Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1894-11-10
The Vertical and the slipping and the Ad.
vantages Claimed for Each.

The subject of vertical handwriting is
attracting a good deal Of attention Just
now among educational experts, who
lay special stress on its Importance
from n hygienic point of view, says the
Springfield Republican. The agitation
began some fifteen years ago in Ger
many, which is not surprising when
n looks over a specimen of the ordi-
nary German handwriting, which slopes
at an angle that makes one wish con-
stantly to u the page cornerwise so
as to get a good look at it. There has
long been n superstition that TO be
cursive and fluent handwriting must
slope, a tradition no doubt derived
from Italy. the source of italics as well
as sloping writing. That the advant-
age in grace and beauty is on the side
of the Italian characters can hardly be
denied, but there is an equal superiority
on the side OF the vertical handwriting
in the matter Of legibility. and, what is
more important. healthfulness to the
writer.
The new system has found many adj
vocates in all OF the European states,
and has won a permanent place in
most OF the German schools. II has the
great advantage that a. the pupil sits
fronting square 10 his desk and holds
his paper squarcly in front of him. as he
would a book, the strain is equal on
both eyes, and the lines are parallel to
the line connecting the eyes. which is a
matter OF no little importance. 1t has
also been found that it is more easily
learned than sloping handwriting. and
it lends itself with special facility 10 the
full arm movement, which diminishes
the danger Of that painful intirmity,
writers cramp.' As 10 its superiority
in l~cgibility there can be no more con-
vincing proof than to read first a page
of ordinary Roman print and then a
passage printed in italics. A whole
book printed in italics is little better
than a torture to the eve. In this coun-
try the prevalence of the sloping hand
is doubtless due TO the misguided eff
forts Of Mr.. Spencer, who for our sins
afflicted us with the Spencerian hand,
with its elaborate capitals, its invisible
hair lines and dazzling blotches of jet
black ink.
There is probably a large section of
the population over which the Spence
rian ideals still hold sway, if one may
Judge by the raptures Of admiration
which fancy card writers elicit from the
crowds that gather around, and there
are doubtless many people still who find
more real JOY in "a bird of paradise ex-
ecuted offhand than in a Rembrandt, but
most people are coming to prefer
Handwriting TO "~penmanship." ADD
our schools and business colleges are
teaching a much more sensible style
than they did a dozen years ago.
Rapid writing is insisted upon, plain,
c-ommon-sense patterns are taught, and
room is left for the cuitiyaticn OF
originality, instead of forcing one cop
per-plate character upon fingers of all
shapes and sizes and all kinds of tenn
~
derstood that writing, like reading, can
be taught best in connection with other
subjects, and the traditional three Rs are
in danger Of losing their old-time edu-
cational supremacy. Vertical writing
is likely to have its claim. recognized,
and the need for textbooks is already
supplied by the American Book Com
pany, which has just issued an excellent
series called The American System Of
Vertical Writing"