Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-26

will be satisfactory to me, providing re-
ceive steady work. Thanking you in ad-
| vance for your Kindness, I am
Yours sincerely
This young man says he cam but does not
furnish the best OF references" He says
| In one place that he is twenty" and i'm
mediately afterward that he is "(27)" years
| OF age. He does not give his business eN-
! perience. His English is ineNcusahly bad.
! And his handwriting. like the handwriting
| OF the other young man whose letter have
| copied, is ragged, labored and unattractive
TO the eye.
Wretched Handwriting.
Now L have a permanent quarrel with the
| modern school authorities practically ev-
ery-where because of their inexcusable
neglect of the art OF handwriting
When I was of school age we were ohlig-
ed to learn to write at least legIbly. We had
copy books" with engraved copies" print
| ed at the head Of each page. We were re-
quired to devote a certain space OF time
each day to Initiating these copies which
were really beautiful specimens of chiro-
graphical skill. Many Of us were not able
TO attain the beautiful i'm our own hand
writing, but none save the really incorrigi-
BILE were allowed to leave school with the
uniformed handwriting that is so common
among people of all sorts at the present
time
Why. even In our own bank the number
OF clerks who can write q good, clear. legi-
BILE hand is ridiculously small. II Is simply
impossible to get employees who can write
handsomely and from what I am told this
Is true of most banks. both in New York
and elsewhere. Indeed | hardly need be
told the facts In this matter by anybody.
see much correspondence written by bank
employees. even IN this day OF the type
writer's almost t4sSersal use and nine
tenths of the handwriting that comes be-
fore me is unpleasant to the eye. and much
OF IL Is positively. illegible
1 have heard Il said that the TYPEWRITER
Is responsible for the bad handwriting of
the present younger generation. but this
cannot be true, In spite of the prevalence
or the writing machine, the families that
90 not possess one are very much I'm the
preponderance. Anyway, were the subject
OF handwriting given the prominence Il de-
serves in the public schools the handwrIt-
ing OF the pupil would be formed In spite
OF the typewriter Its very prevalence
should make the authorities the more in
sls.ent upon hrst-class autographed In
struction In the schools.
remember very well the good natured
rioicule that used to be poured out in print
upon the copy books Of other days ami the
goody-goody sentiments of the lines hut
their abandonment has cost too much I
remember very well, also, the beginning OF
sne anu-copy book movement" If 1 may
SO term IL. This began with the Young wo-
men who started in some years ago TO ac-
9uire what they termed the English
hand The characters thus affected are
ichs, cfdflpeu, Sprawllng and irregular and
their production has cost thousands of fair
creatures much pain and trouble and worry
OF MIND, with the net result of tllegibility
usnness and the utter ruination of much
good writing paper.
Contempt for Spelling.
In the old days. too, We gave much time
and attention to spelling. We had written
spelling lessons and oral spelling lessons.
and the spelling school held on specific
ivap g., .sAl.
winter.
But now the word method" has come I'm.
Shlioren are taught to recognize each word
by It's general appearance. without regard
TO It's component parts. / have heard teach
ers speak with elation of pupils who had
actually gone through school without
Knowing the order of the letters of fhe
alphabet, without knowing anything at an
ABOUT spelling" as We understood IL in
my younger days. Those who believe in
the word method declare that pupils ed
ucated under the new plan spell quite as
well in actual practice as those who were
educated under the method of yesterday;
but, SO far l can Judge the facts do
not warrant the declaration, and my view
or the matter is borne out by the obserya-
ton of many of my friends.
An editor of my acquaintance, for in
stance. showed me the other day a manu-
script on technical subject by an expert
on that subject. who was also a graduate of
a standard university and had passed
line. The article was admirable as an ex-
position OF the subject. but it's English was
iabored, unwieldly-in some instances posi-
tlveiy ngrammatical-and the whole was
disfigured with many errors of spelling Az
TO the handwriting of the expert | cannot
speak. since the manuscript was done on
the typewriter. The errors in Spelling were
his own, however for he had learned to
use the machine" and had pounded the
stun out with his own hands
AS horrible example of spelling as she
is sometimes spelt." / am going to add a LETT
ter of Endorsement which [ received the
other day, though it is only fair to say that
L do not know whether the writer was an
OLD or young man, a product of the
schools as they are or they were:
Dear Sir:
this will enterduce my friend
aney thing you can do for him will apresit
1t very much.
Il have none him for years an upright
and onest man.
Yours very truly,