The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-02-20
DEBT TO SHORTHAND
Older Methods and the Presen
.&E Ones.
London Standard

London Standard
Between the days when David Copper
field was informed that learning stenog-
raphy was accounted equal to the ac-
QUESTION of six Languages and the publ
cation the other day of the Twentieth
Century edition" of Pitman's Shorthand,a
great deal has happened. David, it will
be remembered, gave half q guinea for
his instruction book, and when he had
got 1t he was plunged into sea of per-
plexity which brought him to the verge
of distraction. A Photographic Teach
err can now be bought for 6 pence, and
the art may be acquired in three months
Of diligent application by any intelligent
schoolboy. 1t was Gurney's system, long
SO highly esteemed, and even now not ex-
t1nct, that Dickens used in the gallery
Of the house of commons; but 1t was prob
ably not more difficult than it's rival, in
vented by Samuel Taylor. or than the
earlier method Of Byron. There were
many previous systems: the Romans, we
know, were acquainted with abbreviated
writing, while the use Of shorthand for
reporting in English goes back well into
the time Of Queen Elizabeth, when men
yet had leisure and inclination to read
long sermons.
In one particular, at least, literature
owes a heavy debt to one of these old
forms of stenography, for Samuel Pepys
shorthand, which was published as far
back as 1920. Had it not been for the wei
come obscurity Of Character as Skel-
toms predecessor, Bright, called his, in
vention, the famous secretary to the ad-
miralty might not have found time to
make his entertaining jottings-certainly
he would have lacked effrontery to write
down some of them in plain words, even
had there been no fear of Mrs. Pepys be-
fore his eyes. The older systems have
now no more than an antiquarian interest,
even to the expert, since they were all
rapidly and finally beaten out OF the field
when the late Sir Isaac Pitman devised
what he at first called "Stenographtc
Soundhand,'' now SO familiar under the
name of photography. The principle upon
which it was constructed differed radically
from that Of its predecessors Where
they had followed the spelling of words,
Pitman worked solely by their sound.
Sixty years have elapsed, yet the excel
lence of his method stands out in brilliant
contrast even to the many rivals that
have been introduced during the second
half of that period. Photography made
shorthand an elegant and graceful art,
which, instead of being known merely to
few score newspaper reporters, is now
written by hundreds of thousands Of peo-
pie of all conditions. It began, indeed,
that revolution in the work Of business
offices which the typewriter has COM
pleted. ...-.,
Like all other systems, it has been &C.
cused of illegibility. but when it's simple
mathematical forms-lines and curves,
circles, dots and hooks-are written with
any surety of hand, they are as readable
as print, and much less trying to the
eyes than the page of German book.
Phonetic shorthand is not fixed quanti-
ty. Itais constantly being 1mproved-in-
deed, those who learned it five and TWEEN
ty years ago, or even more recently, find
that alterations have been made for which
they often fail to recognize any necessity,
and which hardly add to legibility. Pep
sy tells us how he rallied Coventry, a
stenographer Of his time, upon his inven-
ton of long marks for sentences in d.
vinity which he is never like to make use
Of" We find elaborate lists Of similar
phraseograms, on which much the same
criticism may be passed, in this "Twen-
tieth Century Edition. of Pitman. Tech
nicalities apart, however, the world has
reason to be grateful to photography. It
has called forth a shorthand literature,
which no rival ever did. The Bible and the
prayer book are published in shorthand,
together with much Of Shakspere and
Dickens, something of Scott and
Macaulay, and classics like "Gulliver.''
Robinson Crusoe'' and 'The Vicar Of
Wakefield to say nothing Of Bret Harte,
DR.. Conan Doyle and Jules Verne.