New-York tribune., 1918-04-18
You Are as You Write
To the Editor of The Trihunc.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The influence of character on pen
manship has long been acknowledged, but
the influence of penmanship on character
has occurred to few people. And yet the
one is no greater than the other. 1t is
equally true that certain characteristics
produce certain forms of writing as it is
that certain forms of writing produce Ger
tain characteristics Any one with
passing acquaintance with the art of char
acter reading through penmanship knows
that slipshod writing indicates slipshod
person. Well, if a person possessing this
type of writing were to change it into a
very careful accurate formation Of charac
ters he would soon find himself changing
into careful, accurate person Of course,
such change cannot be expected to occur
after an hour or two of practising writing
with care. 1t takes time to change pen
manshlp, and much more time for such
change to have any effect on personality
But, with time and patience, it can be done,
and l am going to set down a few simple
ways of acquiring desirable characteristics
n through mannerisms of forming letters that
" appear in themselves insignificant.
IT you are person who tells everything
to the first acquaintance you meet and would
like to learn discretion in what to tell to
whom, finish each word with letter smaller
than the first. This will do the trick.
Should you have formed the unfortunate
habit of worrying about your loved ones,
getting yourself all worked up with ner-
vousness whenever they are not in your
sight, just avoid looking, back in order to
cross a small "t," capital "a" or "H.' or
to finish small "f'-of course, it is taken
for granted that you do all these things.
In case YOU of lmpreSSlOnS.
vino either does or doesn't, according to
the way things first strike you without
giving them fair consideration, and would
like to become one OF the favored MEM
bers of society who always weigh events
and personalities as they should be
weighed, all you need do is connect all
the letters in a word or, in the OF
a long word, be careful to break it up
into syllables. You will soon find you
have obtained complete control of your
Impulses and that you are no longer gov
erned to too great extent by your i'm
pressions.
Perhaps you have been deterorating-
either mentally physically-and the
downward slant of your writing is a sure
give-away. To overcome this simply write
upward-that is, let the lines ascend, and
don't try to keep them straight. Above
all, make them stop dropping. Soon your
InouSHtS VIII 1ollOW the same trend, anu
you will be surprised at the loftiness Of
your sentiments.
If you have tiny little streak of stingi-
ness in your system-and would like to do
away with it-bc to make large char
acters, especially large loops to your small
IS, "g's" and "ys." Your generosity
will be benefited by this example, and be-
fore long you will have to keep sharp
guard on your generous impulses.
Then, again, you may be one of those
people who cannot hold on to money-who
just let it slip through their fingers.
so, take pains to close your "ss," leaving
no'loophole of escape for those slippery
penn'es-and they will form the habit OF
staying with you.
These arc but few suggestions, sum-
cient, doubtless, to rouse your skepticism
and perhaps your interest. showing tho
general trend of this little known science.
Why not give it more than a passing
thought, and incidentally become more the
person you would like to be?
KATE SPROUL
New York,Aprl 13, 1918.