Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-02-21
AUTHORS MANUSCRIPTS.
Pecuiiarities of Penmanship of Some
Celebrated Writers.

Mrs. Louise Chandler MOulton's
manuscript is Joy to the soul of editor
and compositor, written in clear, I'M
shaded, perfectly Iegible hand, punctu-
ated, capitalized and Photographed with
the utmost eXactness. She sometimes
tells with glee and pardonable pride
how, when she was less known to fame
than now, her health was proposed by
George William Curtis at New York
press dinner, as the contributor who
furnished perfect copy.
By means OF fac smile reproductions.
everybody is familiar with the small,
elegant chirography of Longfellow, and
Whittier's rather scrawly, unshaded
hand. The manuscript of the former
was neat and precise, that of the latter
suggests that it has been windswept.
There was p certain resem blance be-
tween the writing of Whittier and that
of Emerson, but the latter was smaller
and more compact in character.
DR.. Holmes manuscript, trig and
tidy as its author, is in small, run
ming hand, which gives one the impress
sion of having been written with great
ease and rapidity,
Mrs. May L. Booth, editor of Har-
per's Bazaar, writes in uneven, easy
characters, not difficult to read, al
though her copy is less legible than
her letters. Mrs. Julia Ward HOwe's
literary work goes to the printer wholly
unshaded and with separate letters Of
ten crushed and twisted out of shape,
yet offering no special difficulty to the
compositor. Mrs. Celia Thaxter writes
an odd, back handed chirography,w with
a margin on the left, but running
sharply to the edge of the paper on the
right.
Mrs. Lucy Stone Blackwell puts her
editorials for the Romans Journal on
the backs of circulars or any scrap of
paper that comes to hand, in a stiff,
school girlish character, awkward and
uniformed, with frequent erasures and
numerous paragraph marks. Col. I.
W. Higginson's contributions to the
same paper are sent in on thin brown
MANILA paper. in a careless, nervous,
compact hand, with moderate num-
Der of cancellations.
Miss Fletcher, author of Kismet and
other novels, produces a MS. which
has the clearness and sharpness of an
engraved page, with an elegant, some
what affected style of chirography.
George Parson' S Lathrop's MS. is in
nervous, jerky characters, with few
erasures and an exactness of punctua-
ton and printers marks, which prob
ably results from his editorial expert
ence.
w. d. HoWell's handwriting is rather
clear, very irregular, and decidedly
cramped.
Henry James writes very black,
heavy hand, which has much the APP
pearance of having been written with a
quill. 1t is rather blind, the final VS.
and g's running off into funny wiggles
and quavers.
Nora Perry is fond of violet ink, and
writes a scrawIing, graceful hand,
which, in moments of haste, melts
away into intricacies of illegibility. 1t
IS true that it can be deciphered; but it
much endangers the eternal welfare of
the compositor.
Jean Ingelow's copy is scrawled up
on unruled paper in the most loose
and uniformed of handwritngs, yet
with nothing angular about the charac-
The manuscript of VIM. LLOYD Gar
rison is rare, because he had a horror
of autograph collectors, and took par
ticular pains to have his copy returned
to him. The example before me covers
four sheets of ruled note paper, closely
written in purple ink, in precise, old
fashioned hand, exactly correct in
punctuation, photography, capitaliza-
ton and paragraphing; indeed, save for
its being written on both sides of the
leaf, it is what printer would call an
ideal piece of copy.
Mrs. A. ID. Il. Whitney scrawls in q
light. scragglY, Italian hand all over
her sheet, not easy to read and not
very pretty to see.
Julia Hawthorne writes a hand in
which the letters are all we'll form
ed, bat which are so small that one al
most needs q microscope to make them
out.
Mr.. T. B. Aldrich, who himself writes
q fine looking page, but in achirography
in which the characters are so hastily
made as to have the appearance of be-
ING but half formed, expresses hearty
dislike for manuscriptin the type writer.
vet Mark Twain copy is in this form
His penmanship is clear and business
like, but he dictates nowadays to a
stenographer, who prints the result up
on type writer as aforesaid. One of
the oldest looking of manuscripts
which one sees now is that of William
Winter. The first glance at his copy
gives the impression that it is written
in Japanese character, SO strange and
crooked it is. 1t is easily read, how
ever; is written on small sheets and is
liked by the compositor.
Miss Louisa Alcott cultiyates a swing
ing, back-hand penmanship, the lines
far apart and easily read. Lucy Lar
CONS hand is cramped and old fash
toned, like that of very old lady; and
the same is true to q less degree of
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.-Bost0n Letter
to Philadelphia Pr IS.
It is said on official Methodist au-
thority, that Sojourner Truth was not a
hundred and eight years old when she
I,