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THIS IS A SAMPLE FROM KRETH'S FACILE PEN... The penman says the style is largely my awn* but leans to Spencerian , , ,Coralville Man WieldsPen with Old FlourishBy John Reynolds.The a'mil.7 setter.CORALVILLE — Nearly 40 pupils, who soon will finish their work.at Horace Mann elementary school In Iowa City, will get some mighty fancy hand-written diplomas;To'rnake tMs possible, a beard-id man with braided hair has turned the midnight oil on scv-iral occasions In his comfortable, itone-faced house overlooking loralville's Water avenue.Although he will be 80 years ld in February, the hand of Au-rnst Caesar Kreth, retired farm-:r, is steady as he handles a Prin-lipality pen in its oblique holder ;o write the diplomas in a style lull of flourishes.Penmanship is not the only ma-or accomplishment A, C. Kreth :ac count in a life that has been itudded with both hard work and adventure.But'his art with pen and Ink Is i hobby that has sustained Ms in- ‘ crest since boyhood.Kretfa’a penmanship, by mod ero standards, is nothing short of classical. He is one in thousands today who can write the flowing, Spencerian hand that sweeps front his pen,It isn’t Spencerian,” Kreth will irotest, however. “It’s more like Jpencerian than it is like Palmer-Method handwriting, of course, Jut' my style it largely -my own levelopment.”That Kreth is proud of his penmanship-goes without saying.' “Promise me, he says slyly as re writes a sentence, or signs his lame, “that you won’t go out of rere and start writing as 1 write, i wouldn’t want you to be competing with me,” ’August Caesar Kreth knows hat iiis admonition is a joke. His lecret is safe because'it is backed yj nearly 70 years of practice, and he skill of a trained artisan.* * * ,Kretb'g handwriting .Is not the inly thing that distinguishes him. The beard is one thing.His long hair is another.Nine years ago he suffered some ain in his arms which prohibited lim from shaving. That got the ieard: started. Now his hair ong, too..- It’s- so long that he wears it in braids over the top of his head a good deal of the time. Wearing s hat'. out of doors, as he doer, the - braided- hair is hidden,Why the beard? Why the Jong hair?-A, C. Kreth likes It that , way. He. has no quarrel with the man who shaves closely, who fags his hair cut regularly. But Kretb, now that he's tried it, happens to like a beard and long hair. So he lets both grow. And he sees no reason whs anyone should quarrel with bin* because of his 'beard and hair style.Something of an eccentric, Kreth will tell you he. hr* seen just-five silent movies. He has a considerable library in fate home, but he cares nothing for the modern novel.Mrs, Kreth sums up her husband’s literary tastes this way: “He tt«a ima«tnat!on enough. He doesn’t n#ed to read novels,”Kreth, attributes his steady'hand and his good: health to his own* habits of clean living. He doesn't drink or smoke. .Furthermore, .he’ll tell you, he doesn’t tike soft drinks. . Once In a while he’ll , sip a little; lemonade. Nos and then he drinks a very weak form of coffee . . , “just barely brown, is the way he describes It.Radio' Kreth listens hut he deplores the .. attention.: given to sports, on the radio-as well as' on the sports field.- All his life he’s had enough physical labor to keep hioi in good . hsipe and the games of body-building athletics hold no appeal whatever.* * .*Kreth Is the win of -a Germanman and ■woman who came to America, met' in Iowa and were married at Iowa City,Today the bearded man with the braided hair is the last male of the Kreth family which first moved into Johnson' county ‘ as landholders 95 years ago.George and ■ Kristlu . Kreth, parents ot A C. Kreth, took titles to 48 acres ol land which was just one owner removed from govern-ment-grant land. President Pierce’s name, is on the. original papers covering the grant.Since then the family .added materially to the “home place” which Kreth eventually - bought ; and (Continued oil Page 5, Cel S.). CORALVJLLE’S AUGUST CAESAR KRETHto be SB pear* old in February, lie has a. clear eye and a steady penman’s hand , . ,
Newspaper Details
Cedar Rapids Gazette
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, US
Sun, May 25, 1952
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
Kim K.
NA, 28 Aug 2024
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