful ideal GU the subject. The business
OF life, no doubt, soon teaches children to
resi manuscript but many of them never
read it easily, and retain through life an
uncooquerabie aversion to the WORK, from
the fatigue and vexatiou. which it causes
them. We have known men so conscious
of this defect, that they always have i'm
portant letters read aloud to them and