The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1896-11-13
VERTICAL WRITING.
A Paper Read by Mrs. F. d. Smith
Before the Edwards County Teach
erS Association.

IL NllCh MI OOAih tsohto
me to give my ideas upon the vertical
system of writing" he had asked me
to give my ideas upon .'health and hy-
gene" he would have more nearly
epitomized my thoughts upon the
subject.
The question that seems to me most
vital in our schools today is the old
Roman idea of usefulness, not the or
namentation of education. and first OF
all and high above the curriculum of a
school would l place the watchw word,
health. All else should be subservi-
ent. without it learning avails but
little, and intelligence rarely comes,
with it all things are possible. and oul
children today. have a right to de-
mand at our hands the best In all
things as far as it lies IN our power to
give; have the right to demand that
we at least fit them to be wage earn
ers and bread winners, and it is not at
all necessary that they be initiated into
the mysteries of differential calculus.
or are able to give the distance from the
Earth to Sirius, or to tell stamen from
Il pistil. rs it is that they be good
readers, competent spoilers and expert
penmen. The luXuries of learning.
like those of life. are delightful and
come with time and opportunity, bIt
when both are limited, when the use
full must be the first consideration, let
us step aside from tradition and bring
our minds to bear upon our especial
environment and condition. Let us
not endeavOr so much to turn out en-
bryo philosophers as practical men and
women ready for the strenuous strug
gle of our day.
My attention was first drawn to tie
merits OF the vertical system of writ
ing by the English exhibit at the
w World's Fair, where its exquisite ap-
pearance put every other display in the
shade, and its palpable advantages set
experts to Investigating it's merits.
A keen interest was aroused and it
was clearly demonstrated that the old
system was an injury to the body-slt-
ting with cramped limbs and bent
spines has engendered disease and de-
until intelligence rebels. Our
boys, yours or mine, perhaps, may be
strong enough to withstand the strain
and come to manhood unhurt, but If
there be one little body with soft or
weakly bones compelled to carry down
the years the burden of pain and de-
formity because of our ignorance or
neglect, that one little life alone is
worth all our efforts and all The revil-
lngS OF reform
In the new, or vertical system. all
these objections are dJne away with
Seated with pen and paper directly be-
fore them, with heads erect, they OBJ
viate all injury to health, which is it's
first advantage, Then its superiority
IN legibillty is too apparent to be dis
cnssed, leaving its perfect practicable
liy to be ITS great rapidity over al
other systems. l do not think l am
far wrong in saying that perhaps one
in Cne hundred ever achieved the Spen-
crrian curves and frills, ard no one
has eyer had time for them since. 1t
belongs to the uselessness of many of
,ur old educational ideas.
Our lawyers to-day, telegraph opera
5ors, all who demand rapidity in writ
ng, are using the vertical system. l
have heard of a lawyer in the east who
will engage no one who can not SO
write He even compelled his
Did clerks. rather than dismiss them,
% learn the new system. 1t is used
n all the best private schools in the
east, and all the public schools in our
most important cities, even SO far west
IS Hutchinson, Pueblo and Denver.
md that it was the Superintendent of
'he Boston schools who first investiga-
ed and then sang its praises, seems to
ne sufficient guarantee of its merit.
l will not tire you with the long ac-
count given in the New York World
statistics as to the injury
o scholars resulting from the position
lsed in the old system, but beg you to
hink this out for yourselves and as
eachers to remember that you are
ear to mother he arts, that YOU
elp us IN all ways to mould the little
ives under your caIe, that you, more
han you know, help us decide whether
shall be said at the end, "weli done,
hou good and faithful servant,'' or
'hether those saddest words, "A mis-
pent life" shall be spoken.