The St. Johns herald., 1891-04-02
SHORTHAND WRITING.
The Incompetence Of Some Per
 sons to Loarn U.
Very Few of Che Many Who Undertake the Study Ever Become Profcient- Horace Greeley and the
 StencgrapEier.

There IS q good deal OE nonsense writ ten and talked, both by those who know and by those who don't, concerning the possibilities and actual achievements of shorthand writing. Not long ago an elderly woman, accompanied by 9 child of apparently about thirteen years Of age, appeared before 8 justice at the Jeiferaoa Market police court and told pitifGl tale. S}c said that she was a widow and that tllc child U-as her only daughter; that in order to procure some employment for the girl she had been induced to Gend her to a school Of type writing and shorthand. She had paid to the professor sixty dollars of her hard earnings and had been informed and believed that at the conclusion Of Q few months tuition this child would be able to earn far salary. The pro- lessor, however, had failed to carry out his agreement, and at the conclusion of the tuition sac found herself with her money gone and 10 probability Of the fulfllmert of the promises which had been made to her. She was informed by the justice that ii she had any remedy at all it was in civil suit for damages for breach of contract.
 The experience of this child, says the New York Sun, is but repetition Of the experiences Of by far the larger number of those who attempt Vo learn shorthand writing. It is fact that but very few of those who begin to learn ever succeed in becoming competent stenographcrs. The experience detailed 50 graphically and anJisingIy by Charles Dickens in the story of David Copper field, which is said to be m fact the experience of Dickens himself, is a fair sample of the difficulties with which the learner has to contend. Few per sons, indeed, have the requisite perse- verance to continue the much-needed practice in the face Of discouraging re- suits, which is essential before pro- ficiency can possibly be reached.
 Many of these failures might have been predicted from the start, because Of the utter disqualification of the learner on account of the lack of the preliminary study and training and knowledge which are necessary to make q competent stenographer. It must be borne in mind that the sub jects which may possibly be presented for accurate reporting comprise the en- tire field of human knowledge. There is no department of science, literature or ant which may net some time or other appear in the course Of speeches, of arguments, of lectures, of briefs, Of dissertations, of debates, or of dictation. There is, Of courcc, no stcEographer who is so thoroughly familiar with the vocabulary even of his own language, in all departments of study, as to be able on the spur of the moment to report &C., curateiy all kinds of scientific matter. There are. in fact. but very few of tue most reliable stenographers in this or any other country who can be relied upon to give a verbatim report of scientific congress. How futile, how foolish, must it be, then, for mere chil- dren, for persons without even the parliamentary clements of education, to undertake to qualify themselves for such a business. And yet there are shorthand schools and professors of shorthand that take the money of pupils who at tempt this impossible task, when it is known at the beginning that the money so expended is really thrown away by the pupils. ~,~..
 It was related of the late Horace Greeley that upon one occasion an in- competent stenographer was employed by him to take at dictation a political speech. NIT. Greeley talked away with great earnestness and volubility upon subject with which he was entirely familiar, using the names of mary prominent public men in the present and past generation, referring to vari- ous public measures of the times, until he had reeled off, as he supposed, q con siderable address. It so happened that the stenographer was thoroughly ur- familiar with about every subject of which the great philosopher had treated and his manuscript when presented for review proved to be So crowded with CT TOTS and omissions and misspelling of names and misapprehension of what hir. Greeley had said that it was entirely useless, and with that force for which Mir. Greeley was renowned among those who knew him, the founder of the Tribune exclaimed: What the deuce is stcnography worth?"
 There arc limits to shorthand. Every honest stcncgrapheT will admit that 10 person is able to report the most rapid speakers or to follow with accuracy an argument which consists of many refer encessfo scientific books and contains quotations which must be accurately re- corded. In practice, wherever a speaker makes use of many quotations, particu- larly of poetry or of statistics, the sten- ogrGpher is always anxious to be sup piled with the quoted parts. Among the very best stenographers the prac- tieal impossibility of one writer being able to record the most difficult speak ing with accuracy is so well recognized that in the most important eases . sys- , of check notes is always observed, So that points which nay be missed by ore writer will be caught by. another. This is really not an unusual practice, and it has been found to be absolutely. essen