The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-04-10

a SAN FRANCISCO NAN wrrrRs
bt3t WORDS on "A POSTAL o. ID
Putting on a Space Of 3x5 Inches A.
Much Whiting a. Il Contained Ia
Eighteen Printed Pages

Much whiting a. is Contained Ia
Eighteen Printed Pages
X MOST remarkable feat OF
n penmanship ia that just ac.
~ oompliahod by l.. A. Grin
court, o young Fronohman
now residing In this city. SO remark
able Is IL that ita accomplishment
would seem beyond belief we're Il not
for the positive and tangible evidence
that no man, no matter how incredul-
Gus he may be, can dispute. AZ II is,
the perfected work stands a. the best
known record for diminutive pen
writing, and marks the author as the
possessor Of q peculiar talent Of which
ho is easily a master.
On the back oian ordinary postal card
Mr.. Grincourt has written 1854 words.
In doing this he used a steel pen Of
tho pattern commonly used by card
writer's.
IL must not DO supposed that the
words written on the card we're selected
because Of their brevity, for such is
not the case. The written words are
q portion Of a story-the FIRST eighteen
pages OF Emil Zola's historical
romance, ola Debaelo" ("The War;.
Each word is on the card in the order
in which il appears in the original
text, a space OF 3xj inches containing
tho same phrases, sentences, words
and letters as are contained in eighteen
pages of printed matter. So minute
are the letters formed by the pen that
the naked eye can scarcely distinguish
them, and the most perfect vision re-
quires the aid Of powerful magnify
ing glass to enable one to read them.
Perhaps the most wonderful feature
Of this most wonderful piece Of work
is the perfect form and alignment Of
the letters. Each Of the 10 lines
across the card is perfectly straight,
every word and letter being as exact
in form as if printed from a copper
plate. Nothing is missing. The shad-
ing of the capitals, the dots Of the is
and crosses of the rs and the punctu-
alton marks are all in proper place
and form. The most critical teacher
of penmanship would be content to
take any portion of the written words,
and after magnifying them to the
proper size, use them as a copy to set
before his pupils.
The magnitude of the task which
Mr.. Grincourt set for himself can be
better understood when the result of
his work is considered in comparison
with more homely facts. For in
stance, to person writing at ordinary
speed from dictation it would require
between four and five hours time to
write what is written on the postal
card. If the person wrote in the size
and style used as copies in Spencerian
school copy books, it would require
between seventy and one hundred
pages of ordinary note paper to con.
tain the words written on the card. If
the words on the postal card were set
up in the style of type used in print
ing the more important news in the
Examiner and loaded, they would fill
about five full columns Of space in the
paper. If the printed words were set
together in a continuous line they
would reach a distance OF 1864 inches,
OF 1132 feet. In all no less than %,
S34 letters appear on the wonderful
postal card.
The best previous record for SINH
lar performance was made by a New
York man about eighteen months ago.
He succeeded in writing 1900 words
on a postal card, and the performance
was considered to be out of reach oil
competition. Previous to that Mr..
Grincourt had written $500 words OIL
piece of paper of equal size, and il
was to exceed this record that the
New York expert set to work will
such wonderful results. Now Mr.
Grincourt has set new mark SO fal
in advance of anything yet done il
this line that it is fair to presume i
will stand as the record for a Ions
time to come.
The author OF this remarkable ex.
ample of penmanship was born il
france IWenJy-nlne years ago. Attel
leaving school at the age eff eighteen
he, through the influence OF his fam
lily, secured Government position q
clerk in the Naval offices at Brest
There he was affordedan excellent op
portunity to perfect his handwriting
and to acquire the skill with the pei
necessary to perform the feats of pen
manship of which this last is tn
browning example. About thre,
years ago he resigned his position t,
accept the California agency of firm
of wine merchants in Bordeaux
France. Since then he has been liv
ing in San Francisco, his peculiar &C
complement being now used only a
q means for his own amusement.
The postal card with its microscope
characters has been mOuntad nv Mr.