Wichita eagle., 1889-10-18
MANNERS OF WRITING.
SOME NEW VIEWS ON THE SUBJECT
OF CHIROGRAPHY.

\ VT CF1lf.O0TlAfnYs
An Expert Claims That Style Is Heredi
to Rs in Opposition to Nature-Som,
| Interesting Examples.
There is scarcely q school for little folk,
in ali this dominion of ours where an idiotit
demand is not made by instructors. l refel
to the teaching of penmanship."
But writing Is a mechanical operation
and being such"-
THE highest authority" interrupted the
doctor, mo hess person than Charles Oar
win, has declared handwriting to be inner
tied, as the eyes, nose and color of hair
| Yet, pedagogues insist that children shall
write like somebody else-follow copies writ
ten for them by teachers, or printed script
in this way doubling the task of the little
| ones"
| NATURALLY LEFT HANDED.
"What is to be done about it?'
LET me give you bit of personal expert.
| ence in this matter of interfering with con.
| genital tendencies. | have a son, young
| man of 20, who was born left handed. [ am
| myself afflicted that way, and, knowing its
| Inconvenience | resolved to cure him of it.
| Ny wife and had time of it, can tell you.
| What with taking spoons and knives and
| forks out of his left and transferring them to
| his right, causing him to step forward with
| the right foot instead of the left and the ten
| thousand other interferences with his prediS-
| positions, we did make his life miserable and
our own as well When it ceme to learning
| how to write there was a regular tug CT war.
| The boy was in calstant state Of silent re-
| volt Unknown to us he learned to write
| with his left hand. This he was punished for
until he gaveitup. But as to his chirography,
| it would amuse you to see it. 1t is like moth
| ing in all the world of handwriting. l write
| bold, open, free backhand, while his is a
| hotch-potch Of back, straight and running,
and is besides cranped, pinched, broken,
jagged, infinitely irregular and altogether
bad"
LET him go back to first principles"
Cant be done, because it is too late, or,
certainly, he could not acquire a free, plain
hand, nor modestly decent one, without
years of practice"
There are people who write well with
either hand"
THAT Is true, but they are ambide1trous
rare in this world To get back to this bust
ness of learning to write-no two hands are
alike, but the shape of hands, their size, cell
and tissue arrangement, ETC., are inherited.
Sometimes one inherits from the mother,
sometimes from the father, sometimes from
both Now, ones handwriting depends upon
the hand structure Were this not true the
plan in vogue Of teaching penmanship would
be perfectly correct, and it would be the
easiest task in the world to bring all
children to identical handwriting. That is,
If all the schools of America used the same
copy SETS all the children who attend the
schools could be taught to initiate their sets
perfectly, and would from daily practice
make this style their own This, Isay, would
be easy and would be the result if their hands
We're nodded in the same shape"
81 see what you are getting at"
Possibly and possibly not. Keep with me
for few moments Those infinitely curious
and stupendously wonderful organs if may
be permitted TO SO term them, the vocal
chords, with the conformation Of larynx
tongue, inner wall of the mouth and the lips,
so differ in individuals that no two voices are
alike, and as have said, no attempt is made
to cause them to perfectly agree in sound.
Greater fexibility, compass, richness and
sweetness are communicated by intelligent
instruction, but the original, natural individ-
uality of voice remains So it is possible by
practice to improve the handwriting of a
child, but either it will be only an improve
ment upon the birthright style or it will re-
suit, as in the case OF my boy in crippling,
gnarling and snarling the style Voices of
children and of grown up people have been
cracked or ruined altogether by injudicious
use or improper training, precisely as present
instruction ruins the handwriting of hum
dreds of thousands Of children"
HEREDITY STRONGER THAN TEACHING.
"But good handwriting is not altogether
dead"
mo, and because the tendency to hold to
heredity is stronger than the obstinate teach
ing in vogue. Once the child is out of its en-
vironment of misdirected instruction nature
asserts itself. You see, it is in this wise: 1t
is absolutely impossible for two men to write
precisely alike. The pupil never succeeds in
precisely initiating the line of copy at the
head of the page upon which he writes To
the casual eye there is a resemblance, but the
individual crops out in every word. The set
copy ceasing before the muscles, nerves, etc.
of the hand are completely formed and hard
ened, as | may say, gradually nature is re-
stored and the hand becomes nimble. Writ
ing then ceases to be PAIN
do You mean to say that it is possible to
make a child suffer physical pain in the mere
operation Of writingsn
THAT is precisely what do mean-no more
and no less. Think of the demand made upon
pupilS--that they shall sit in a given posture.
that they shall hold their pens in given
way, and all that sort of nonsense. The /
formation Of hands and fingers is such that
no particular manner of holding the pen |
should be prescribed, and the same applies to
the posture of the body When forced out OF |
this natural bent pain must ensue Then the |
little one is told to move the hand forward in |
q given way, to form the letters So and 50, |
All these thousand and one red tape. hide
bound regulations are just so many him
ORANGES TO progress and the cultivation of an
Improved style"
What would you recommend. thenT'
Common sense and giving nature a fair
chance The children should have copies.
but these copies should be upon the black
board, or, certainly upon paper other than
that upon which they are expected TO write.
They should be told that they must use these
copies only as a sort of general guide, for,
You see, children are initiative and unless
prevented the natural impulses would lead
them TO seek TO follow copy IN all its details.
Then as 10 their posture, they, of course.
ought to avoid cramped, unhealthy positions,
but each should be suffered to take such one
as was most comfortable As to the manner
OF holding the pen. that should be altogether
arbitrary. 1t Is results that should be in