The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-27
THE MAN WHO 1. WROTE WORDS PIatt R. Spencer, the Penrnarl. STORY OF LETTER BEAUTIFIER The Man Who Practically De- monstrated the Writing Art. 4 History of the Work of Him Whose Name is Familiar to Every Graniniar school child
 in America.
 

d log cabin near the shore of Lake Erie, future President, men who later were ornaments to the judiciary einbyro
 senators and Congressmen, men who
 amassed millions in trade and com
 msFce. sat at rude tables In the 3Os and 4Vs or the@last century and learn- 4 ed to write.
 Some of these came from Europe. some from Canada, from wherever the English language was written or spoken to be taught by Platt R. Spen- cer the art of chirography.
 The people of Geneva and Ashta- Il bulag County said Spencer was suueer'
 Tn those days. and to those primitive
 minds, great ability to work with the
 hands gave one a standing in the community. Brain workers were drags
 and drones. So. little sympathy went out to Spencer in his efforts to pop
 ulartze the system of handwriting that
 he gave to the world and that has since been universally recognized as
 the standard for all to follow
 Spencer was Queer" It was never
 ceasing wonder that students travelled
 from all the parts of America and
 even from across the seas to sit in his cabin fer 2. few weeks and make
 marks on paper under his direction :.
 That the twists and turns of the quill
 In his tacile hand began an epoch In kpenmanship that has not been checked on mattered nothing. He was not a
 newer of wood, neither did he toll in
 the fields. F. Some one has said that all geniuses
 are mentally unbalanced. On that hy-
 pothests Spencer was "queer." He
 had hobby and it was writing. Nat
 urally the perspective has changed in
 the past eighty years. Ashtabula. | County people no longer mention him
 and point silently with their fingers to
 their heads. Ask any man or woman
 in the county what they have to be.
 proud of in history and they mentionl f Platt R. Spencer Joshua Giddlngs and
 old Ben Wade. Spencer Is now a ge- Enius i Go to Geneva. and, if you are in : | terested, you will find the grave Of Spencer in the old burial gronnd near
 the little town. It is marked by a. simple little sIanting headstone. Time. has given 1t a twist from the vertical that might almost be considered sym. boIic of his life and work.
 It was only few years ago that. | Spepcer,s Seminary was torn down
 to make room for an. onion patch. The building was of logs. chinxed with clay. There the man whose name is known by every sehools child in the. country originated, worked to perfec-. tion. and taught the greatest system of penfnanship ever introduced l.Spencerian penmanship, synonym ofi all that Is correct and artistic in
 handwriting. sf
 | At Speneer's death the cabin passed out of the family. It was deserted for years except for its use by stray tramps and wanderers. Its roof routed and gave way The doors and win dows were gone. A farmer needed the spacesit occupied for an onion bed and the walls were cut up for fire wood. f.,& A.aEZ tilxes to Spencer's life but the little headstone in the burial ground His monument Is in the millions of people who, from their earliest school days, were taught the "Speneerian system" as the most beautiful and at the same titme the most practical method of Joining written letters into words.
 All that he did. Spencer did VI .thout instruction. He was his own master. When he was .12, he had never even possessed "a piece of writing paper. Then he saved penny. and sent twenty miles for his first sheet. It reached him at night when he was asleep. When. he awoke, he could not call single written character to mind. But the next day his mind worked rapid ly Paper being a luxury, he prac- tieed on birch bark, on the sand, in the snow. Then he had the opportun- ity to attend school in Conneaut for a few weeks. By that time, he was able to instruct his fellow pupils in pen manship. From that date began his career as a teacher.
 As his fame spread. his cabin became a mecca for students of chirography. President GarfleId sat on a rough bench. and learned the rudiments Of 'ritin'. MT. Garfield, in fact. was one of his earliest students With sharp knife, Spencer made all the quills used L.. II n1 efa tnO To them as well as he.
 Teaching in any of it's phases how ever, was-a precarious method. of earn ing ones Livelihood in those days. Meat and bread in the Spencer household were. often scarce-in the early years. But the man was queer, and his neigh bors said, and so he persevered.
 He made copy-books that were used by other penmen in the public schools All of these books were made with the quill and blackberry juice. While lithography had been introduced into this country a decade or two before, It had not yet penetrated to the West ern Reserve. It was not. until 184S that Spencer heard of the posssb ilities of lithographing and published his first book of copies. For sixteen years af- ter that, or until his death in 1864, he prepared his work and distributed it through the medium @ printed books, Eis sons, each Of whom became a skilled penman, continued his labors.
 For fifty years. the Speneerian style was accepted as the standard through the United states. It was taught in every public and private school To- ward the close of the last century, vertical styles began to make their appearance. Sch ools were asked to adopt. these and discard the Spencer system The failure of the vertical writing and the reyersion to Spence rian, or Nslanting system, is now gem eral In the height of the demand for vertical writing. business schools stayed close to the free-hand method.
 Six or seven years ago,fmany sch ools were teaching vertical penmanshtp. 1 It was, favored because of claim for greater Iegibility and more speed in. Execution, Pupils trained in this | method left their schools and sought 1 Tn enter business. There they were ! franuently compelled to abandon the | theories on which they were instructed l and not being familiar with the Spen- cer system, work out style for them- selves
 cleveland, the big city for Spencer and the Geneva people, used, the Spen- cerian copy-books until the vertical ] craze struck the land, sSpencertan was discarded and vertical forms took its nIaee. The children in the schools l bought the newly prescribed vertical copy-books and wrote "up and down" But it developed that by the time the children had passed the elementary grades, they had depaLted from the vertical and had acquired by them-