Evening star., 1896-09-23
VERTICAL PEN MANSHIP
Mrs. Spencer Says It is Not a System, and
Advocates Slant Writing.
Children and Teachers to BE the Suf-
ferers by the Proposed Change
The Other Side.


from any foundation errors in their train
ing all who love them must thank you
for permitting through your columns full
discussion of that important part of their
education which brings them into COM
,nunicati1n with the world at large.
Another class of more conscious suffer-
ers-their teachers-now venture to speak
to the people through you, notwithstanding
they know that therefor their official heads
may be candidates for the block.
For more than year they have been
calling upon me- and sending anxious in
OF iries. concerning method of teaching
vertical writing, declaring they can see in
it, except to permit the mere copying of
stiff and awkward FORMS How dare they
| make complaints?
Theirs not to make reply;
Theirs but to do, and die
We all did see how, at late meeting of
the trustees, the proposition to take into
counsel on this subject the superintendent
and supervising principals was promptly
quer chez with the unanswerable argument,
They are our employees!
True enough. Tney are nothing but prac-
tical teachers of many years experience,
who are SO antigua ted, obstinate and pre-
sumptuous as to believe they Ought to have
| a system by which to teach an art
The trustees are, 1 believe, seeking to do
| the lest thing. In certain special lines they
can do the best things. But hear one of
them discuss copy books. Look at these
| letters. See the width of the and n. Now
| look at b and V, only half wide, while
| in this other book they are equal"'
| AS if one were to say, Look at the mid
| die finger! How long it Is! See how far
short the thumb and other fingers fall! A
good workman would make their length,
breadth and thickness equal
There is nothing extraordinary about this
density concerning a subject upon which
| that accomplished Individual had never
ceived five minutes scientific, systematic
instruction.
Now. vertical writing Is not a system. 1t
| is merely perpendicular. no-slant writing
| of any system, or no system. 1t has its
| uses. For box-marking. writing bulletins,
| cataloguing books in a library, for any
| writing done in a standing position, away
| from desk, with weights to carry. it is
| not merely useful. but almost inevitable,
| freedom ard grace In those cases being out
/ of the question.
| For general purposes of business and
| correspondence, it has countless objection
| able features, and should never have been
| inflicted upon helpless children in public
| schools, to pervert their taste. warp their
! judgment and humiliate their teachers and
| parents.
| cured and taught by careful observation
| of the general laws governing position,
| movement and slant in writing The four
| positions usually assigned with reference
| right, right oblique and left Conditions
| being favorable the full front is, for hy-
| gienic reasons. preferable The natural po-
| sition for the paper is with side edges
| parallel with the arm. The natural mo-
| ton of the hand in writing in this position
| will secure uniform slant of 81 degrees
for straight lines. for this reason called
| regular slant.
| To turn this natural regular slant into
| vertical writing keep the same relative
| position of body and hand and turn the
| paper until its top and bottom edges are
| parallel with the desk. This will. 1t is
| true. wrench the wrist and impede the
movement but it will give the English
| fad, vertical writing.
1t is simple justice to the history of pen
! manship in the public schools of Wash
ington to say that in the palmy days re-
ferred to by MIR. Edwin B. Hay. when
the children of the national capital wrote
| better than any other children In the
United States. the teachers of the public
| schools were instructed by H. c. Spencer
in his own college halls without money
and without price. Hundreds upon hun
| dreds of them came. He called to his as
sistance his whole college faculty, and his
| trained Denmen-
His gentleness, skill and thorough mastery
of the subject and of the art made them
willing pupils, and, in their turn. enthu-
siastic teachers. AS our own cares in
creased this normal training of teachers
became impossible. but Mr.. Spencer's low
ing interest in the teaching of penman-
ship in the public schools continued to the
close of his earthly career.
| The last and most beautiful work he ever
prepared for publication was the Children
Series of Copybooks for primary grades
He always believed that children SHOULD
learn to write while learning their letters
and then acquire correct ideas and true
forms. so that clear, legible. beautiful writ
ing would be second nature to them. They
would easily acquire 1t through their af
fections. and he illustrated their copybook!
| with objects children love.
In the Normal Practice School the chill
dren ore day. to please him. wrote one o.
these copies. Dear mamma. I love you.
SO beautifully that he promised them HI
| would tell me about 1t, and bring me to Set
1t. He claimed that fllegible writing wa:
a public injury, and private wrong. ant
| that bad writing was a gross dfscourtesy
Children should be taught clear. graceful
writing as part Of their polite behavior
| He was in correspondence with the lead
ing business writer's of the world, and wa!
always revising his works, to make then
mere simple and easy to master.
OF more than one hundred thousand peo
, | pie who were personally instructed by hin
, | in the "art preservative of arts and wer
blessed and illuminated by his words ant
: | gentle life, / only know of one who revile
his work and memory, your correspondent
. the author of Vertical Writing" of yester
| day.
One can be grateful for many things n
this discussion. but let me here express m!
, | earnest pleasure to know that Spencerial
, | can never. no, never, win the admiration
and approval of the author of that article
> If 1t could. it would indeed be doomed.
faint chance Of life.
The generosity and chivalric courtesy o
. it's author. p. r. Spencer. and of his so
Henry. who ushered in the golden age o
the art of writing. disarmed all opponent
while they were living. 1 need not defen
their memory nor their work. now they ar
gone. SARA A. SPENCER.
Vertical Writing Commended.
To the Editor Of The Evening Star:
To uphold the work Of the school author
tiles and justify their action in regard t
penmanship, ask space to add an opinion
e with reasons therefor. I heartily approx
the good old vertical system. Those VIII
denounce it as new do not consider tn
whole case.
During last school year. when my chi
dren were allowed their choice Of the tw
systems. at once had them select the vel
tical copy books: and great was the salts
e faction of the household at the libert
9 | granted by teachers, to escape from tn
v | prevalent style. The results Of last term
n | work in their have given satisfaction
and even pride; and while individual lii
erty in such matters is a good thing. an
. person must be allowed to write q
| blindly and illegibly as he wishes outside