The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1896-01-29
REFORM IN PENMANSHlP.
The Copy Fiate Is No Longer the Highest
Type of Excellence.

/ The Copy Fiate Is No Longer the Highest
I Type of Excellence.
| Probably all who have had COM
mon school education remember WV
idly the agonies they suffered dur
+! ing the half hour day devoted to
making pothooks and copying un-
meaning phrases in their writing
books. The same number of unfor-
| tunates realize with equal vividness
how widely different their own pres
ent chirography is from the flowing
copy plate which they tried to imi-
tate, with moro Or less success, in
their youthful days.
The penmanship of the world. has
always been far short of the ideal
copybook standard, but since the
general introduction of the type
writing machine it has grown from
bad to worse. The part of the COM
munity who have university educa-
tons are worse off in this regard
than tho common school graduates,
for tho reason that if they ever did
write q half way decent hand as the
result of their teachers strenuous
efforts it was completely ruined
when they began to take notes Of
lectures at college.
The world moves, and now the ed
vocational experts have arrived at
the conclusion that the whole sys-
tenn of instruction in writing is
wrong; that the beautiful and elab-
crate curlycues and intricate shad-
ing of the old copy plato system are
not only useless and difficult to &C.
quire, but that, in the generality of
cases, they are really unrendahie.
Every one has received numbers of
letters written by some so called
first class penman, which are beau
tiful to look at in the regularity of
their strokes and curves, but eX-
trcmely hard to read. Tho school
teachers have come to q realizing
sense of fact that the first purpose
of handwriting is to be legible and
not artistically beautiful, and that
the Same amount of time formerly
spent in celebrating shading and
curves, if spent in practicing the
modern perpendicular hand, will
give four times better results in the
way Of mastery of the art greater
freedom in writing and the acquisi-
ton of q style which will be legible,
even if it departs from regularity.
The Same gradual transition has
taken place in tho art of lettering as
practiced by craftsmen. Twenty
years ago craftsmen and engineers
learned elaborate lettering, the rus
tic style, the old English and many
others, and many weary hours were
spent in the drafting room putting
these varied hieroglyphics on the
drawings. The doctrine that SIM
plicity and utility are the highest
form Of beauty has made Roadway
among the craftsmen, as elsewhere.
The first reform was in the substi-
tuition of plain block lettering of the
old style. The making of block let
tering, however, is slow task, and
much valuable time was wasted;
The next reform was the introduc.
ton of the German "rundschrift,
which is species of freehand work
done with special pen which
shades broadly and almost automat-
ically. The rundschrift" may be
put on a drawing with great rapid
ty, but it requires considerable skill
to do it we'll, and tho result of poor
Or mediocre work is painful to the
eye.
The whole subject of lettering has
now become lost art. The drafts
man of today doesn't ink his fingers
and break his back ct anything of
the kind. He buys a box of assorted
printed letters on paper or cloth,
with well gulnmed backs, and when
his drawing is done ticks the back
of @ sufficient number of these let
tiers and affixes them to his drawing
after the manner of the humble
postage stamp. New York Tribune.