The Ogden standard. [volume], October 24, 1914, 4 P.M. City Edition, MAGAZINE SECTION, Page 2, Image 14

About The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1913-1920

Image provided by: University of Utah, Marriott Library

                
nr.nFM r itam- sattiphav nr to rtTqB
H THE STjARDJI 24, li -
I PEN
'
The question for debate Is, "Ro
solved, That our grandfathers wroto
better than we and that wo write
better than our grandchildren will."
In other words, the affirmative
Bide of this question would have us
believe writing Is a lost art, and
they had a Letter system in the
j good old days when the children
studied the "Three R's" and eat on
j a slab In tho old log school house
with Its puncheon floors and with
a teacher who "lamed by lickin'."
j The man chosen to debate tho
negative side of this question is
H. B. Lehman, a pupil of the old
school, who learned to write under
the instruction of P. R. Spencer,
the man who first presented a gys
tematic method of ponmanshlp for
uso in the public schools.
Although Lehman learned under
; tone of the told-tlme teachers, he Is
linked to the present in that he is
teaching penmanship at Central
HlSh School. He is author of sev
eral standard works on penman
ship and Is considered one of the
most skillful and efficient teachers
I In the country.
On this page we are presenting
photographic copies of a letter writ
ten by P. R. Spencer, representing
the old school, and a copy of the
same letter written by Lehman to
show the style of penmanship now
taught One is no better than the
other. The Spencer style is slight
ly different In tho formation of
some of the letters and in the shad
ing, but In general appearance is
the same.
Lehman has been chosen to pre
sent the negative side of this ques
tion because he is right In the
teaching harness. He agrees with
j the afllrmathe in their contention
that the best penmanship of a gen
cratlon ago is as good as it can be.
but he is equally emphatic in stat-
I Ing that tho best penmanship of
; today is Just as good.
The affirmative side of tho qucs-
j tlon Is not given much space here
j because their arguments are fa
miliar with everyone. Anyone wlsh
lsh to hear the arguments of the af-
J flrmativo all over again needs only
to go to the nearest cross-roads store
" " . , where at least one of the men as-
j eembled will be able to dilate on
I the excellent penmanship of the
I I days gone by.
I I "Mr. President, Honorable Judges.
"X I Ladies and Gentlemen, " Is Mr. Leh-
HI man's style of beginning the de-
I fense of the question '1 am wlll-
I I ing to admit the affirmative Is right
I 1 j ln many things, but I contend there
I &ro more good writers today than
t? I there were In the good old days,
A which is chlelly due to the fact that
3' H school authorities are now provld-
I I ln& special Instruction in the grades
j: ' and ln tl,e nlKh school.
:'$: "One trouble with many writers
'r I ot the present timo is they write
M
too rapidly and do not consider the
fact that there Is a speed beyond
which writing cannot bo good. An
other trouble Is that many teach
ers, as the affirmative has already
shown you, do not know the funda
mental principles of writing, there
fore they are not capable of teach
ing children. One other trouble
which ruined many otherwise good
penmen la the change in writing
systems.
INDIVIDVALIl Y IMPORTANT
HANDWRITING FEATURE.
"Formerly everyone wrote with
a slant, which writing was based
upon the olipse as the unit of let
ter construction Then cam some
book publishing companies with tho
theory that the perfect circle should
form the basis of letter construc
tion from which evolved tho ver
tical band. Rapid adoptions were
made and for a time nearly every
large city and a number of States
used the vertical system, but the
merits claimed by tho publishers
did not manifest Itself and within
a Short time tho system was dis
carded. Individuality In hand
writing which is a safeguard In the
transaction of business with banks
and other business institutions In
signing commercial pavers, etc.,
finds h natural resource ln the slant
system of writing, while tho ver
tical style was an easj prey for
signature forgers.
"School authorities soon learned
that for good commercial reasons
- BBS
it would be necessary to change
again to the slant system of writ
ing, in order to accomplish this
transition without ruining the writ
ing of tho children the Semi-slant
was next introduced.
"Xow we ar returning to th
former style of writing which Is
naturally easy to acquire, conse
quently those who learned tho semi
slant did not have their writing
hopelessly spoiled.
"While I admit many children
were discouraged by the changing
of tholr system of penmanship, I
still contend that the changes left
some good writers. But I have th
greatest of hopes for th future.
Penmanship is now taught bettor
than vr before. That Ik particu
larly true in the cities whor there
aro writing supervisors who make
it their business to se that th
teachers bscome better penmen and
1 H. B. Lehman Says "No"
and Presents a Sample
of His Own Writing to
Show the System Now j
CZL1
the children are taught the funda
mental principles of penmanship
'Tho purpose of teaching good
writing ln th schools is two-fold.
Every person likes to write well It
Is of use to him in carrying on his
personal correspondence and ho
takes pride ln It ln a commercial
way and It Is important for him to
be a good penman if he would hold
a position as a bookkeeper or a
clerk.
"Business men In employing
clerks want men and women who
can write well and they insist on It
more than any other requisite. They
not only want a page they can read
readily. They want a page that
will look nice. No one can acquire
a good handwriting without the
fundamentals of penmanship
"The pupil must not be taught
to slmplj follow the copy, If he does
that he Is likely to draw his letters
like an artlst draws a picture. Ho
must first learn the fundament. ils
of penmanship. He must learn mo
tion and he must learn Just how
many spaces high and wide each
letter Is. Any system which does
not group tho letters according to
the underlying elements which gov
ern their progressive construction
Is wrong H must learn for in
stance that the small 1, b, h, and k
4
are started vith the same motion.
"Flourishing In writing is not
necessary. It makes a page look
well, but it takes too much time for
the average penman. Shoding Is
not Important In writing. That is
the only thing wc have dropped
from the teachings of tho writing
experts of the good old days.
"The typewriter is taking away
much of tho work of tho penman,
but there is still much work for
which penmen are needed, In book
keeplng they have not found a ma
chine to take the place of the pen.
Men who employ bookkeepers ask
two things of their applicants. One
Is, Lot me see a sample of your
writing.' The other question refers
to tho speed An emploer wants
his books taken care of rapidly, but
when it comes to a question of
speed and writing I am sure the on
who Is a fine writer has the first
chance at the position if his speed
is moderately good.
"If one believes the handwriting
of today is less legible than that of
cur forefather., let him examine
the penmanship of those who ha e
-one Sofore. Some of the signers
nf the Declaration of Independence
wrote a hand that can hardly be
made out. In that day there wero
many good writers, but we have
WWffn
j I
I
H
them today and will have more of
them in the future.
I am glad wo are returning to
the old-fashioned style of system
atic writing ln the public schools
again."
Indian Land Sale.
A million and a quarter acres of
roornmont land are being advertise-.
1 by th Federal Government for
ale at public outcry at various
county seat towns. The lands are
in the (""hoctaw and Chickasaw na
tion Sale begins November 3. and
ends December 2. 1914.
Tho lands, are timber and segre
gated oal lands. The surfaco of
the coal lands are J the very best
lands in Oklahoma. They are di
vided into small tracts suitable to
the home builder and are to be sold
for one-fourth cash; tho second one
fourth In one year, the balance to
be paid ln one year at 5 per cent
interest, making it possible for any
Person to get a home, direct from
the Federal Government, insuring a
Perfect title. Most of the tracts are
he very best of farming lands, all
Being near towns, in sight of rail
roads and smoke stacks from the
mines where large pavrolls are
maintained. Darge sections of the
land are all well watered, being in
Taught in
the Public
Schools
Is Equal to
Any
UPPER left, P. R. Spencer of
the old .school of perimnn
hlp. At top Is sample of
his pcumnmdnp, written twenty
four yenrs ngo and a good exnmplo
of the best penmanship of a perifwl
dating from before Che Civil Wni
to twenty years ago. The letters
of his signature are made with con
siderable of a flourish and are
heavily shaded. Upper right, H.
li. Lehman. Lower center, sample
of his penmanship, showing icst
handwriting of the present time
and illustrating: what Ls taught in
fhp public schools. There Is slight
difference In the formation of small
letters. The greatest difference is
In the formation of the rnjiltals.
Below, n school boy learning t
write. Kxtreme left of page.
Thomas .Ic-fferson and a copy of
ine c-oneniaing woras or trie wccia
ration of Independence, which was
written by him with a quill.
.IciYorson was the most rapid
pennum In the Colonies. Ills sig
nature can be found near the cen
ter of the group of .gnntures lie-
low the Declaration. Few of the
names are well written, but the
doubtless show the writing ability
of the Revolutionary period. Low
er left is portrait of Gen. U. S.
Grant, and a copy of his letter
written to the Commander at Fort
Donelson demanding immediate
and unconditional surrender.
Grant's penmanship can be taken
ns a type of the Civil War period.
A distinct type of handwriting is
that or Thomas A. Kdison. His
portrait Is shown at the lower left
corner of the group, together with
his very legible style of hnndwrit-Ingr.
that portion of the State having
abundant rainfall. In Coal County
and other places artesian water ls
in abundance.
The sale will begin at Stigler and
end at Ardmore. There will be ap
proximately 385.000 acres sold in
4.166 tracts and divided as follows:
Haskell County, 43,000 acres; Le
Floro county, 138,000 acres; Latimer
County, 44,000 acres; Pittsburg
County 88,000 acres. Atoka County,
25,000 acres, Coal County, 40,000
acres.
In addition some unsold tracts ln
Pushmataha. JefTerson, Pontotoc.
Johnston Murray and Carter Coun
ties, as well as about 1.000 000 acres '
of timber lands in McCurtaln, Pitts
burg, Lc timer, Pushmataha and
Choctaw Counties, will be old.
Thousand- of people will probably
attend tho sale from Indiana, Illi
nois, Iowa, Kansas Nebraska, Ken
tucky and other States. Railroads
will probabh announce a very low
rate for homeseekers who will at
tend the sale. The lands will be ex
tensively advertised by the goern
ment, also by the railroads and an
association of manj towns has been
organized to adxertlsc locally the
lands that are adjacent. An organ
ization to advertise the sale in Coal
County ls being perfected by Boone
Williams of Lehigh, who has been
president of the association that has
worked for years to bring about th
sale.
Much of the land ls Improved and
improements will be sold with the
land. It Is estimated that the land
will produce $3,000,000 annually In
farm products and will contribute
materially to the taxable 'values of
the counties and of the State.
To Teach Perfection.
Miss Florence R. Gilpin. a
Charlestown, Mass., girl, has gone
to Xew Orleans to teach the belles
of that city how they may become .
'perfect 36's."
She graduated from a school of
physical training In Boston la-st
June. In the South she will have
hfirge of the gymnastic work at the
Y. M. C. A.
"The Winged Victory." a perfect
a '36' as the w orld has ever known,
is the standard she has taken a her
model lor New Orleans girls to
measure up to,
in her capacity as physical In
structor Miss Oilpin expet ta to have
the streets of New Orleans soon
filled with the most perfect women
thut the city has ever known.
New Orleans girls aren't especlal
1 strong on athletics, and from all
accounts the prettv Charlestown girl
has plenty of work cut out for her.
She says the girls there don't walk
correctly, stand correctly or dance
correctly.
But all this will soon b changed.
Dancing ls to play a big part in her
scheme of things, not tho modern
one-step, but folk-dancing, which
she sas Is much better for' physical
development.
Swimming will help too, and af
for fencing, Miss Gilpin is an adept
at that art. and this is supposed to
put the finishing touches on beautl
fleatlon of New Orleans girls,
J