Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-03-19
READING BAD PENMANSHIP.
stupid Readers. Not had Penmen. Mainly
at FauIt-ro Anaiyze the Great Thiss.
Needed.
lLondon SPECTATOR

stupid Readers Not Fad Penmen, Mainly
ut FauIt-To Anaiyzc the Great Thins
Needed.
lI.ondon Spectator.
Anecdotes Of ludicrous, or worse than
ludicrous, mistakes occasioned 10y bad
handwriting are numerous enough.
Some of them are as obviously invented
as MoOre's freshly blown noses" for
freshly blown roses" and others tell
strongly of the stupidity of the readers.
= small case of the stupid sort comes to
us from Jersey. 1t is said that the
Lleutenant-G Governor, General Nickol-
son, in apologizing for his absence from
temperance meeting, referred to " the
needs of further restrictions on the sale OF
drink, but that the last few words were
read 50 III the Isle of Drink, and that
this led to indignant protests Oh the
part OF certain citizens" This is quoted
as a warming to those who will not
take the trouble to write legibly," but 1T
IS equally !; warning to readers OF hand
writing to use what brains they may
happen TO possess All who have had
much experience In the performances of
printers and copyists know very well
that, though misreadings arc fewest when
the original manuscript is good, some of
the most irritating blunders are OK
tracted from the fairest ''copy those,
namely, which make wretched, bastard
sense, that perverts the meaning or en-
ieebles the style The reason is oh
vious less strenuous attention is paid
TO good handwriting than to bad. Even
IN setting up" from plain print,
strange mistakes are made for instance,
in setting up the last line of "Guin-
evere" in review of the "Idyls of the
King" the printers of the review, having
the book before them, printed, I" To
where beyond these vices there is
peace" for voices"
Handwriting bears much blame that
does not belong to it. OF course, a
mans writing ought to be legible, but
allowance must be made for idiosyncrslsy,
fatigue, or illness. A handwriting with
out peculiarities is handwriting with
out landmarks or checks upon false read
ing and, as absolutely good writing is
not to he looked for in the business of
life, the dull school-boy hand, with no
special character III 1T, is not without it's
dangers. The very worst manuscript
may be made out by reader who can
and will analyze. but those who can and
will analyze are few, Here, as else
where. there are not many who find a
litdSLLIb III tdhiHE tIOAptt anu apply
obvious general rules. Take the subject
of spelling, for instance The lule
which decides in certain words whether,
when the sound Is ee, the word shall be
spelled Ell or ie is 80 short and easy that
any one who had no previous knowledge
of human dulness would think it utterly
impossible that mistake should even
he made by a writer who had once cast
his eye upon the rule; but what the fact
is we have some of lis melancholy rea
sons for knowing. Now, take the case
Of badly written manuscript. You vii
find whole group of people fumblinf
at a sentence, and making, as to on,
particular obscure word, guesses upor
guesses, all III which are simply absurd
When it is demonstrably clear that the
missing link must be an adyerb, you
may hear six sane men trying nouns o.
verbs 1t may be clear that the darl
word must he one OF strong praise of
given kind, the dictionary possiblitie
of the case lying within narrow compass
but scores of false shots viii be mad
because nobody has the brains or thu
will to say to himself Whatever thi
word may be, we can positively deter
mine what it Is not, and so limit on
range of guessing" In making out ba,
manuscript it is more than half the bat
tie to be able to determine ut glanc
what a word neither is nor can by an
possibility be.
There are here and there human be
mgs who are by nature incapable {
writing a good hand, Just MS there AZ
others who can not draw a straight lin
or true circle, or even recognize one
But the ugly manuscript of the clumsy
listed struggler after form is usual
very clear. Haste, uneasipess, exces
sive work, nervous preoccupation- thes
pre- the chief causes of obscure hanC
writing with most of lis. But when
mans manuscript has once made for i
self fixed character of its own neithe
printers nor expert copyIsts would hS
it to come round to tame simplicity an
correctness 1t would he, in anothe
way, the case of the lover with squil
who ruined his suit by going to the ocl
list and getting his eyes put straight
the lady could no longer meet his eye
the old affectionate way, and she di
missed him. Still, there are faults
handwriting which are inexcuss,ble
themselves, and which neither compos
tor nor copyist can possibly like to Sc
One Of the worst of these is lax practit
III putting tte strokes 10 slch letters
~ and n. There is no harm in cuttir
down certain syllables, such as mert AT
ing to mere lines or tvirls, but where 6
attempt is made to express the chara
tiers the number of strokes ought to
uniform. Another practical Observable
is that furried handwriting gains l
time for the writer. A downright la7
scrawl is another matter, and so is tn
kind of bad writing in which we can 81
i'll the badness egotistic self-assertlt
or disregard of the eyes and wits
others