The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-12-11
.HA|VDWR|TN IS
INDEX To
EXPERT
Rafael Schermann Thinks
chiId's chIrography Is
Most Revealing.
(Copyright. 1888. by Cosrnopolitan
News 6ervfce.l

tCcpyFights 1898, BY Cosmopolitan
News 6srvice.l
NEW YORK, Dec. 1.-THE i1andr
writing Of children il as individual
as that OF grown people. It is NOT
scraWling BY any means. BY analza
Ing g child's Signature his future
The speaker was Rafael Schers
mann. the worlds greatest authority.
on handwriting, who recently start
led the world with his analysis OF,
Shakespeare's handwriting at the.
British Museum In London.
The child's writing viii change
g. he develops," continued Scher-
mann. who SCOTS ct the prefix OF
doctor" or professor s:
Wants Child's Writing.
The writing Of q grown person
changes a. he develops or degener.s
ates. Give me q child's writing, no
matter what age, and can tell you
what vocation he IL most adapted
TO-" "a
The medium-sized, gray. haired
and mustached man from Vienna
confessed he had an abnormal de-
sire to study and dissect handwrftv
ING When he was even q child
scarcely able to more than toddle to
his fathers waste paper basket
] where torn letters could be found
When other children were playing
J with blocks he was playing with
handwriting which seemed to at
tract him Ike q magnet. re dic
not ask, Papa, what does that
say?" ag children do; he brooded
over the writing.
Used Playmates I'm Study.
When seven years old, Schernann.
was sent to school and very soon hes
appeared with Q big scrap book In
which his playmates, signatures
were inscribed. On one page WOULD
De the signature and on the oppos
site page. in his own handWriting
young ScherTnann had put q charac-s
terization Of the writer. Coup1cd
with an Unborn love of rhe science
Of grapho1ogy, which to plain people
means handwriting, this scrap book
| system Of self-culture led to anaz-s
ing results.
II do not know why always
loved to study writing, Schermann-
said frankly. There seems to be
| something about II that / feel
When / bought the copy book for
my platmates' signatures I was
but following out a natural bent.
No one suggested the act to me. /
Thus, I learned the handwriting OF I
the boy who was lazy, the boy who
was untruthfuI, the boy who was az
good pupil. Just BY itself the book
could not have taught me 20 very
much, but . natural aptitude that
made the study my greatest recre.
alton before was very old gave
/ me q great power"
Was Damage Expert. .
Scnernann was originally damage
expert in Viennese insurance COM.
pany.
His success in reading character
from handwriting for many Year,
has been 80 great that he ID often
credited with being q psychic. Ger
tainly there is something that
seems uncanny in the way he can
dissect persons character through
few written words. He says that
belongs to nature deeply human
and psycholog1cally keen. He ex-
pressed his sympathetic nature
when he said: y
"If handwriting were merely
/ handwriting to me would lose all
! interest in it, but it is a per
sona1ity and to me it is so clearly
/ developed that I know whether the
writer il in trouble and how he can
be helped out of his difficulty. I.
/ Desires to Help.
MANY a time have kept people I
from committing suicide. More times
have I prBvented divorces. Through
being told Of their faults and their
! good points erring humans haveig
been able to readjust themselves
I have kept individuals from being
unhappy together by telling each /.
one how unsuitable they were to-
the other and how 1t would take ans
almost impossible amount Of makrsa
ing over to change the characters
around so that they would harmonrs
ize. My desire Is to help" %
Just as the judge would read
mans physiognomy, Schermann
reads handwriting. In the forma-
ton of the letters he senses health
or sickness, suffering or happiness.
wealth or poverty. and the ability
or lack Of win by which the OBJ
stacles can be overcome. SD
eWomen's handwriting does not
lack character. Their sex has little
or nothing to do with their writing, -.
he observed. --1
] Men are sometimes very eff
| Terminate and their writing resennaa
| bles the average woman's hand. AZ
mans signature may have force,if
but that does not necessarily mean
strength Of character" A
Would Teach Others.
The expert leaned forward and.
said with great earnestness: I
What most wish to find Is
some one who Is interested in. .
analysing handwriting that may
help him in his work There is
nothing I desire more than to be
able to perfect others as interested
as I am myself, in graphology.
Whatever knowledge has BEEN
born in me and what knowledge /
have acquired would gladly place
as the use of some one who showed
talent. 1t is great science.