The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-27

selves of necessity, a sianting hand for which they had no teaching. And this was directly in line with the theories Spencer worked out when
 he unconsciousiy popularized his style
 of writing. He argned: I've read from left to right so words emust be written in that order. To be a good
 penInan. one must follow the natural, physical inclination Tho movement of the hand Is toward the right and there is a normal tendency to form the letters in that direction. Movement alone, however. will not create the muscular habit requisite for good pen.
 manship. The hand Is trained by defi- mite, continued movements toward q cIeveriy outlined idea. To make that Ideal the more nearly attainable, make
 1t logical and in the line of natural
 inclination. No one can attain a pen4
 mans skin in forms that must be la
 boriously drawn"
 So lie drew his letters with a. move
 ment that was easy and natural and
 wholly fin line with the unconscious
 action of the hand. Therein lay his
 success It was what he sought to
 make clear to his students in the log
 cabin and to. the students of his copy Iali over the land !, Be natural. Do
 not strain the hand by attempting to go contrary to its unguided move ment."
 Following his ideals. Spencer re- duced writing to a fine art. He be-, lieved ardently. in one style for the English speaking world. He main tained that his style, the sIanting style. could be written more rapidly, more legibly and with less effort than the vertical. Recent developments fn the schools of the country seem to show that educators generally agreed with him.
 Nothing in penmanship was too diff ficult for Spencer to attempt His tin- gers were pliable as the professional pianists On occasions when he de-. sired to display his skill he would make rice straw Into a pen. Dipping 1t Into his blackberry ink, he would write with the straw as beautifully as his pupils could write with his best quills. The ordinary penman would crush the straw between his fingers in composing the first letter.
 During the days before the Civil War, Spencer was an ardent champion of the cause of the slave. He was strong In his denuncfation of the bondage system, and finally, through his in- terest in. the abolition movement was drawn into local politics. He was elected County Treasurer and served for twelve years With hts interest in the colored slave, came an equally strong interest in the temperance question. He grew to be one of the strongest temperance advocates in Northeast Ohio. But he didn't join the army. During the last few years of his life, Spencer established a number of business colleges. There he intro- duced his system of penmanshlp and hundreds of educational institutions  devotion to his art.
 While. during his life he held, and his five sons since his death have con- tinued to hold, wide commercial-seho interests, the family has always in- sisted that public schools should de- yelop such an ability for penmanship that pupils would not be forced to enter business colleges for the purpose of learning how to write.
 As every business and professional man knows, spencerianism did not die with it's author. Platt R. Spencer un- dertook to teach a few. comparatively, how to write .'sensibly and correctly" It is true that his teachings reached a wide heId-but his five sons. all of whom have emHlated the example of their father by devoting their lives to instruction nj the art of writing, have made the Spencerian System known wherever pens are dipped into ink.
 Old Platt R. Spencer wrote better than he knew. for Spencerian has be- come syftonymOus with writing. The Spencerian system is the basis of writing in all English speak ing countries, andstits easy graceful curves and siants are doing service In almost every written language.
 Not long ago the sons of Piatt R. Spencer saw the necessity of modern- fling the forms made so familiar by their father, but the best they could do was to eliminate the shadlngs and ornamental hourishes that gave many pupils a hatred for riting.
 The living sons of Platt R. Spencer are Robert e. Spencer, Harvey R. Spencer. Platt R. Spencer, Jr.. and Lyman F. Spencer.