The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-15
OF BAD HANDWRITING.
the Badge and the Heritage OF
Greatness.
rrom lac Hartf6rd NM.

she Badge and the Heritage Of
Greatness.
From the Hartford Times.
--ite iuegibly seems TO be a badge
.-i-age of greatness. Few great men
fesn able to write so that he who
NAV read" A glance at any auto
~, election proves this. In the show
81, the Astor and LenOx Libraries in
York city, there may be seen many
,.stra autograph letters and manu-
80. These are all IabeIled-otherwise
.,-i-or would be at sea az to who the
~. NJ most of them mad been. There
4 - in one OF the old book stores in the
~ ..-v an autograph letter of the great
-,muel Johnson, Photographed and
80 ~ Goldsmith. y Philadelphia Law
.-i ----.F The lawyers of that city are sup
~ nOssess unusual faculties IN that
atom might be able 10 declpner the
-5gr8ph. but as for making OUT the poo
s-l7 isrter. nobody save lgnatius Donnel-
--3.r his famous cryptOgram, could do
- Horace Greeley is famous as a
- y If GOOD English and of horrible PEN
-zriu Innumerable stories are tCld
Gu That extraordinary ScraWl, winch
-l-rlsd hon scratches or the hieroglyph-
4 IN Cleopatra'e Neediee.
~ -iffnr has been turned to good
.---rt al times by unscrupulous persons
- a clerk used his masters notice OF
f-----c-isssI as a testimonial of his many VIZ
- and his new employers, unable TO
- ANYTHING else of the note, accepted
- such In another instance, AFTER the
- If "A creditor, his note demanding
a.-.rf If a large debt was produced as
ts.l-sinf The writing being so illegible that
A rs, ~ name and amount could be made
I'D By experts. .. ~. - 800.
snytbing rejected, except by COM
~ -. NM printers sometimes make
80. efforts TO read the scrawls on a
4heet Of paper. ,- -
4 iSfrnation. that a brilliant compositOr
~, ~. north set up an illegibly written
/ 5sratte but to the establishment Of
r. journalist il was on subject entirely
iffersnt from the one he had written.
Is boveyer. a fact that a certain able
+rnaiist owes his first advancement 70
- hold improvements he Ventured 20
fake in an editors articles. ,,,.
Yet another story OF editors handwrit-
H., is worth repeating. In this case three
+o7nnositors could at one time read the
t5it6r's copy, but, as the writing became
orse. two Of them resigned me TASK. me
&nnoafniug one struggled on for a time,
aLinr mere guesses at the majority of
T. words but one day he went into tho
tiitor's room, with the copy" in his
- and a choking sensation in his
1broat ITS no use, sir;I can't read a
4np0intment at being compelled to con-
ess himself beaten at last:
"Ah. me-" responded the editor, Il
thoaeht II would come to this. It's
thrse months since I could read my own
j riung l shall have 10 engage an
4ulanuensis'
4 Perhaps. next to compositors. postmens'
|atieDce and skill are the most severely
lei in deciphering illegible scrawl.
Baron GarrOw once observed that "a re
tpccted friend of his could sign his name
N the outside of a letter in such a way
Is TO defy the skill Of every man In the
fourt On finding out what his signature
fouid possibly be meant for.
THE pOstOtfice knew that certain
number of straight strokes, up and down,
meant W. Curtis, but probably that was
IbOt just because they could read the sig
nature. but because nothing else at all like
Il ever came there.
1 At the time the last franchise bill was
Before the House of Peers a noble lord
Submitted a motion IN writing for the
Insertion Of a clause disenfranchising all
4ersons who could not write. To the
tmazement Of his lordship, the clerk an
bounced that some motion or amendment
Dad been handed In, but as no one had
Deem able TO read 1t, he could not say what
Die motion was about or who had written
"A. Needless to say his lordship did not
Bring forward his motion for the disfran-
thisement of illiterates.
short time ago a member Of parlia-
Hent told AZ a fashionable London club
low he had got into an awkward plight
n hist on the continent. owing TO his il
Bgible penmanship. Leaving his luggage
II a hotel, the name of which he had writ
in his pocketIbook. he went out for
4trOll At o'clock at night he could not
~ the life of him call to mind the name
a his hotel, and, what was infinitely worse
tpuld not read his own handwriting. 1t
Mas not an easy thing, even when aided
~ the police, to find his hotel.
Il Is told of a certain celebrated man
bygOne time that he invariably de-
lined ever reading his own writing four
4nd-twenty hours after he had written
and Lord Houghton once made sim
Mar declaration when one of his letters
q as submitted to him for translation.
1t Is not generally known that there are
{Dme Offices In which compositors are en-
FACED and paid special wages to ''set up
Pc ileglble copy of an editor or leader
friter and # the latter accepts a posi-
fon on another paper the cOmpositors
q no can read his copy occasionally follow
him.
Rumor has it that the editor of an i'm
4ortant London journal wrote such an IL
#glole hand that only one printer in the
&ountry could read his writing. One day
Ne puzzled printer paid a visit to the ed
for's room. This completely beats me,
Nmplained the compositor, pointing to
e eopy-"can't even tell which is top
pc which is bottom of the pages; I've
Nied II both ways"