The record-union., 1897-09-15
WORKS LIKE A PHOTOGRAPH.
MRS. JULIA BARRETTS STENO-
GRAPHIC SYSTEM.
The Remarkable Discovery Said
to Have Been Made by
a Sacramentan.

The san Francisco Calf of yester-
day publishes the following account of
a system of stenography discovered by
Mrs. Julia Barrett Of this city:
"A marvellous system of phonetic
stenography, by which the sounds of
the human voice, with its myriad of
mOdulalons, and language when
spoken with its numberless dialects
and Infections can be taken down and
reproduced by the tongue of the stem
ographer, is claimed to have been dis
covered by Mrs. Julia Barrett Of Sac
ramento.
The lady is at present in this city
and is applying her system of stenog-
raphy to the language of the Chinese,
language, it is claimed by many
students, that win forever defy the la
Dor of those who seek to apply an al
phabet to it that will successfully su-
persede the present system of char
acter writing.
Mrs. Barrett, however, notwita-
standing the statements of those who
claim 10 be criterions as far as human
language is concerned, says that her
system of stenography can be used as
an alphabet by the Chinese, and that it
fits their language as closely as the
Roman characters fit the English
g I discovered my system of phonet-
ic stenography about eleven years ago.
said Mrs. Barrett, last evening, but
did rot perfect it until a short time
ago. 1t is very simple to me now, and
is equally simple to those who attempt
to learn it. The system is a conbina-
ton of the old Isaac Pitman system
and one of my own. 1t is a we'll known
fact that the Pitman system does not
spell out the language but its inter
probation depends largely upon the
fact that its lines convey to the writer
the idea that certain sounds have been
made by the voice, and a combination
of these sound lines go to make up a
word. In taking the word practice by
the Pitman system the outlines would
be pr-kt-s, the lines conveying
those sounds being placed in combina-
ton and in proper vowel position go to
make up the word.
g." The bugbear in the Chinese lam
guage is the fact that a sound made
by the voice in one key may mean one
thing, and pitched higher another and
lower still another This difficulty [
have overcome by writing the spoken
word i'll its proper key position as the
notes of music are written I have
labored many years in my endeavor to
perfect my system. I have long de-
sired TO be able to help the cause of
Christianity, and I am confident that
my system, by which the Chinese Ian
guage can be written from it's sound
by a person totally ignorant of the
tongue and repeated and understood by
those conversant with the language will
be of inestimable value to foreign mis-
sionaries.
BY the system one can take, say a
chapter from the Bible, have it read
in Chi ese, and by taking it down will
be able to repeat the sounds so that
the words they make will be readily
understood by a Chinese, although the
reader will be in total ignorance of the
words he is speaking. At the present
time a missionary must spend from
six to ten years in China to master the
language and become familiar with
5000 characters. the number necessa-
ry to know in order to read the Chi
nese language. This great labor and
waste of time can now be done away
with, and great good can be accom-
plished
=" L have met with great opposition
in my endeavor to get my system be-
fore the world. Rev. Mr.. Masters. who
spent several years of his life in China
studying the language, and who has
charge of all the Methodist Chinese
missions on this coast has been my
greatest opponent. He is of the opin-
ion that there is no merit in the sys-
tenn, and has often informed me that
such is his belief, but he has never
given me an opportunity to explain it
to him. l was often desirous of eX-
planning it to him, but he was and is
so confident that it is valueless, though
he knows nothing about it, that he
would never grant me brief audience.
A number of the most intellectual Chi
nese have informed me, though, that
[ have made a marvellous discovery,
and after repeated trials I am conf
dent that their belief is the true one
"At present Mrs. Barrett is explain
ing her system to the Chinese Saliva
tionists at S15 Sacramento street So
desirous is she. to do the Christian
world and incidentally the world of
heathens, a benefit she will instruct all
who desire to study her system free of
charge in the Chinese Salvation Army
rooms On Sacramento street every day
between the hours Of 2 and Z p. m.