Wichita eagle., 1889-09-04
FLY TRACKS ON PAPER.
EMINENT AUTHORS AND EDITORS
WHO WRITE NLEGIBLY.

In q letter written by Nathaniel Haw-
| thorne when youthful student at Bowdoin
college he remarks: WHAT do you think Of
my beconing an author and relying fos sup
port upon my Fena Indeed, think the
illegibilityof my haodrSIsia Is very author
| ike The truth Of This early assertion Is
attested by the fact THAT at his death the
famous romancer left several maouscripss
that remained long unpublished because no
one could be found % deciphsC their insrica-
| cieS His remarl, also serves to illustrate ths
proverbial reputation for poor penmanship
with which, in common with the legal pro-
| fession, literary people have been so long
| credited.
This reputation Is, at the present day at
least, almost wholly undeserved, since, with
very few exceptions, the chiography of our
| most prominent authors is quite unsxception-
| able in its legibiity. 1t is no doubt true that
| the handwriting of Josauin Miller resembles
| di1apidated hedgs fence; that Nora Perry's
Eelts away into intricacies OF iliegibility;
| that Aldrich's characters are but half formed,
| and that William Winters are so strange
and crooked as to resemble japanese hero
glyphics; but, on the other hand, the chirog-
raphy of Holmes, Howells, Harte and host
Of others are fair examples of the clerical
! neatpess of most of our modern writer's man
uscripts.
The little pleasantly of Hawthorne's, how
ever, had some foundation in fact, as many
amusing anecdotes are recorded Of vsritahls
curiosites OF chirography among the most
noted writers of the past. Some years ago q
new form of annual was proposed in Eng
land, which was to consist Of story by en-
inent authors, each of whom was to write q
page, to Reproduced infac-simile. After re-
ceiving few manuscripts the publishers were
obliged to abandon the undertaking, as it was
found that many of the pages would be
utterly inegible TO the ordinary reader, and
because some Of them would contain twenty
words, while others would comprise enough
to fill a newspaper column. This idea was,
however, practically carried out in an edition
Of one OF Hugh Conways stories, in which
each alternate page was a fac-simile Of the
authors manuscript; but it is safe to say that
few readers ever took the trouble to decipher
these pages, as the penmanship was almost
microscopic, and was rendered still moro
ilegible by being blurred in the process Of
printing.
The number of writers who have attained
this useless art of minute penmanship, so per-
picking to editors and printers, is really re-
markable AS is well known, Charles Dick
ems was one OF the chief blenders in this di-
rection, his handwriting being very diIninu-
tive, while every inch of his manuscript was
usually covered rs though paper were both
scarce and expensive. Els habit Of writing
with blue ink upon blue paper, with frequent
interlineations and cross lines, completed bis
enormities, and must have made his copy a
burden to the wearied proof reader and COM
positor OF ike nature was tho chirography
of Douglas Jerrcld, who dotted down his
jokes upon little slips Of blue paper in letters
smaller than the type in which they are pres
entity to be set Charlotte Brontes hand
writing was so exceedingly delicate that it
appeared to have been traced with needle,
while Thackeray wrote u fine feminine hand,
and delighted i'll ornamenting his manuscript
with pen and ink sketches and caricatures of
his famous characters.
The most celebrated exponent OF bad PEN
manship in America was Rufus Choate,
whose signature has been aptly compared to
gridiron struck by lightning, and whose
handwriting was in many cases, absolutely
undecipherable, even by the writer himself.
On one occasion Mr. Choate was having his
house repaired, and made arrangements to
have a carved mantelpieoe put up, promising
to send the model Failing TO obtain one to
suit him, he wrote to his workman to that
effect. The carpenter, after studying the
missive-which looked as if a spider wading
in ink had crawled across the paper-at
length concluded that it must be the desired
plan, and forthwith began fashioning proba-
bly, the most original manteipiece that ever
ornamented room. This story is almost
equal to that told Of the great Napoleon, who
was such wretched writer that It is said his
letters from Germany TO Josephine were at
first taken for rough Of the seat Of war.
No mention Of remarkable panmen would
be complete which did not include the name
Of Horace Greeley, whose chirography was
once tersely described by new compoGtor
in The Tribune Office in the savage remark,
literally interspersed with profanity: eff
Belshazzar had seen this handwriting on the
wall he would have been more terrified than
be was" Mr.. Greeley, becoming Disguised
with the blunders OF one OF his type settlers,
sent note to the foreman requesting him to
discharge the man at once, as be was too In
efficient workman to IS any longer en-
ployed on The Tribune. The foreman obeyed
instructions, but before leaving the typo
managed to get possession Of Mr. Greeley's
note, and immediately went to a rival Office
and applied for work, showing the note as
recommendation The foreman to whom he
applied scanned the note and said: "Oh, |
see-'cood and efficient con1positor'-erl.
ployed for a long time on The Tribune
Horace Greeley" and Immediately set him
to work On the strength Of Greeleys certi1ca-
ton Of his incarracity, after having been out
of a JOB for the space OF about fifteen min
uteS
The handwriting Of Horace Greeley WIS
plain compared with that OF Mr.. BloSs OF The
Cincinnati Enquirer, who was, beyond doubt,
the worst pennsa who ever occupied an
editorial chair. This remarkable Journalist
was peculiar Ia his methods, but Ia none more
50 than II his manner OF writing. his pen
was held at the extreme end OF the holder,
and the strange characters which Re made
were sometimes almost a. unIntelllgI5ie II
hirnself Is TO the world ct large. lis wTst-
ing was simply series Of hieroglyphics; bGt
be made his characters slways alike, and, in
course Of tine, ~ close study, one could learn
70 decipher them When It was known that
Mr. Bloss was dead, TIE printers Il The En-
quirer news room lost 10 tine IL r1mmaglaC
the waste paper bags for specimens Of his
chirogrRphy. uatll IN les tE2c hour not
scrap Of lis manuscript WA - Se found in
the ofRcA
OF all noted authors, probably none was
such a terror % has printers as Salz4a. a.
thouza TorsiznUrth, 81 y elte- Sco.- an
Byron were nsazsF s. tad Eus latte n
particular, Laa4s s fsartul fness CT has r-ocfs /
aud scra-!-l corrections On the TuarEizs ~
Gurrav and hls ,5-.T.:e--s vera alusost driven
~-- ~ -,sf se-,a-s Is q S.i-icrss -a-a en-