^^z; THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES >< L 7 ^4 . Xtfto2^Li* s ^T s Y r \_ fcfte- T7* ' r ^ / g^^^f^y V /t Jr^ W*^ (> / 6 () fe7 . 0. LAWYER A NEW SYSTEM PHONOGRAPHY J. S. VERITY. J'irtiic is its own reward and 1'ice its own punishment. BOSTON: PRESS OF ROCKWELL AND CHURCHILL, 39 ARCH STREET. 1885. "Phonography is a railroad method of communicating thought: a railroad by reason of its expedition; a railroad by reason of its ease." DR. RAFI-I.KS. " Since brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and out- ward flourishes, I will be brief." SIIAKKSPKAKI.. "Let the system of written signs be reduced to a brevity, corre- sponding to that of spoken sound, and there is no reason why the hand should not be able to keep up with the voice, and a man write as fast as he can speak. And this is what Phonography claims to do. It claims to have analyzed our language into its elementary sounds, and to have invented a mark or character for each sound. The character is so brief and simple that the hand can make it as easily and rapidly as the voice can utter it; and thus the labor of writing and the expense of writing materials are reduced many fold." HUKACI: MANN. EDITOR'S NOTE. JOHN SHOWLER VERITY was born in Lancashire, Eng- land, on the 3ist of July, 1822. He came to the United States in 1853, and soon settled in Manchester, N. H., where he resided for some years. Thence he removed to Cambridgeport, Mass., and later to Lynn, in which 2J citv he died on the loth of February, 1885. Mr. Verity W * was well-known as an earnest student of many of the ec great problems of the age, and a somewhat detailed 3 record of his life and labors will be found in "In Memoriam. John S. Verity. Boston, 1885." Mr. Verity early learned Pitman's Phonography, and c*> r used it to some extent. He became much interested in it z shorthand, studied thoroughly the principles underlying the art-science, and made many experiments with a view to embodying his theories in a practical system. In ?J 1875 he copyrighted a method of his own invention, and j> in 1880 published a four-page exposition of his system as afterwards improved and modified. Not satisfied, however, with his previous efforts Mr. Verity continued his experiments still further, and devised the system set forth in these pages. The plates for this work were engraved and a portion of the manuscript was placed in 448469 4 EDI TOR'S NOTE. the hands of a printer in Lynn, when its publication was prevented l>y the sudden death of the author. The editor lias followed closely the text of the volume as prepared by Mr. Verity, and has endeavored to make the book as printed conform to the author's wishes in even respect, wherever his desires or intentions were known. J. E. R. PREFACE. SHORTHAND writing is a very useful and important invention, and in its phonetic character is far sim- pler and easier to learn than longhand ; and because of its simplicity and usefulness it certainly ought to be more generally understood and practised 4han it is at the present day ; for we boast that we are living in an enlightened and progressive age, in an age of free and untrammelled thought, in an age of inventions in every department of thought and industry, in an age when everybody wants to move rapidly, in an age of railways, telegraphs, telephones, electricity, etc. If this be true, we surely cannot expect t u .it the people will much longer be satisfied with writing by the old slow and tedious method of longhand, when there are so many new shorthand systems in the field, any one of which must be infinitely quicker, easier, and better than longhand. The usefulness and importance of shorthand must be apparent to all, for we all know that it is by means of shorthand that we obtain verbatim reports of lectures, sermons, debates, of trials in our courts, and speeches in congresses, senates, and parliaments. It r, PR F. FACE. is also useful in a thousand less public ways which are too numerous to mention. It is also useful and important as a means of edu- cation, not merely in giving men an opportunity of collecting facts and of gaining general information, but in its being the equal of school or college as a medium of mental and intellectual training. But the great merit of shorthand is its brevity, its adaptability to enable men to write almost as fast as they can speak. This is shorthand's great merit and worth, and those who understand it appreciate and admire it on this account. This brings me more directly to my subject, which is to offer a few words in explanation and support of my new svstem of Phonograph v. In the first place I wish to say that my alphabet is here in response to a long-felt want for something easier to read and write than Pitman's system of Pho- nography. But whether my system is what is needed remains to be proved. I may be mistaken about the matter. To err is human. I know that all changes are not necessarily improvements ; I also know that it is easy to be mistaken. I do not claim that my s\ s- tem is perfect. I know it has faults ; yet, compared with some others, it certainly has some decided merits. The following are the advantages which I claim for in v system : First. Those letters which occur the- most frequently have the best forms for writing. PREFACE. ~ Second. All double letters, such as Pr, PI, etc., when written in the middle of words, are written with the aid of a hook at the end of the next preceding letter ; or, if the hooks at the beginning of words are retained and used in the middle of words, T or D is added to the double letter. Third. Every syllable that is sounded can be written without taking oft" the pen. Fourth, and lastly. All the letters of my alphabet move on a straight line in writing from the left to the right hand ; and the letters are so formed as to easily join or connect with each other, as they do in longhand. And this arrangement of the letters of my alphabet is about all the advantage I claim for my system ; but this, I feel confident, is so great an advantage that it will make all the difference between failure and success to many students of Phonography. And you will pardon me for claiming this as a marked improvement on Pitman's alphabet. Notwithstanding what I have just said about improv- ing on Pitman's alphabet. I am well aware of the fact that nearly all of our phonographic authors are repro- ducing Pitman's alphabet, and telling the public that it is perfect. I quote the following extract to that effect from " Munson's Dictionary of Practical Phonography." He says: " It is a singular fact that in the development of Phonography, its changes and improvements, fancied or real, from the very start, with a few slight exceptions, which have not affected the alphabet proper, with the 8 PKKFA CE. exceptions of the signs for the letters w, y, and h, the Stenographic alphabets of all writers on Phonography have always been and still are precisely the same as Isaac Pitman published thirty-four years ago." Well, readers, all I can say in reply to these authors is, that after years of thought and investigation of this subject I cannot agree with them. And yet, notwith- standing my difference of opinion on this matter, I hope I possess a proper feeling of reverence and respect for the authority of great teachers like Mr. Isaac Pitman, the originator and founder of Phonography. In my own defence I must say that after years of study of Pitman's Phonography I could not help thinking that it might be improved. And, with this feeling and thought, I de- termined to try, and, if possible, make it easier to write Phonography. But, as I have previously said, whether I have done so or not remains to be proved. In conclusion I will say that I have been very free in making selections. I have taken them from all sources that seemed to help to illustrate my subject. As I was unacquainted with any shorthand but Pit- man's, I have said nothing about them ; yet I will here say, from what I have seen of Tachygraphy, that I think Mr. Lindsley has improved on Pitman's alphabet by changing the letters K and G from the horizontal posi- tion and giving that easy position to T and D, simply because T and D occur the most frequently in writing. He has also improved on Pitman in joining the vowel signs to the outline without taking oft' the pen. GENERAL STATEMENT OF THE AD- VANTAGES OF PHONOGRAPHY. " The usefulness of shorthand," says Dr. Johnson, " is not confined to any particular science or profession, but is universal." Phonography, or phonetic shorthand, is a philo- sophical system of rapid writing, which, from employing the simplest geometrical signs for the representation of the sounds rather than the letters of the English lan- guage, combines the greatest speed and the most perfect legibility with the nicest representation of the sounds of speech. For these reasons it has entirely out- stripped every other system of shorthand, being prac- tised and read by so many persons, in all professions, in England and America that it bids fair to become general in a very few years. Upon each individual who learns it, Phonography confers, doubtless, some advantage peculiarly adapted to his individual circumstances. Upon the reporter it confers the power of taking the exact words of a speaker, even at the rate of 200 or 250 words per minute. It enables the student of a foreign language to visualize its pronunciation, to put down on paper, as it were, 10 -/ XEIV SYSTEM OF PHONOGRAPHY. the voice of his teacher. To him who aims to be a public speaker it is of inestimable value, on account of its turning his attention to pronunciation. Phonogra- phers are said to pronounce the English language better than any other class of persons. To the clergyman it is of peculiar value, as it enables his pen to keep pace with his powers of composition, and saves him five-sixths of the manual labor required in the use of the common longhand. It is exceedingly serviceable to the lawver in taking notes of testimony, decisions, and rulings of a court, and in rough-sketching business papers, agree- ments, etc. The principal of a commercial establish- ment may conduct the largest correspondence in a fraction of the time ordinarily required, thus saving much time and energy for other important duties, by dictating his letters, even with the rapidity of speech, to a competent phonographer, who would afterward write them out and prepare them for the mail. Ministers who use Phonography claim that thev can read it better than longhand, and with more of the free- dom of extemporaneous delivery. Authors W 7 hose " liv- ing flocks of thoughts trudge it slowly and wearily down the pen and along the paper, hindering each other as they struggle through the strait gate of the old hand- writing," whose "kind and loving thoughts, warm and transparent, liquid, as melted from the hot heart," now "grow opaque, and freeze with a tedious dribbling from the pen," cannot fail to duly appreciate Phonog- raphy, which enables them to write at " breathing ADVANTAGES OF PHONOGRAPHY. 11 ease." The time is not distant when every author that can afford it will employ his phonographic amanuensis and talk, instead of writing, to the world. The Rev. Dr. Raffles, of Liverpool, says: "Phonograph}* is a railroad method of communicating thought ; a railroad by reason of its expedition ; a railroad by reasons of its ease." It is hardly necessary to speak of the peculiar advan- tages since the bare mention of the name of shorthand is sufficient to suggest many even in addition to those general benefits which it bestows upon all, in corre- spondence, in writing literary compositions, in keeping a diary, in book-keeping, in copying letters, in making memoranda, in sketching lectures and sermons, in making abstracts of and quotations from books read. For these and all other purposes for which writing is available, it requires but a tithe of the time, labor, and space needed in the use of longhand. Phonography and its Uses, 1857. THE ALPHABET. A v D_ E v T W 00 I v L ^ DOUBLE LETTERS AND WORD SIGNS. TR A TLA FR c_- FL KR ^ KL-^> PR c PL CHR ^ CHL s. RL ^ LR NR c -N MR * - NL c ML FN ^ * PN c BN RT U LT V KT r F T f\ TN c_ THL ^ ING COMEc MT K BT K MAN c CAN YOU/) HEK SHE/J HOW WHV7 I V THAT V AND U - THE ^ _ AS DIRECTIONS FOR LEARNERS. First. Be sure to spell according to sound, and not according to English orthography. Second. Letters are connected together as in long- hand to form words, with the exception of the difference in the method of spelling. Third. Commit to memory the letters of the alpha- bet, the double letters, and the word-signs. Fourth. When you have done this thoroughly then begin and write and rewrite them, until you can write them correctly and read them readily. When you have done this you are phonographers, and you can now begin and write what you please. Fifth. Punctuate as in longhand, with the exception of the dash, which may be written by a perpendicular line. ON OUR STYLES OF WRITING. We have two methods of writing : we call them the corresponding and the reporting styles. The first is the corresponding style. It consists in writing every sound that is spoken, and writing each word separate and distinct from every other. The second I call my reporting style. It differs from the other only in writing two, three, four, or more words together, without taking off the pen ; this method of writing is called phraseography, or phrase-writing, an example of which may be seen on the title-page of this volume. I quote the following from Isaac Pitman on phrase- writing. In his " Phonography Adapted to Verbatim Reporting," page 8, Mr. Pitman says: "The whole secret of reporting may be said to consist in two words, practice and the use of phraseography. The student must himself give the first requisite, and we have here furnished the most efficient help for the second." One word on how to know which words to connect together, and then be able to read them afterwards. One rule I have found is to select word-signs ; vou will find them at the bottom of the page of double letters. It is said that one hundred of such words occupy about one- half of any discourse. SOME PECULIARITIES OF OUR SYSTEM. First, \ve have three sizes of letters ; namely, the short, the medium, and the long letters. The lengths of the letters are nearly as follows : The short letters are a little over -fa of an inch long ; the me- dium letters arc T 3 ff of an inch long; and the long letters are -^ of an inch long. SHUN. A hook at the end of medium and long-sized letters is shun, except at the end and on the upper side of hori- zontal letters. Then it is T or D. T OR D. T or D is added to words by connecting the double letters Kt, Ft, Rt, Lt, Nt, Mt, etc., instead of shortening the letters, as in Pitman's system. INITIAL AND FINAL VOWELS. In writing words beginning or ending with vowels, the vowel is expressed by a little short stroke, to be writ- ten light for A or E, and heavy for O or AU, and placed at a convenient angle from the consonants. SOME OF THE IRREGULARITIES IN OUR SYSTEM. The word "and" and the word "the" have two signs each. The letter A in the middle of some words stands for T. The word-sign "we," in the middle of words, is "sh," and at the end of words " ing." Kr and Kl, Pr and PI, are written in the medium position, because it is easier to write medium-sized than long-sized letters. OUR DOUBLE-LETTER SIGNS. We only use half the number of the double-letter signs that Phonography, or writing strictly by sound, requires. We do this by making one sign represent two sounds, as in the following double letters. We write the same sign for Pr and Br PI and Bl Tr and Dr Tl and Dl, etc. We do this for the following reasons : First. Because of the scarcity of forms suitable for double letters. Second. Because after trial it seems easy enough to read words written in this way. Third. Because we are assured by even such high authority as A. J. Graham, in his " Handbook of Stand- ard, or American Phonography," on page 38, " that such is the similarity between the sounds represented by light and heavy lines, that, if the signs of cognate sounds were to be interchanged by accident, but little difficulty would be experienced in arriving at the word intended to be written." THE ADVANTAGES OF OUR SYSTEM. The advantages of our system are as follows : First. Those letters that occur the most frequently have the easiest forms for writing. Second. All double letters, such as Pr, PI, etc., used in the middle of words, are written with the aid of a hook at the end of the next preceding letter, thus PROPER < *. _ BAKER m ~^ A hook at the beginning of letters written in the middle of words adds T or D to the letter. Third. Every syllable that is sounded can be writ- ten without taking oft" the pen. fourth. All the letters of my alphabet move on a straight line from the left to the right hand, and are so formed as to easily join or connect with each other, as they do in longhand. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. x- v. N^X- ^^ When, in the course of human events, becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel then) to the separation. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 21 We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with ? V certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are powers from the consent of the governed ; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it. NOTE. Since taking my Phonography to press, I have read a severe criticism in the November (1884) number of the 44 Shorthand Writer and Takigrafer" on writing differ- ent-sized letters in the phonographic alphabet. Seeing that that criticism condemns my alphabet, I thought I would try and oiler a word or two in its defence. In the first place I will admit that to have only out- size of letters is the best plan. But let me sav here that it would be still better to have only light characters, because it is harder to write heavy characters than light ones. To this it will be replied that that is impracti- cable. Well, I say the same thing in regard to having only one size of good letters. A good many years ago Pitman established the practice of writing three sixes of shorthand characters. He had the short size for ye, we, and the long size for father, mother, rather, etc. Let me say for myself, that, after years of trial and ex- periment, I have found that the small-size characters are very quickly written. And I call them good, almost as good as the medium sized letters. But with regard to the long-sized letters, I can only say that I despise them, it takes so long to write them. I have only got one letter that is frequently used in the long position ; that is the letter K. EXTRACTS. THE new system of phonetic shorthand, which we have partially developed in the following pages, is the result of a protracted effort to conform the system of Mr. Isaac Pitman to the beauty of its theory. A few persons of peculiar genius have mastered that system, and found its use of great service in all their literary pursuits. But, while a few were able to relieve them- selves of the intolerable drudgery of writing by its means, hundreds we can say in truth, thousands were striving in vain to make the old system practically useful to them. We speak what we know. Nineteen- twentieths of all the phonographers we have ever seen are of that number ; and we are most constantly in receipt of letters from all paits of the country, from Maine to California, testifying with emphasis to the impracticability of Phonography, and expressing an earnest hope that some system may be found that can be applied to the common uses of writing. In making the letters of our longhand alphabet we make from three to seven movements of the pen for each, on an average, four. About one letter in five 448469 24 EXTRACTS. is silent in our common orthography. In phonetic shorthand we make one simple stroke for each simple sound; this saves three-fourths the labor; we omit all silent letters ; this gives us a further advantage. Be- sides, the distance passed over by the pen is vastlv less in shorthand. We write this simplest style three to four times as fast as longhand ; but we save more than nine-tenths of the labor .of writing. We mean that a person can write more than three times as fast with less than one-third the fatigue. Though this speed is much less than that of our briefer styles, yet it is greater than can be attained by the simple style of Phonography, and greater than has been attained in the briefest styles of most systems of shorthand. D. P. Lindsley in the Compendium of Tachygraphy, 1864. Robert Real, in the "Rapid Writer," says : "After three centuries of experiment in shorthand writing Mr. Isaac Pitman, an Englishman, invented Phonography. We propose to show that although that was so far superior to preceding systems as to supersede them, yet that it is, for all ordinary purposes, a total failure. And, secondly, that since that has proved a failure all systems of shorthand must." We should much rather accept the following by Dr. Moat, who invented a system of shorthand in 1833, as a true prophecy of future events: " There is no doubt that this science (shorthand writing) will arrive at a much higher degree of perfection ; and we may be assured that some future author will be crowned with that success EXTRACTS. 25 which will entitle him to the deserved appellation of universal stenographist, whose work shall be reduced to that elegant simplicity which must characterize its worth, and secure its general adoption and lasting establishment. When such a system shall appear it will be the nation's honor (as it must be its pride) which gave it birth, to foster it with parental care, and make it generally useful by introducing it as a necessary branch of modern education." In early life Charles Dickens set himself to the task of learning shorthand in order that he might more readily obtain a position in a newspaper office. He was self- taught in the art of shorthand. He says, " I bought an improved scheme of the noble art and mystery of ste- nography, and plunged into a sea of perplexity that brought me in a few weeks to the confines of distraction. The changes that were rung upon dots, which in one posi- tion meant such a thing, and in another something else entirely different ; the wonderful vagaries that were played by circles ; the unaccountable consequences that resulted from marks like ffy's-legs ; the tremendous effects of a curve in the wrong place, not only troubled my waking hours, but reappeared before me in my sleep. When I had groped my way blindly through these diffi- culties, and had mastered the alphabet, which was an Egyptian temple in itself, there then appeared a proces- sion of new horrors, called arbitrary characters, the most despotic characters I have ever known, who 26 EXTRACTS. insisted, for instance, that a thing like the beginning of a cobweb meant expectation ; that a pen and ink sky- rocket stood for disadvantageous. When I had fixed these wretches in my mind, I found that they had driven everything else out of it. Then beginning again I forgot them ; while I was picking them up I dropped the other fragments of the s\ stern. In short, it was almost heart- breaking." But the triumph came, and in due time Mr. Dickens found himself with a note-book in hand and a pocket full of pencils, as the representative of a paper called the " True Sun." It has been determined that about two-thirds of English speech is made up of simple and connecting words, such as it, to, of, for, is, we, with, they, them, etc., which maybe abbreviated in the same manner as we abbreviate common names or titles : Gen. for General, Col. for Colonel, Capt. for Captain, Geo. for George, Jas. for James, etc., which abbreviations are as readily understood as though the full words were written. Brow He's Phonographic Monthly, May, 1884. A NEW SYSTEM By J. S. VERITY, MA&S. ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, (improved 1880) by J. S. VERITY, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. " Phonography is a Railroad method of communicating thought, by reason of its expedition and its ease." DR. RAFFLES. " Since brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief." SHAKESPEARE. " Let the system of written signs be reduced to a brevity, corresponding to that of spoken sound, and there is no reason why the hand should not be able to keep up with the voice, and a man write as fast as he can speak. And this is what Phonography claims to do. It claims to have analyzed our language into its elementary sounds, and to have invented a mark or character for each sound. The character is so brief and simple, that the hand can make it as easily and rapidly as the voice can utter it; and thus the labor of writing, and the expense of writing materials, are reduced many fold." HORACE MANN. Spell words according to sound, and not according to English orthography. LONG-HAND ami SHORT-HAND contrasted. "In the letters of our Long-hand Alphabet we make from seven to three movements of the pen for each letter, on an average four. About one letter in five is silent in our common orthography. In Short-hand we make one simple stroke for each simple sound; this saves three-fourths of the labor. We omit all silent letters : this gives us a farther advantage. The distance passed over by the pen is vastly less by Short-hand. The simple style is three or four times as fast as Long-hand, and we save more than nine-tenths of the labor of writing." D. P. LINDSLEY, Teacher of Shorthand. THE A D VANTA GES OF SHOR T-IIA XD. " It is hardly necessary to speak of the peculiar advantages of Short-hand. The bare mention of the name is sufficient to suggest manv, even in addition to thos'e general benefits which it bestows upon all. In correspon- dence, in literary composition, in keeping a diary, in book-keeping, in copying letters, in making memoranda, in sketching lecture- and sermons, in making attracts of and quotations from books read; for these and all other purposes for which writing is available, it requires but a tithe of the time, labor and space needed in the use of Long-hand." From Pkoography mud its Uses. THE ADVANTAGES OF OUR SHORT -HAND ARE AS FOLLOWS: FIRST. The letters move on a straight line from the left to the right hand, like Long-hand. SECOND. The letters are made in the shortest, easiest and best forms for writing. THIRD. Those letters that are the most frequently used in writing are the easiest to write. FOURTH. Every syllable that is sounded, can be written, which makes the writing easier to read. CHANGES WHICH OCCUR IN THE FOLLOWING LETTERS: The letter A in the middle of words is T. The letter D in the middle and at the end of words is J. The letter N with a hook at its close is ING. The word We in the middle and end of words is LT or LD. ADVICE TO LEARNERS. Commit to memory all the Letters of the Alphabet, and then practice writing and re-writing them, until you can write them correctly, and read them well. Then begin and write what you please. ALPHABET. A- B- O- D- E^ F Gu H- H IN K-- L- "p DOUBLE LETTERS. VA K^' W Wv FR c__ PRc- PL^- KR-- CHR~ CHL<- NL^ MLn THR^- WL^- NR< - MR' The above double letters are to be written only at the beginning of words. The same double letters are made in the middle and at the end of words, not by the aid of a hook at the beginning of the letters, but by the aid of a hook at the end of the next preceding letter, Thus : Baker ^ - ^ Writer ^5 ^ WORD SIGNS. WE- HEA SHE"? HOW/? AND- CAN- MAN^ THE- The sign tion, at the end of words, is written as in the example in nations. EXAMPLE: Hail happy day! I long to see All nations write Phonography. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9 15m-10,'48 (B1039 ) 444 UNIVERSITY ot CALIFOKNL* AT LOS ANGELES Z56 Verity - v8n &-- now system of phonography. 3 1158006189178 A 000 570 395 4