Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-08
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

tected against really miserable hand
writing. And it must never be forgotten
that what may seem perfectly legible 10
writer may be a puZzler to another.
x y x x
Now that we have said what we can
for the use of the typewriter, we I'M
hesitatingly recommend the use of PEN
Gil and paper to all such as can con-
! tr1ve it. We believe that any one can
write better so.
writer can commune more easily
| with his heart and brain when he sits
down to sheet of paper with a pencil
in his hand. A pen may do. but some
how ink seems messy, and this despite
the invention of pens which DO not
Sputter or drip ink.
All young men and women who aspire
to earn their living by writing, as thou-
sands do. ought to stick to pencil ana
paper as long as they can. Ii time per-
mits, the first draft may be neatly type
written afterward At the same time,
they should practice in composition On
the machine, as such speed Will be
necessary at times.
The advantages of the old-style
method are many. In the first place,
as we have stated, it gets the writer
closer to himself, and there can be no
greater necessity in writing than that.
one may lTy as Ildlu do ilC CS'l w
believe that he likes longhand best
simply because he was brought up" on
it. If. however, after many years OF
composition on a machine. he Will go
back to script, we believe he Will 1nVa-
riablv find himself and his writing the
gamer.
The second great gain of writing with
pencil and paper is the more actual
time a man has to think While Wrulng.
No matter how facile performer one
may be, certain time must De taken
to think A ma. halfway HANDY WIN
typewriter can reel his words OIL SO
quickly that sometimes he is conscious
of the fact that his hand Is rather
getting ahead of his ideas.
Let it be stated that the thought in
volved in composition is one OF the
most interesting sorts of thinking IN
the world. 1t is half conscious half nom
conscious, defying the mind to separate
the two precisely.
When one is writing with pencil it is
impossible to make the words appear i'll
sequence as fast as they would were
he using typewriter capably. So he
gives himself more time TO think be-
tween words. The stir in the brain
which we call literary composition has
more time to stir in. There is an &C
tual sense of this as one writes. Es-
peeially is this noticeable when one &C
customed to composition on a type
writer goes back to longhand for time.
We have asked many writer's OF
varying degrees about this, and one
and all have admitted that there is
more chance of their saying exactly
what they want to say with pencil
and paper. Often with the typewriter
a thought gets control of them before
they are aware of it, almost, and away
they go on a train of thought which,
had the clicking keys been less agile,
they might have rejected entirely for
another.
There are other advantages to long
hand. No doubt this method suits bet
ter calm temperament than fiery
one. 1t must be admitted that some
times the thoughts get fax ahead of
the writing fingers, but this Is almost
always a good thing, preventing the
hand from writing anything but its
owners best. AS we pointed out yes
terday, writing is one of the few pro-
LESSONS in which every member always
tries to do his best.