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jJELTHK CKDAK HAMD9 Sun.. Bw. I. HHThe Hand of P. R. Spencer□ □ Li U 1J □ □□□ D 0 DWe CoM Use II Today Whtn Illegible Writing Has Become a Business Problem' y £’br.fmfyrTorcr//-O CAssociated ,Vrcns ftcwa feat urns Piiota.— pholo by John Jaiut.A LOST ART — A sample of his flee Spencerian handwriting and penmanship drawing of « freehand bird are displayed by Augusta C. Kreth of Coralrifle, Tho sample, signed f resh from fhe pen by A, C. Kreth was made In 195 I.PAST SCRIPT—Platt R. Spencer, Nineteenth century teacher of penmanship, and an old illustration of styles of handwriting. Top left is the trade card of E. Huntington, penmanship teacher, printed in 1817, end under it, two birds done in freehand penmanship. Top right: The Washington medallion pen, and the title of Currents Calamo, a new system of writing advertised in 1855. Bottom right: Title page of The Writing Master's Assistant by T. Powoll, mid-Eighteenth century. Also shown are eight everpointed pencils, produced between 1836 end 1841, Spencer, who lived from 1800 to (864, taught his system of penmanship in business colleges, with lasting influence. But today fine penmanship is an almost lost art. Schools no longer put emphasis on handwriting. Illegible writing has become a problem in business.¥* * * -k -aQuincy Adams once etna, requires application of personal1** * . .. ■ a , i [discipline. Therefore It IndicatesN this typewriter-infested age few know, or eare,LTI,ni[Ul of fhlt,Bclcr.’r about Platt K, Spencer any 11101 e. JFpnmannhtp n«nnlt;ifAnd yet only a little over a year ago a band ofi For pmim„sllip ,lmv. pilgrims rav-erentJy made its way to Geneva, uflio.,Lred and iir0SIJCl9d, piatt «. and the tomb 011 which is written in neat script, sp™™, who lived from iboo **P !R Silencer” to lBtfB, busily-tougliI Wb sysl cmAt.a time when many a person can't make out!$„(! .u .lt; ' T upoi his own handwriting after it cools, this trip to the ^ ^ M lumdcemetery may have been symbolic. w.-ftM *i»te ciiaii««i Amu ».For Spencer, dead these DO years, once influenced the writing habits or this nation, “He wrote a fine 'Spencerian' hand” an author would say, confident that any reader would realize from this one sentence that his hero was dependable, dignified and, probably, successful*Nowr these remaining disciples,members oi the International Association of Master Penman zmd Tenchers of Hnndwrillnjj, had come to the place where Spencer first taught his famous system and later was buried.Unfortunately, they did not record their thoughts on this solemn occasion. But it seems Inevitable that a few disturbing questions would arise.Tip HiV.mony . , , jurors peer Dt prescription . . , verdict for the plaintiff doctor pays off.Is fine writing, like Spencer, to die and be almost forgotten?Are the nation's schools steadily forsaking the second of the 1 three H's?Will hartfhcrithitf soon be all but a lost art?Naturally the 200 or bo remaining professional penmen are gloomy on all these questions. Eiri other loss-prejudiced sources also believe we have become a nation, of sorry writers.Let’s look at a few examples;The Illinois Hell Telephone Company lost 550,000 «■ year because Hs operators wrote so poorly no one could figure out who should hr. charged with the calls. It began » program other businesses are copying: It hired an instructor to teach Its employes how to write.Insurance executives complain they can’t read policy forms turned in by their salesmen. Forty-seven percent say wretched writing loses them money.Fhysirians are notorious writers. end the magazine “Medical Economics'1 shows one tragic result. A Missouri medical man wrote a prescription calling for Id grams of n certain drug. To the druggist It looked like 10 grains.The story in a capsule; Stricken pa (lent. , . big lawsuit . . . testiNo one can say for sure how much U. S. business loses ench year mic to sticiriay hand writing, but one guess puls it as high as 70 million dollars a year,A group of fountain pen menu factuvevp, apparently afraid their piuducL might become a museum piece like the stylus or the goose quill, hist year set up the non profit HuiidwriHub Foundation.A OflHas brink pf/tcidl so|/i iHnfllble haudtUTitfup. by cn.s-ttuners mirl by dnfirs* cu.sls iiisjir/n $5,(100 a year.tlval to slanted letters, professors who would write iii tjidlfSS curlicues were highly ref peeled.Almost any adult over !t» nmt recall the hours spent at penmanship, fteniemlwr the endless Hoes of overlapping O’s? Or the push-null of the pen In an effort lo form an unbroken picket line?The date of the decline and Tnll oC this type of penmanship varies with Hie school system.Some, of course, still have it. Bui in most schools it faded fast in the 1920s and the 1930s, lu many schools the depression delivered the knockout punch. Need to save money; let’s fire the penmanship teacher!Wanto nf Time?It slate bus attracted many outside the pen industry wImj feel that handwriting needs every boost it can get.Is the picture really this black? Should parents make a determined effort to get schools to conoenLrale cm penmanship? AVAffolmAn5* MtenialMost schoolmen say the answer to both questions Is no-They aj;ree til at penmanship Isn't given the attention It oncewas, but they say the hours sa\'ed are better spent an other subject,1;. And they insist that while the average student may not write a picture book hand, he does have a simple style useful enough for most purposes.To understand what fhe argument is about, let’s go back a bit:In this country handwriting artistry probably never reached the peak It did in Europe, or, in another civilization, China. But great value was placed ou the ability to write n neat hand.“Good penmanship/'jprof. Craig declares, should be a requirement for a high school diploma or a college degree/1 Or Max Hoscnhnus, now re-ilred, who put in 35 years as i teacher, supervisor and consultant in handwriting to the Now York City board of education: We used to have penmanship In every commercial department, but wo replaced it. Do you knnw what we replaced It with? Civics! Civics, The relationship Is perfect.’* Roscnbaus grins, wryly, at his mile juke,Tnaeherfi ToavJt adBut Rcuenhpus isn’t discouraged. Thanks partly to his unflagging industry, every i menlury teacher in New York chords since 1947 has been coached in penmanship.Dr. Frank W, Hubbard, director of the research division of the National Education Association,Mr, Kreth has lived alone at his Coralvilic home since the lieBlh of his wife just Nov, 13 of this yea?. He is the last wale member of n family that came to Johnson county ns landholders 35 years ago.His appearance was almost as unique as Ids humtwriiJnff up to about a year aglt;*; Until then he wore his hair long, usually in briiiils, as well ag asaysYet the real reason for changing the methods «f teaching penmanship probably wapiTt financial. It was h conviction on the part of many educnlors that penmanship, as then taught, wasted time,Louis A. DiGcsnre of Scotia, N.Y., is a calligrapher and one of tho pilgrims who visited Spencer’s tomb. He hands von his handwritten card. The capitals are delicately shaped, the curls and curves of his name roll ns rhythmically and relentlessly as the tide,Nobody carea about fine handwriting1 any more,” DIGesare says. “I don’t suppose there are 10 of us (eft in the country/’ Drop down the scale q mite to tho roaster penman. He, too, is dislr^-cd.There certainly is no harm In reconsider! ii it our handwritinghnbils. Mnyhp wt should spend marc time on it. But I hope we can look at the problem calmly and carefully. Why is it thiU, on almost any problem in education, we have ttf work ourselves into an emotional lather?’1Two fteyz: One «M»John G. Steele of New York does fancy print jobs. (I once spent two whole days on the letter ‘M1/’) He formerly worked for the A. N. Palmer Company of Chicago (formerly situated in Cednr Rapids).“We ustd iu sell a million and a half to two million copies of our Palmer Method Book/’ Steele said. “The companyMother-in-Law Floors HimjtD-year-old deaf mule woman, he (awakened her by shaking her. j Unable to make the terrified woman understand, Marnble final-^ ly took off his fire helmet andMONTREAL (AP)—George flashed his light on the lettering. Warrington, 2i, was sentenced “She got the idea fast/’ Marablc1 „ MJM.|It***? •-onn| still Ig huslncsfi, but It’a not [Ike it used to be,Or take Gavin Craig, professor of penmanship at Western Kentucky Slate college in Bowling Green and president of the International Penmen.Proficiency in handwriting/7So, ntt-emoiionalhf and, unfathered, let’s fare up to a curious aspect of handwriting. If some schools slight haiidw riti n g, it mould be. in line with what seems to be c national, mid maybe a?i international, attitude.Many a business man, no matter how much he deplores poor handwriting In others, has a sig-n ii lure that is indecipherable, And many a dainty warn an writes a most unladylike scniwl.Nor is this anything new. The handwriting problem has been with us always.The ink-splotched diploma for possibly the worst writing of all time probably should go to Horace Greeley, the editor of The Nexv York Tribune who lived from lll to 18?2 and therefore was a contemporary of Platt R Spencer.The Spencerian hand never touchrd the great Greeley. He wrote at tup speed, tossing each page on the floor as he finished tt, hurrying, scratching, ^[ggling on.Thz result was chac3.One anonymous desrrlpt.inn nf! it has come down to up, possibly from, the unfortunate printer whose job it was to figure nut what the master meant.’Ills handwriting, the paarj mail said, looked like the tracks a drunken hen.”Coralvllle Man Still Writing The Fine' HandA Cura Milo man, Augustus C. Kreth, 03, still writes a ’Tine hand’* and he’s one of tho few living students u( the nearly cx linct handwriting of the Spencerian era.Mr. Krcth, a retired farmer who has maintained his pen and ink hobby since boyhood, insists his writing is largely my own development although it :r. more like the Spencerian method than any other.He wurketf more than years to develop Ills art and only three years ago arduously penned, diplomas for an Iowa City graduating class.beard. He started growing the [day mornings In the Alcove, beard because of an arm In- jLumir Dvorak, vice-president, and ujury years ajjo and liked tha* way. He cut his 22-inch long hair last year because it became Ion !onp to be carcrf ' for hy his wife, ■:Mr. Kreth Is In good health ri; and claims never to have had a:i internul pain. He attributes his good health to use of neither tobacco or liquor. He drinks only water and milk, not even carbonated soft drinks.Larg Kolsto, sccretary-treasurer. JirWas It a Slip?WASHINGTON (INS) — For a brief moment, it was Vicc-prlncipal'’ Nixon,In b Blip of fhe tongue, Neil McEJro.v, chairman of the While House Conference on Education, gave that introduction to the vice-prcsldcnt,It brought a hearty laugh from ihf* audience and r chuckle from Nixon as well.John Engskow Head of Men's Breakfast CiubJohn Engskow Is the new president of the Business Men’s Breakfast club.Other officers recently electee by the group, which meets Thurs-fJLWFlA B £Aii1S£ WUAT YOU on f ftOVjE jjgHfCamplefe Semera GHOrdor your perjonulizad Photo many itylai and patternsFAST FINISHING SERVICETimes Photo IFormerly Blummhi 218 Third Srr**r 5ENEW G-E AUTOMA COFFEE MAKER only 1Makes 3 to 9 cups . delicious coffee every time —every day I
Newspaper Details
Cedar Rapids Gazette
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, US
Sun, Dec 04, 1955
Page 90
Full Page
Clipped by
Kim K.
NA, 28 Aug 2024
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