THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Bfc- ., •7.- '; . ■■ . 0. BA THE SILENT MAN AND OTHER GE]MS OF SHORTHAND LITERATURE Collected and Printed by JOHN D. STRACHAN i^ Indianapolis, Ind. 1922. ^i> ^ S? ? o c/> ©I|0 #Ufnt ilatt. BY CHARLES CURRIER BEALE. If one has occasion to step into any court room where a session of the Massachusetts Superior Court is being held, he will see in full working order what is perhaps in many respects the most important portion of the judicial system of our commonwealth. Here he may see the machinery !^ of the law in active operation. The dignified jus- ''^ tice seated on the bench, calmly hearing the tes- 'r'S timony and dispassionately weighing it in mind; '"^1 the clerk with his documents spread around him; ■' the court officers, ready to preserve the order and ^ decorum appropriate to the halls of justice, the ^ witness on the stand, timid, bold, or indifferent, ^ volubly pouring forth his story at the request of ^ his counsel or evasively avoiding a reply to the opposing attorney; the counsel on both sides alert i^ to take advantage of every opportunity, skilfully (:: leading on their own witnesses or sharply cross- 2 examining those on the other side; the array of lawyers within the bar, watching the proceedings, the crowd of spectators on the back settees, fol- lowing with interest each detail of the trial — all of 448543 The Silent Man these are familiar sights to those who have occa- sion to visit court rooms. But there is still an- other actor in this diversified drama of right and wrong, of law and equity, of claims and counter claims. A little to one side you will see a silent man sitting at a little table, with pen in hand, who follows each spoken word with swift and noiseless movements, recording impartially the words of wisdom, wit and folly, which follow each other in rapid succession. Witnesses come and go, lawyers question and cross-question, objecft and argue, the court quietly announces his rulings, one case is ended and another begins; and through it all the silent man writes, unceasingly and with unslack- ened speed. Few of those who look upon him realize that they are beholding as near an approach to a miracle as unaided human hands and brains have thus far accomplished. There are many who hold that all who write shorthand are stenogra- phers; who class the sixteen year-old girl, pain- fully and slowly putting down in awkward symbols the carefully and deliberately dictated letter of the business man, at a speed little exceeding that of a skilful penman, with him who through years of study and unremitting toil has gained the wonder- ful art of verbatim reporting. As well as compare your six-year-old child, thumping on her toy pi- ano, with the marvelous masters of music who The Silent Man hold the world entranced with their skill and ge- nius. The ability of the one is as far removed from the ability of the other as the humblest mo- torman on the Boston elevated is from the presi- dent and guiding spirit of that vast corporation. Let me give you an idea of what is required of a court reporter. The average rate of speaking which he must record word for word in his note book is one hundred and fifty words per minute. To be sure, this speed is sometimes slackened to a hundred, but often increased to two hundred; and this average speed must be kept up hour aft- er hour under any and all conditions, with any and all kinds of language. The words of the En- glish language, as used in ordinary speech, will average at least five letters to a word. These five letters in the ordinary long hand will require at least twenty distindl motions of the pen. The useful art of shorthand has condensed this to an average of three movements to a word. In other words, in order to write legible shorthand at the rate of 150 words per minute the writer must skil- fully execute certain characters requiring 450 dis- tindl movements of the pen to a minute, and must keep this enormous speed up hour after hour if need be. Often a whole day's work will consist of unbroken testimony. Those unfamiliar with our duties say the pay we receive is exorbitant 8 The Silent Man because we are actually working in court only five and one-half hours. True, but in these five and one-half hours there is no rest for the stenographer, and if we take the trouble to perform a simple adl of multiplication we find his flying fingers have recorded in that short day of apparently easy work a total of fifty thousand words, involving one hun- dred and fifty thousand distindl movements of the pen. The fabled labors of Hercules sink into in- significance as compared with what he has accom- plished. Every day he sets down an amount of matter equal to a respectable sized novel. The pages of the note books he fills in a year, if placed continuously, would stretch from the Gilded Dome to Senator Lodge's home in Nahant. If the char- acters were in one contini.ous line it would reach from the farthest point of Cape Cod to the most distant of the Berkshire Hills, and span the whole of this good old Commonwealth with the mystic symbols of the silent scribe. No one human be- ing could speak the words he must unceasingly and uncomplainingly write. A palsied tongue and a paralyzed throat would end the speaker's efforts in a few days or weeks; yet the hands of the ready writer toils on, guided by an intelligent brain, and supplimented by an ear that must hear and recog- nize each and every utterance, whether it be the burr of the Scotchman, or the brogue of the Irish- The Silent Man man, the lisp of the Welshman, or the nasal drawl of our own New England. The broken speech of the Russian Jew, the liquid patois of the swarthy son of sunny Italy, the guttral growl of the Ger- man, and the mincing tongue of the Frenchman, all mingle in one ever-changing lingual pot-pourri, that puzzles alike the judge, lawyers, and the list- eners, but which the stenographer must get wheth- er or not. The loquacious native of the Emerald Isle is checked in his torrent of words by the re- mark from the judge, "The witness talks so fast the court cannot understand him; will the stenog- rapher please read the answer?" or, the sunburned daughter of the Mediterranean, who amply makes makes up in rapidity of utterance for her imper- fect knowledge of our vernacular, fails to make herself understood by the counsel, who turns non- chalantly to the silent worker and say, "Mr. Re- porter, will you kindly read what the witness said?" But enough of this side of the picture ; there is another view I wish to present to you, another Herculean labor, skillfully performed and scantily recompensed, which awaits the silent man at the end of his day's work in court — the transcription of his notes. Fortunately not all that goes down in these never-ending note books has to be re- written for the eye of the judge or lawyers. There lo The Sile7it Man is an end to the endurance of even stenographers, and I fear that no human being with human nerves and human need for sleep could cope with that task. But a fairly generous portion has to be tran- scribed on the writing-machine ; and again the tired fingers must fly in swift staccato until the work is accomplished. Most of the work must of necessity be done at night, by the flickering flame of the gas jet or the incandescent brilliance of the electric light. Far into the night must the click of the typewriter keys and the drone of the dic- tator extend. The judge and the lawyers, the witnesses and the spectators, can go to their homes and enjoy the quiet of their firesides or that rec- reation of mind which is equally beneficial to the body; but the stenographer must work, though nerves throb and pulses flag, though tired eyes will close rebelliously, and the faithful hands al- most refuse to do the bidding of the exhausted brain. And yet good lawyers have been keen to say that our prices are exorbitant. But it is the price of blood ! It is the giving of one's vitality, both of mind and body, of a mind and body trained and educated to a point beyond which danger lies. And what a training and what an education ! The whole range of sciences is comprised in the knowl- edge that a good court stenographer must acquire. Today comes the skilled physician with his expert The Silent Man 1 1 testimony and his learned disquisitions upon hys- tero-neurasthenia and cerebo-spinal meningitis, ransacking the dead past of Rome and Greece for terms to fit modern ailments and fin de siecic sur- gery. Tomorrow the electrician with his talk of mysterious elements and forces, his microfarads and his electro-statics. Again, the mechanical ex- pert, glibly describing the complicated construc- tion and workings of appliances and instruments whose very names are familiar only to the initi- ated. Add to a knowledge of these various sub- jects sufiicient at least to recognize their nomen- clature, a fair knowledge of the classics, a famil- iarity with the most important modern languages, a fair amount of legal learning, a reading wide enough to recognize a quotation and assign it to its source, whether it be Shakespeare, Browning, the Bible or the Zend Avesta, a perfecft knowledge of geography, a modicum of history, a fluency with figures and an absolute command of the in- tricacies of English speech — spelling, punctuation and grammar — and you have the foundation of a stenographic career, on which ten or twenty years' active practice of your profession will enable you to build the superstructure of success. ®I|0 l^tfitoriral 'Baint of i'l|0rtl|anti. BY FRANK E. NEVINS, ST. LOUIS. The shorthand writers of the world have con- tributed, and are contributing, more material to the histories of nations than all that historians have written from the time of Xenophon and Plu- tarch down to the beginning of the last half cen- tury. What an invaluable treasure it would be to us now, and with what interest and profit could we read the common-place, every-day utterances of the Roman senate of the time of Cato, or the Grecian debates of the time of Pericles. A tran- script of our own Congressional Record made from day to day by our Congressional reporters, is a complete compendium of the political, financial and moral condition of our country, more perfecl and comprehensive than can be found in any book. It has been said by Gibbon that "History has never, perhaps, suffered a greater or more irrep- arable injury than the loss of a curious register bequeathed by Augustus to the Roman senate, in which that experienced prince accurately bal- anced the revenues and expenses of the Roman empire. Deprived of that clear and comprehen- TTie Historical Value of Shorthand 13 sive estimate historians are reduced to the collec- tion of the few imperfedl hints from such of the Ancients as have accidentally turned aside from the narrative of splendid achievements of the na- tion to the more useful parts of history." If the loss of a single document, about the equivalent to a president's message to Congress, can occasion so much regret, we can see what a vast source of information a Congressional Record, so to speak, furnished by skillful shorthand writers of the pro- ceedings of the Roman senate of that day, would be in our time. Think for a moment what a pict- ure a shorthand report of one of the philippics of Demosthenes with all the cries, voices, inter- ruptions, and plaudits of the multitude thrown in, in the way modern speech is now reported, would furnish us of those dim times ! In the memoirs of the life and writings of Ed- ward Gibbon, the author of the great work known as the "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," I find this interesting paragraph concerning the shorthand writers of the date about 1784, in England. Mr. Gibbon says: "Before my departure from England, I was present at the au- gust spectacle of Mr. Hastings' trial in Westmin- ster Hall. It is not my province to absolve or condemn the Governor of India, but Mr. Sheri- dan's eloquence commanded my applause; nor 14 The Historical Value of Shorthand could I hear without emotion the personal com- pliment which he paid me in the presence of the British nation. From this display of genius, which blazed forth for four successive days, 1 shall stoop to a very mechanical circumstance. As I was waiting in the manager's box I had the curiosity to inquire of a shorthand writer how many words a ready and rapid orator might pronounce in an hour. 'From seven thousand to seven thousand, five hundred,' was his answer. The medium of seven thousand, two hundred will afford a hun- dred and twenty words a minute, and two words in each second. But this computation will only apply to the English language." The estimate of the gentleman who gave Mr. Gibbon this in- formation is about the standard that is preserved today. One hundred and twenty words a minute is still thought to be about the average rate of utterance of our best speakers, and at that time it was about the extent of the capacity of the ablest shorthand writers to take down. Within the last twenty-five or thirty-five years shorthand writing has developed wonderfully in the United States. Mr. Benn Pitman, of Cincin- nati, brother of Isaac Pitman, the inventor of pho- nography, was probably the first really accom- plished shorthand writer who ever did any practical work in the civil and military courts in this country. The Historical Value of Shorthand 15 It is true that there were some very able and learn- ed gentlemen in Washington connected with the press, in the early days of this country, who gained great notoriety and some money by reporting some of the congressional speeches of our great men in such a manner that by careful revision by the au- thor, and the filling in of words and sentences here and there, and the rewriting of certain par- agraphs, they were able by that means, two or three weeks after a speech was delivered, to hand down to posterity a tolerably accurate report of a speech as it was spoken. In our day the common- place utterances of common-place politicians, on common-place subjects, as well as the eloquent bursts of our most accomplished orators, are spread out with entire accuracy and at full length in the Congressional Record on the day following the debate. Posterity will be at no trouble to find out hereafter and forevermore what our statesmen and politicians thought and said on any given subjedt. But it is not in this field of usefulness, how- ever important it may be, that the best results of the great army of indefatigable shorthand work- ers in this country are obtained. It is in the courts of law and in the counting rooms and business offices throughout the land, that their usefulness is felt. They are as indespensable as the telegraph 1 6 The Historical l^ahie of Shorthand or the telephone, and of vast consequence in their respective fields of labor. No really expert ste- nographer — whether within legislative halls, in the courts of law, in the lecture room or in the counting room, need be ashamed of his employ- ment. His active brain, clear head and tireless fingers are an indespensable part of the machin- ery of the great political, financial and business world of the day, and the true artist in this line of employment will always find due appreciation and reasonable compensation for his services. — Ike Pho7iographic Jotirnal. ^^ BY GEORGE MAYNARD. Shorthand is by no means a modern invention, as everyone at all familiar with its history well knows. It is commonly traced back to the days of the Greeks and the Romans, and passages of the classical authors are alluded to, to show its use and origin am.ong them, prior to the time of Christ. While all this is probably true, the idea can hardly be said to be original with them. The theory upon which shorthand is based is as old as the art of writing of most of the earlier nations of antiquity. The writing of words by their consonant out- lines and the omission of vowels, has always been common among the Oriental nations, in all the ages of the past. The cuneiform inscriptions, made by the ancient Babylonians from one thou- sand to two thousand years before the time of Christ, and whose decipherment has been one of the triumphs of modern times, shows something of this, while it was perhaps more strikingly illus- trated in the writing of the Hebrews and Arabs. The Aniiquity of Shorthavd Green, in his Hebrew grammar, says: "The (ancient Hebrew) alphabet consisted exckisively of consonants, since these were regarded as a suf- ficiently exacft representation of the syllables into which, in Hebrew, they invariably enter. And the omission of the vowels occasioned less embar- rassment because, in the Semitic family of lan- guages generally, they form no part, properly speaking, of the radical structure of the word. Modern Hebrew is commonly written and read without the (vowel) points; and the same is true of its kindred tongues, the Syriac and Arabic." It was not until the seventh century of our era, that a system of characters exactly distinguishir.g the vowels of the Hebrew language was invented. In languages where the consonants are pro- nounced prominently, and the vowels are slurred, this is quite natural, but in such languages as the Spanish, where the vowel sounds are prominent, and the consonants are slurred, a difficulty would seem to arise in this respect; and it has always seemed to me, that a system of shorthand adapted to such a language as the English, was rather illy fitted to represent such languages as the Spanish, or Hawaiian, where the vowel sounds predomi- nate to a greater or less degree. The Gabels- berger system, which has been so extensively adapted to the European languages, does not ap- The Antiquity of Shorthand ig pear to stand much chance in our country, in com- petition with the simplicity and beauty of phonog- raphy, any more than the German text can ulti- mately compete with the plain and easily read alphabet used by the English and Latin races. The earliest specimens of writing in any nation, have always had in them something of the nature of shorthand. Brevity of expression is character- istic of them all. In most instances, the first be- ginnings have been some kind of picture writing. This is seen in the hieroglyphics of Egypt, and in the picture writing of the Indians. In all these cases, what is sought, is to briefly indicate an idea in some way, so that it may be communicated to others. Picture writing is the most natural tiling for any people to attempt, and from very crude and simple forms of it, elaborate systems have, in many cases, been educed. Such were the old Egyptian hieroglyphics; and when they became too cumbersome and intricate for the demands of a more advanced civilization, an abbreviation and simplification of them came into use, which stcod, I may say, in about the same relation to the old forms, that shorthand does to our longhand. And from them, in later days, arose the yet more simple Phoenician alphabet, upon which that of the Greeks and Romans, and subsequently our own was founded. 20 The Antiquity of Shorthand Every step in the line of development has been towards simplicity, and the process is still going on. The invention of phonography was a great step forward, but who shall say that it was the last ? I think we may look forward in the future to as great improvement in our method of writ- ing, as has been accomplished in the past, though not in our days. "Necessity is the mother of in- vention. ' ' When the human race had developed, in ancient times, to that degree that it needed some method of written communication, it in- vented one. When a better one was needed, the old one was improved; and so the process goes on, and will go on, through centuries to come. For the use of the Egyptian, his hieroglyphics were all-sufficient; for us they would be entirely inadequate. For us plionography fills the bill better than anything else. But undoubtedly there will come a time in the future when the phonog- rapher of the period will look upon nineteenth century shorthand writers as old fossils, and will laugh at the boasted "brevity" and call "abbre- viated shorthand" altogether too cumbersome for his necessities. However, we need not laugh too much at the shorthand of antiquity. If we may credit the re- marks of the classical writers on the subjedl, it was a much more efficient medium of verbatim The Antiquity of Shorthand 21 reporting than we should be led to suppose from the somewhat crude specimens that have come down to us. There would seem to be circum- stantial evidence that some sort of shorthand writing was employed, not only by the Greeks and Romans, but by the people in the Bible coun- tries, — I mean some system briefer than the ordi- nary Hebrew writing. Else, how was it possible for the extempore speeches given in the Script- ures to have been preserved? Supposing them to be genuine records and faithful reports, it would seem impossible for some of them to have been written out from memory, either on the same day, or fifty years afterwards. Perhaps they had a system in those daj'S, even better than we now have, which may have become one of the "lost arts. " I do not think it is unreasonable to sup- pose that a people who had the ingenuity to tem- per copper to the hardness of our best steel, and made malleable glass, would have been entirely at a loss to invent some system of writing that would answer the requirements of verbatim re- porting. Perhaps, some day, all these questions will be solved, and we shall know what the pro- cess was in all these cases. It has lately been suggested that the Record- ing Angel uses shorthand ! Perhaps he was the original inventor of the art, and may have been 2 2 The Antiquity of Shorthand the official reporter of those grand specimens of oratory recorded in verse for us by the late illus- trious John Milton. Whatever may be the facts in this case, there can be no doubts about the Antiquity of Shorthand. — The Phonographic Journal , April, 1895. ^#b BY BUGENE L. DIDER. When shorthand was a mere collection of arbi- trary signs without method or beauty, Roman emperors dehghted in the possession of so valu- able an accomplishment; but now shorthand is within reach of every school boy, and phonogra- phy is as much superior to the shorthand which Tiro invented and Augustus and Titus practiced, as the modern chemistry of Liebig and Faraday is superior to the crudities of medseval alchemy. "Alchemy was for the recluse, chemistry for the many." The necessity for a swifter method of writing than that in ordinary use had been felt in the time of the Greek and Roman republics, and several kinds of shorthand were invented. Diogenes L,aertius asserts that Xenophon first took down the sayings of Socrates in shorthand. The Romans claim for themselves the honor of the invention, and the poet Enniusis said to have de- vised a system of shorthand by which the speeches of the most famous orators were reported ; but Plutarch rejects Ennius, and gives the credit to Tiro, a freedman of Cicero, by whose system the 24 The Curiosities of Shorthand celebrated speech of Cato against Catiline was recorded. Ovid says that Julius Csesar wrote to some of his friends in shorthand. At the court of Augustus shorthand writing was in great favor. The Emperor Maecenas and others were profi- cient in the art. The philosopher Seneca added 5,000 characters to those of Tiro. Titus esteemed shorthand very highly, and placed it among the most interesting of his amusements. Until the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century shorthand continued to be held in great favor by the great and learned; but from the fifth to the fifteenth century there is not a trace of it to be found. During these ten centuries the sword was "mightier than the pen," and outside the monastaries, little or no attention was paid to writing of any kind. The invention of printing, in 1440, was the chief cause in producing a revi- val of letters, which has continued without inter- ruption from that time, until we live to witness the splendid results at the present day. The reign of Queen Elizabeth was distinguished by an array of literary genius which recalled the Augustan age. The works of Shakespeare , Bacon , Ben Johnson, Spenser, and Sidney gave England a proud place in the world of letters. The inter- est which began to be taken in legal and parlia- mentary affairs at that time drew attention to the The Curiosities of Shorthand 25 necessity for a more rapid method of writing than that in ordinary use. In 1588 Dr. Timothy Bright published a trea- tise on shorthand, under the title of "Characterie; Art of short, swift, and secret writing by charac- ters. Printed by J. Windet, with the privilege of the Queen, forbidding all others to print the same." This was a very crude system of short- hand, and attracted but little attention. The work was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. It has now become so scarce that only three copies are known to be in existence. During the next hun- dred years thirteen different systems were pub- lished. Shorthand has always been highly appreciated by the learned. Locke, in his famous treatise on "Education," says: "Shorthand may perhaps be worth the learning, both for dispatch in what men write for their memory, and concealment of what they would not have be open to every eye. ' ' Watts, in his work on the mind, advises students to acquire a knowledge of shorthand to facilitate their labors. Reading without making extracts, will produce little fruit; judicious selections save the repeated perusal of entire works, and are a great assistance in literary labors. By employing shorthand in making these extracts, a small li- brary can be collected in one volume, which may 26 The Curiosities of Shortha7id be carried in the pocket, and will be found very convenient in travelling. Another advantage which shorthand confers upon students and au- thors is the rapidity with which it enables them to commit their thoughts to paper. By this means one may treasure up for future use hundreds of valuable ideas which are suggested by the reading of books and the conversation of men, and which would otherwise be lost forever, for want of time to jot them down. All writers on the subject of education recommend composition as indespens- able to the student's improvement. It was a wise saying of an ancient philosopher, that whenever he wanted to know anything of a subjedl, he wrote upon it. Jean Paul says "Nothing can exceed the importance of writing. A man may read for thirty years with less profit than if he wrote for half that period. ' ' But perfection in composition is reached only after much and diligent labor; there must be careful revision and frequent alteration, and here again shorthand affords abundant facilities to the writer. The irksomeness of longhand in compo- sition is shown in the following passage form Goethe: "I was so accustomed to repeat and sing to myself, without being able to recall it, that I sometimes ran to my desk and did not even allow myself time to place a sheet of paper straight be- fore beginning, but would, without moving from The Cia'iosities of Shortha?id 27 my place, write down an entire composition across the paper diagonally. Even then I preferred using a pencil, as it moved more easily than a pen." What a boon shorthand would have been to such a man ! In 1758 Mr. Angell published a system of short- hand, under the title of "Stenography; or Short- hand improved: being the most compendious and easy method heretofore extant." The author asked the favor of a preface for his work from Dr. Johnson. Johnson's sagacious mind fully appre- ciated the importance of shorthand to civilized society, and he listened to Angell with much in- terest. The latter having professed his ability to write from another's reading every word that should be uttered, the doctor reached down a book, and requested Angell to write as he read. The experiment was tried, but the stenographer failed to perform what he had undertaken. The great defecft of all these early systems of shorthand was the emploj-ment of arbitrary signs to express phrases in frequent use, and the re- taining of the Roman alphabet, instead of adopt- ing one better suited to the requirements of the Knglish language. These defects were remedied, to some extent, by a system which John Byrom invented. Byrom was a poet and a Cambridge scholar, and when quite a young man wrote a 28 The Curiosities of Shorthand pastoral and several essa5'S, which appeared in the Spectator. After he had perfected his system of shorthand, he began teaching it, first in Man- chester, his native place, and afterward in Lon- don. His terms were five guineas for each pupil, and he made each of them promise that he would not impart his knowledge to another. Several of his pupils were persons of high rank and great influence. On one occasion Byrom was reporting orator Henley, who requested him to desist. The stenographer refused, whereupon Mr. Henley went on so much faster than usual that Byrom could not follow him and so the reporter was stop- ped in a novel way. This little anecdote shows that stenography was not equal to the requirments of verbatim reporting when the speaker was rapid. The proceedings of Congress were not fully re- ported before the time of Gales and Seaton, of the National Intelligencer. Mr. Gales devoted him- self to the Senate, and Mr. Seaton to the House. We are indebted to them for many of the early speeches of Clay, Webster, Calhoun, and other American orators of the first half of the present century. The speeches made by Webster and Hayne, during their celebrated intellectual com- bat in the United States Senate, were preserved from oblivion by Mr. Gales, whose notes, hand- somely bound and enriched with Mr. Webster's The Curiosities of Shorthand 29 annotations, are kept as a precious memento in the family library. In connection with this, the following anecdote may, perhaps, be read with some interest: The day Mr. Webster made his reply to the attack of Mr. Hayne, of South Caro- lina, Joseph Gales met him as he was going to the Capitol, and inquired how long he intended to speak. "About half an hour," was the reply. The editor's duties at that time were pressing, but he ventured to take so much time from them. Mr. Webster, however, directly afterward was joined by Judge Story, who said he thought the time had come for Mr. Webster to give the country his views on the Constitution. To this proposition the senator assented. Mr. Gales took up his pencil unaware of this new arrangement, and un- conscious of the lapse of time under the enchant- ment of the orator, he continued to write until the close of the speech. But when he came to look at the notes, the magnitude of the task of writing them out appeared so formidable, that he shrank from it as an impossibility. Soon after- wards Mr. Webster called on Gales and requested a report of his speech. "I have the notes," said the reporter, "but I shall never have time to write them out. ' ' This led to some remonstrance and persuasion, but the overworked editor stood firm. At this juncture Mrs. Gales came forward, and 3© The Curiosities of Shorthand offered to undertake the task, saying that she could decipher her husband's shorthand. She had heard the speech and the resistless sweep of its argument, the gorgeous magnificence of its imagery were yet vivid in her mind. In the course of a week Mr. Gales submitted to Mr. Webster the report of his speech in the handwriting of his wife. Scarcely a word needed to be changed; and soon a set of diamonds accompanied the rich thanks of the eloquent statesman. Thus was saved to literature the most memorable oration of the Amer- ican Senate. Gales and Seaton did not make full reports of all the proceedings of Congress. As a general rule, they published only running reports; on special occasions, however, the proceedings were given in entire. At the present time, all the pro- ceedings of both houses are reported and published next morning. When the members retire to their homes to dine and rest after their labors, the hard- est work of the reporters may be said to begin. From the phonographic hieroglyphics they write out full reports. They have frequently reported and prepared for the press ten closely printed columns in a single day. How they bear up un- der the pressure it is hard to explain ; but they seem to be as bright and as healthy as any of the members whose wise saws and foolish speeches The Curiosities of Shorthand 3 1 they send to the waiting world, Charles Dickens was a shorthand reporter be- fore he became a novelist, and he gives in "David Copperfield" an amusing account of his hero's at- tempt to learn shorthand, taken, no doubt, from his own experience. Dickens spent eighteen months in studying shorthand, and at the age of nineteen began to do the parliamentary reporting for the True Su7i. He was one of the best re- porters that ever sat in the gallery of the House of Commons. He left school when he was fifteen years old, and entered the law office of Mr. Black- more. Here he remained from May, 1827, until November of the following year. He was not a student, but a sort of second-rate clerk. During this time he was accustomed to steal off with a fellow-clerk to attend a small theatre near by, not infrequently taking part in the performances. The succeeding eighteen months were passed in the study of shorthand — a profession much hard- er to master in those days than now. He said, in a speech at a dinner given by the Newspaper Press Fund in 1865, that he had often transcribed for the printer from his shorthand notes import- ant public speeches in which the slightest mistake would have been severely compromising to a young man, writing on the palm of his hand by the Hght of a dark -lantern in a postchaise and four, gallop- 32 The Curiosities of Shorthand ing through a wild country and through the dead hour of the night at the then surprising rate of fifteen miles an hour. Phonography was invented in 1837, by Isaac Pitman, a school teacher of Bath, England. It combines a perfecft phonographic representation of the English language, expressed by the sim- plest signs, formed of straight lines, curves, dots and dashes. Phonography meets all the require- ments for a complete philosophical system of writ- ing. It is easy to learn, easy to write, easy to read, and capable of reporting the most rapid speakers. The old systems of shorthand were so full of per- plexing and arbitrary characters and complicated contractions that it took years of intense and un- ceasing study to acquire a proficiency in any of them, and even then it was not possible to make a verbatim report of any except the most moderate speakers. Isaac Pitman had studied one of the best systems of stenography for seven years, and could write only one hundred words a minute. And, unless it were written with the utmost care, stenography was as hard to read as the characters inscribed on the tombs found in the pyramids of Egypt. A shorthand reporter should be clever and in- telligent. There is a story of an uneducated re- porter who is said to have rendered the well-known The Curiosities of Shorthand 33 Latin quotation, "Amiens Plato, Amicus Soc- rates sed major Veritas," as follows: "I may cuss Plato, I may cuss Socrates, said Major Veritas." Elihu Burritt, the learned blacksmith, once closed an address with this statement, "Labor — thought- honored labor— ma}^ be the only earthly potentate that shall be crowned on this continent." He was surprised and disgusted to find it printed in next morning's papers, "Labor thought-honored, may be the nail lately patented that shall be crowned on this continent. " Rev. Dr. Edwin H, Chapin was one of the most rapid speakers of his time, and he was a terror to the general run of reporters. Once in a sermon, he used the follow- ing language: "Christianity has been the ori- flamme of freedom in all ages. " The ignorant reporter rendered it thus: "Christ has been the horn-blower of freedom in all ages. ' ' It has been the habit of studious men, both in ancient and in modern times, to read with pen in hand, to be ready to note down any particular fa(5l or gem of thought which seemed to them worthy of preservation. Brutus, the night be- fore the battle of Pharsalia, which was to decide his earthly fate, was found in his tent reading a favorite author and taking notes. Pliny the Elder never travelled without books and conveniences for making memoranda. The elegant Addison 34 The Ctiriosities of Shorthand had collected six volumes of extracts before he began the Spectator. Southey, one of the first scholars of his age, kept a commonplace book, in which he wrote choice extracts from whatever books he perused. The great obstacle to this transcribing from books is the vast amount of time and labor which it involves. This may be obviated by the use of phonography. In reading the news- papers and magazines we often meet with a sug- gestive thought or striking facft, which, unless it is recorded at the time, passes away forever. The accomplished scholar William Wert, said : "There is not a facft within the whole circle of human observation, not even a fugitive anecdote which you read in a newspaper or hear in con- versation, that will not come into play sometime or other, and occasions will arise when they will involuntarily present their dim shadows in the train of your thinking and reasoning as belonging to that train, and you will regret that you cannot recall them more distinctly." Authors who are acquainted with phonography prize it as one of the most valuable of their acquisitions. By using it in literary compositions the drudgery of writing is, in a great measure, removed. What a great assistance shorthand would have been to Sir Walt- er Scott in gathering materials for his enchanting romances; or to the lamented historian, Prescott, The Curiosities of Shortha7id 35: in preparing his magnificent works. Thomas H.. Benton said, when presented with a verbatim re- port of one of his masterly speeches, taken by a httle boy, "Had phonography been known forty years ago, it would have saved me twenty j^ears of hard labor. ' ' Thousands who look with the utmost indiffer- ence upon phonography are daily enjoying the benefits of the art. If they have the satisfaction of reading in the morning paper a full report of the proceedings of a public meeting held the night before — together with the eloquent words of the speakers, as they fell fresh from their lips — they owe it to phonography. If they have an oppor- tunity, in interesting and important trials, of ex- amining the evidence and of reading the speeches of counsel and the charges of the judge, they owe it to phonography. If new ardor be added to their patriotism by the thrilling speeches of Clay, or the sublime eloquence of Webster, they owe it to shorthand. If their hearts are melted by reading the tender and persuasive language of the preach- er, they owe it to phonography. In short, they are indebted to phonography for the clear and full reports of scientific and literary associations, the anniversary of religious societies, the proceedings of Congress, and for all "those brilliant and spirit stirring efEusions which the circumstances of the 36 The Curiosities of ShortJiaiid present times combine to draw forth and which the press transmits to us with such astonishing celerity, warm from the Hps and instincfl with the soul of the speaker." When we remember the wonderful advances which shorthand has made in the past few j^ears, may we not reasonably suppose that the time is not far distant when this beautiful and philosoph- ical method of writing will become universal, and that the age which has witnessed the triumph of the telegraph, the telephone, and the steam-engine will abandon a style of writing which was thought cumbersome in the time of Caesar? The Writer. "S^ BY GEORGE MAYNARD. The world in which we live is a world of pro- gress and evolution. Through all the ages since man's first appearance on the planet, he has been slowly developing his faculties and energies, and attaining higher degrees of knowledge and power, I hold in my hand a flint arrow-head, that some primitive man used in the chase or in war. It served his purpose well, and was, in his day, as great an invention as the modern rifle is with us. It maj^ have helped supply him with the necessi- ties or even the luxuries of his life; or it may have helped him attain that honor and power, for which even the savage strove. His wants were few, compared with ours — and perhaps more easily satisfied. Writing v/as unknown to him, and he felt no need of such a method of communicating his ideas. Such was the condition of all primitive peoples. But there came a day in the world's history, when something of the kind became a necessity ; and a rude method of writing was at length evolved by the brain of some one a little in advance 8543 38 The Development of PJionography of his fellows, mentally. And so it went on, till the art became so highly developed, that the his- torian and the poet ceased to trust their prodvic- tions to the uncertain medium of oral tradition, and Manetho, Herodotus, and Homer left to the world the written record of the exploits of gods and men. But there came a time when the voice of the orator became a force as potent as the warrior's arm; and a Demosthenes, or a Cicero, swayed the minds of men with magic power, rousing them up to war, or calming and curbing their fierce ener- gies to paths of peace. Then there arose the ne- cessity that some means should be found more efficient than the cumbersome chirography of an- tiquity, whereby these masterly efforts of genius might be preserved for future ages. And thus crude forms of shorthand writing came into use, and probably answered the purpose for which they were designed. And one, who has studied the history of this art, knows how it has since developed by slow degrees to its present state of perfection and effi- ciency. The shorthand of the present day is an- swering fairly well the requirements of the age in which we live ; but, with all its improvements, it is still a progressive science. Every year we see some advance made in the art. New text-books The Development of Photiography 39 are appearing, showing the results of experience and thought among shorthand writers and pub- hshers; and much of the rubbish and debris of the past is cast aside, Hke dead wood stranded upon the shores of time. While Pitmanic phonography, from its simplic- ity, its conformity to natural laws, and its ease of execution, seems destined to be the future short- hand of the world, it would be folly to suppose that, in its best forms, it has as yet reached the ultima Thide of development, or that the exigen- cies of another half century will not require its further improvement. Why, then, should not the phonographic fra- ternity work together towards that high end and aim, instead of pulling apart and antagonizing? Let them compare notes, and discuss the results of their individual experience, and their thinking upon matters pertaining to the art — not in a spirit of rivalry, but in mutual good-will and a desire to elevate the science to yet higher planes of devel- opment. However much of a genius any one man may be, 1 do not believe it possible for him to so thor- oughly perfe(5t an invention or a science, as might several such persons acting in collaboration, since no two persons see things from exactly the same standpoint; and each individual's experience must 40 The Development of Phonography necessarily differ iu some degree from that of every other. Let no stenographer think that his experience counts for nothing. Some happy thought may have flashed across his mind, which will be of value to his fellows, if only preserved and given to the world. Fellow-phonographers, give us the best you have to offer, trusting that the stream of time will sweep away the sand and leave the jewels. — The Pho7iographic Journal. ^t!^ BY W. E. MCDERMUT. Once upon a midnight dreary, as I pondered, weak and weary, Over problems of the cosmos till my head was al- most sore, Suddenly I woke from dreaming, and my memory was teeming With events too real for seeming, visions of the yesteryore. Vivid almost as the present were these scenes of yesteryore, Scenes that in upon me bore. Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in a bright September That I first became a member of the court report- ing corps. I had cut out my vacation, got down to practice and dictation, And I felt a fine elation at the great success in store When my feet should cross the threshold of the future's open door. I could hear the plaudits roar. 42 A Reporter s Ravhi' I had gone through all the mazes of the word out- lines and phrases, So that I could write like blazes, and knew all the shorthand lore. And the prize? I knew I'd win it; Wood, Bottome et al, weren't in it, For three hundred words a minute I could make, and then some more; For my pen went like greased lightning and across the paper tore At three hundred words and more. Then I came to a decision to accept the first posi- tion I could get as court reporter anywhere the coun- try o'er ; Which to do I soon was able, and I was assigned a table And a seat where I'd lose nothing of the lawyers' strife and roar. Or the idioms of the witness, or the learned legal lore, Or the honors great in store. So, my pens and pencils trimming, for a while things went a-swimming, And my fingers went a-skimming till they seemed almost to soar. Then the speakers got much faster, struck a speed I could not master. A Reporter's Ravhi' 43 But I thought, "I'll try to last her till the long court day is o'er," And I hoist a silent prayer that they might go a little slower, Just a tiny little slower. Hope had just about departed, when an expert witness started, A flip witness who was nothing but a verbal meteor. For his tongue and lips, ne'er stopping, went a- flopping and a-flopping, Like a dancer's clogs a-hopping o'er a smooth and level floor. And to tell what happened to me then I really do deplore, But 'tis true, nor less nor more. First ray brain began a whirling, then my out- lines went a-curling lyike the shaving from a wood-plane, falling down upon the floor. And ray pens they went a-dipping, and my fingers jumping, tripping, And the ink it went a-dripping, dripping gobs of jet black gore, Dripping from the pen to paper, and from there down to the floor. Then court adjourned^the session o'er. 44 ^ Reporter'' s Ravhi' But my troubles were not ended, for that evening there attended, With his head and body bended, an attorney at my door ; And his manner showed a flurry, and his face be- tokened worry, And he said, "I'm in a hurry to have all this trouble o'er. I am very greatly needing the entire day's pro- ceeding By nine o'clock if not before." Up to midnight dark and dreary, and beyond, I pondered wear}' Over shapeless things called shorthand, till my hair I seized and tore ; And I spent the night in testing, in comparing and in twisting Meanings from those hieroglyphics that they never had before. Meanings that were never given to those short- hand forms before. And I sat and sweat and swore. * 'Shorthand, ' ' said I, ' 'thing of evil, art thou work of man or devil ? What infernal imp of torture sent thee to this mundane shore ? For he must have been demented who this short- hand Stuff invented, A Reporter's Ravin* 45 So hereafter I'm contented with the good old script of yore. ' ' And I flung my book of shorthand to the ledge above the door. Just above my chamber door. And that notebook, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the dusty, musty lintel just above my cham- ber door ; And I don't at all dissemble when I say I always tremble To confess what they resemble— those cold notes above the door. Thus my prospects bright, elysian, sadly faded from my vision. Me for shorthand — nevermore. — The Stenographer^ Philadelphia, June, ipi2. ^^ BY J. L. DRISCOL. "Fin DE siECLE," is a French phrase which, literally interpreted means the end of the century; or, up to date. But it has a deeper significance ; it presents the close of the century in sharp con- trast with the beginning of the century. To the thoughtful mind, too, it brings the expressive French phrase, which expresses two ideas, in striking contrast with the English phrase, which does not of itself make any assertion, express a thought or make complete sense. To the contemplative mind, a glance at the cen- tury drawing to a close, reveals changes more marvelous than any tale from fairyland. At the beginning of the century it required six weeks to cross the Atlantic ; at its close the journey is ac- complished in less than that many days. At the beginning of the century, it was by a lucky acci- dent that a message was conveyed from London to New York inside of four months ; today, with five years of life left, a merchant can issue his order from London in the afternoon and have it executed in San Francisco on the morning of the Fin de Steele Shorthand 47 same day. When the century was ushered m, Tennessee was in a state of babyhood, and to pass from its boundaries required a journey fraught with great peril ; today the citizen of Nashville can sit in his office and converse with friends al- most beyond its boundary line. One hundred years ago, our forefathers with improvised imple- ments of the rudest pattern and rifle at hand to repel the attacks of lurking savages, wrung a plain, though abundant living from mother-earth, while our fore-mothers did the house-work, wove the cloth, and made the garments for the entire family. In the year 1895, no grandee of old fared so sumptuously as the average citizen of Tennes- see — no "layde faire," of "ye olden time" could dress as gaudily as our nimble- fingered typewrit- ers of Nashville. At the beginning of the century, these United States formed a weak confederation of sixteen States and one Territory, containing fewer inhabitants than the great State of New York, at the present day. They were bounded by the Atlantic in the east, and the Mississippi in the west ; the lakes of the north and the possess- ions of France and Spain to the south. Today, that weak, circumscribed confederation is the most powerful nation on the face of the globe, lashed by the turbid waters of the sturdy Atlantic in the east, and laved by the placid waters of the teem- 48 Fin de Siecle Shorthand ing Pacific in the west ; circled by the hyper- borean regions of Alaska in the north, and fringed by the Everglades, where it is a perpetual ban- quet in the south. It may be said en passant, that there is enough of the century left to add Canada to our wide domain before the pendulum of time points the hand to 12 p. ra., January 31st, 1899. But, however gratifying the picture, we must cease to gaze and turn our attention to what more immediately concerns us. While it is pleasant to let fancy range o'er the thousands of helps and adornments that civilization has brought down to the end of the century, and to indulge in anticipa- tions of even greater national glory, yet the re- sults, so vividly brought to mind by Fi7i de siecle, were not produced by day-dreaming; hence, we will turn our attention to that which more imme- diately affects us individually--that is SHORTHAND. Dropping reverie and retrospe(5t, let us serious- ly propound a few questions and honestly answer them. The first question which suggests itself is : Has shorthand, during the century drawing to a close kept pace with the march of progress in other directions? I answer, yes: although there have been systems of shorthand as shown by authentic history, from the time of Cicero down to the present day, yet at the beginning of the fin de Steele Shorthand 49 century, as applied to the English language, it was almost unknown. It was without system, without textbooks, without literature, and with- out a recognized place in professional life. At the close of the century we find it developed into a system rigidly scientific in principle, unerring in expression, brief and facile in manipulation, and indefinitely expansible and improvable in charac- ter. Its literature embraces thousands of volumes, on every conceivable subjecfl; its votaries are num- bered by thousands and its position as an honor- able and lucrative profession is permanently es- tablished. At this point an occult power whispers in my ear, "Does shorthand, as a profession, occupy the plane to which its usefulness and its learning en- title it?" That same mysterious medium whis- pers, from a thousand quarters, "No," withabig N. An inward monitor from within, however, prompts me to reply : "The number who attain eminence, in any pro- fession , is very small compared with the host that stop short at mediocrity. Shorthand is no excep- tion to the rule." It must be remembered also, that many — very many stenographers, during the last quarter of a century, have risen to the very highest positions in social and business life. The seven ofl&cial reporters in the House of Represent- 5© Fin de Steele Shorthand atives, and the Murphy brothers, in the Senate, occupy positions more honorable (I say more honorable, advisedly), and I believe as lucrative as the members of Congress, the Senators or even the Vice-President. From the same mysterious power comes this rejoinder: ' 'Admitting that those you mention, and a few others have risen to em- inence, is it not true that the great mass of pho- nographers fail to receive the recognition or the remuneration to which their attainments entitle them?" As promptly as the question was put, the aiswer comes : "If it is true, it is a part of wisdom to seek the causes, and to devise reme- dies; for there is no effe(5l without a cause." But this question is persistently pressed by pho- nographers, "Why are we underpaid, and our services unappreciated ?" The question is short; the answer coming from employers, is equally la- conic : "If there are many phonographers who are underpaid and unappreciated, there is a pro- portionate number of incompetents." Now the question is naturally prompted: "If the system of shorthand is as perfect: as stated, why are there so many incompetent phonograph- ers?" That question is simple, the answer must be long and complex. While the brain and brawn of American freemen were busily engaged in tun- neling mountains, spanning continents, bridging Fin de Siede Shoriha?id 51 seas, weighing stars, chaining lightning, bottling sounds, and evolving systems of shorthand, the charlatan in phonography, as well as in the other walks of life, was getting in his work. Worthless systems were foisted upon an over-credulous com- munity. Thousands having no other source of information than the advertisements of these quacks were made to believe that shorthand could be acquired in a few weeks. Of course to a rea- soning mind anything so easily acquired can be but little value; or if it has value every one would possess it. Unfortunately, the average mind is not a reasoning one. The consequence is that students approach the study without a proper ap- preciation of its importance and value either as an accomplishment or as a profession. Law and medical students often propose to take a six or eight weeks course in order that they may be able to take down the lectures of their professors, and thus lighten their labors in acquiring a knowledge of their chosen profession. They would look with pitying contempt upon the man who would venture the assertion that phonography is never learned any more than law, medicine or music. Yet such is the fa(5t. If they would but consider that anything so easily learned and so eagerly sought would be in the possession of every one, if these specious promises were true. But it would 52 Pin de Steele Shorthand seem that Barnum knew whereof he spoke when he said that the "American people love to te humbugged. ' ' This brings us face to face with another ques- tion which challenges thoughtful consideration, viz : "What can be done to improve the quality of shorthand writers and correspondingly benefit the profession at large?" That question, like the preceding, cannot be answered as readily as it is asked. Teachers can do much, but teachers in the true sense of the word are not numerous. How? First, by adopting proper methods of teaching but a discussion of this subjecfl would transcend the limits of a magazine article. And, second, by being truthful. How truthful? "When i:sked, as he is sure to be, "What are the requi- site qualifications for a reporter or an amanuensis, and how long will it take to finish ? let him answer truthfully: "As to the time, I can give you no definite information, because I know nothing a- bout your aptitude or perseverance. With refer- ence to the qualifications, you must attain a speed of one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five words per minute to creditably fill an amanuensis' position. You must reach a speed of one hun- dred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five words per minute, in original matter, before you can report. But that is not all. You must, in Fin de Steele Shoriha?id 53 addition, be able to divide your unpunctuated notes into phrases, clauses, sentences and para- graphs. You must have a knowledge of the con- struction of sentences and the words, phrases and clauses which enter into their composition, so as to recast whole sentences, if necessary. If you do not come to the study of shorthand with this knowledge, then you must study these necessary branches in connection with shorthand. This you can do by confining your practice for speed (after you have acquired ability to write) to the rules of syntax, punctuation, capitalization and rhetoric." The above questions are pressed upon the pho- nographers at large by the sphinx of fate, and it behooves them to furnish a satisfactory solution. In conclusion, the true phongrapher should never make phonography a means to an end. Shorthand should be his chief aim in life. There is a world of wisdom in the words of the poet : "Honor and fame from no condition rise; Adl well your part, there all the honor lies." — 7 he Southern Stenographic Magazine. ^^ ^Ijp 3ntnvt of ^t^nograpliy. BY B B B. Many will no doubt have heard it said that shorthand will be the writing of the dim and dis- tant future. How many stenographers believe this? Not many. Granted that this delightful vision is not a very practical one, we will content ourselves to look at shorthand writing in a more prosaic way. It is true that shorthand is taught in the schools, but the teachers of it, generally do not take sufficient interest in the art to make it either a profitable or pleasant study for their pupils. They teach it because they are paid to, not because they are interested in it, or believe in it. It is quite safe to say that the average pupil knows no more a- bout the literature of shorthand, than the child learning the alphabet does about the English lan- guage. There must be a reason for all this, and there is a reason. People have no faith in shortharid, many even of the followers of the profession it- self, hold their knowledge in light esteem, or use it only as a means to an end. With such a state The Fidure of Steyiography 55 of affairs, is it any wonder that shorthand occu- pies such a low place in the estimation of the public ? There does not appear to exist among stenog- raphers, the desire for as high a standard in Eng- lish alone as is required by the other professions, and it is an unfortunate fa(5l that most of us live up to only what is expected of us. The low re- pute the art has in the mind of the general public can be easily accounted for, by the lack of edu- cation of its members. There can be no real remedy suggested for this condition, unless the standard is raised, and as much expected from and given by stenographers, as is required and received from other prof essional men and women. There is a seed that could be sown, and one that would produce a tree in which all the birds of the stenographic air would be able to lodge in perfecft security and with a serenity that is borne by the members of other and older professions. It is the seed that may be sown by thorough and judicious teaching. It is the method adopted by those who impart the knowledge that has pro- duced such bad results, and has given abroad the impression that stenography is but a make-shift of a profession, and indeed not worthy to be called one at all. A different system of teaching would have a 56 The FiiUive of Stenography radical effedl. Stenographers would be taught to read and write stenography, the saire as a child is taught to read and write English. As things exist there is so much make -shift work done in teaching shorthand, and so little attention paid to the principles contained in the subjecft, that the pupil readily grasps the idea that the work he is engaged in is of a third rate character. Few in- deed are the teachers who lift their pupils beyond the mere labor of the study. They teach to en- able their pupils to become breadwinners, but not to help them to become scholarly. There seems to dwell no idea in the minds of these educators that stenography has a future, and their pupils should be prepared to live in it, and not die out like weakly plants in a soil too rich for their de- velopment. There must be a revolution among teachers, an awakening up to the responsibilities that the present lays upon them for the welfare of the future, and unless the slumbering instruct- ors hear the call, shorthand will never be any- thing but a third-rate and inferior calling. The time seems to be ripe for the unification of all those who believe in the dream of the optimist for the adoption of a standard method of stenog- raphy. As long as there exists such a variety of systems, each having unique virtues, and each capable of producing competent and efficient The Future of Stenography 57 writers, there can never be a future for the art. We must either advance or retreat, and unless the call for unity be given and accepted, we are sure to take the backward step, and lose our footing on the future. There should be a more earnest endeavor made by those interested in this work, a larger heartedness developed, a kindlier en- couragement given, and a grand effort made to unite, that the future may hold something for stenographers, and that stenography may at least be said to be worthy to be called a profession. — Stenograph ic Bulleii n . ^^ A W^ttothxn Angel. BY S. H, GRAY. I've been a courtin lately down at the county seat, An' I've heard some legal talkin' that is mighty hard to beat. I've listened to the argyments, and to the cons and pros, Which is reckoned high-falutin fer a lawyer, I suppose ; My feelings sorter went agin the high-toned rhetoric, "Enough's enough," I says, says I, "but too much make y' sick." You can talk your legal learnin', you can read it from your books, But I'd ruther watch that feller as he writes pot- hooks. That feller sat ascribblin' in a little yaller book, An' he'd scribble down a sentence in a curly -kew er crook, He'd write it down so easy that he seemed to ask fer more, An' in signs about as legible as hinges on a door — That is, ter me. Of course he knew jes' every A Rccordhi' Angel 59 word he writ, Fer when he came to read it, why he didn't skip a bit. The lawyers twisted sentences at a pretty giddy rate; But he straightened out the grammar 'till they read first-rate. Our minister, last Sunday — 'mong other things he said — 'lyOwed a recordin' angel was awritin' overhead, An' wrote down in a book he kept jes' everything you did, An' not a thing omitted, fer nothin' could be hid. It seemed a kinder strange to me how he could get it down, Considerin' all the doin's that is goin' on around. I see it now as plain as day. It's done by hook and crook. Like the feller was ascribblin' in the little yaller book. Oil Czly, Pa., April, iSpo. a^I|? Tlalitf of a ^linrttiattii Sltbrarij. BY GEORGE MAYNAED. The student of shorthand will find it in every- way to his interest to have a good collection of books relative to the art. Not only the best mag- azines of the day which may be devoted to his own particular sj'stem of shorthand, but those of other systems — and indeed everything bearing upon the subjecft, without regard to its age. Every man who engages in any kind of busi- ness or profession, ought to make a collection of books on the subjecft in which he is interested. And this, not merely as a matter of curiosity, but for study, and as a help to him in his work. One should be posted not only in the manual practice of his art, but in its history and theory as well. This is especially true of shorthand. The current magazines all contain good ideas and valuable suggestions, which the student will find helpful to him if he reads them ; while the short- hand publications of past days will prove valuable in many ways. The larger the collection one has the more valu- able it becomes. A complete collection of all the 7 he Value of a Shorthand Library 6i important works ever published on the subjecfl would doubtless make a very large library, and would probably not be possible to obtain at any price, but if such a thing could be done, I have no doubt that, from a pecuniary point of view, it would be a good speculation. But it is for pur- poses of study that I would more particularly recommend the gathering together and preserva- tion of all the books on the subjecfl that one can conveniently obtain. By contrasting the old systems with the new, one learns to admire the beauty and simplicity of the latter, and to more keenly appreciate the ad- vantages now offered to the student compared with what the shorthand world had to give fifty or a hundred years ago. The writer has in his possession an ancient vol- ume, which he ranks among his chief est treas- ures. It is a copy of Weston's shorthand, printed in England in 1725, and has a special value from the fadl that it was once the property of Captain Nathan Hale, the "Martyr Spy" of the American Revolution, and bears on its flyleaf his autograph, with the date of 1774, two years previous to his capture and execution by the British at New York. It had previously been in possession of several prominent ministers of the olden day, in Connecticut, as attested by their names and dates 62 7 he Value of a Shorthand Library of purchase, with the prices paid for it, which show that it was sold for the equivalent of seven dollars on several occasions. This book of over 200 pages was almost entire- ly printed from engraved plates, in the most beau- tiful manner, and was, for its day and generation, a magnificent work. But when one comes to ex- amine its marvelous intricacies and fearful lists of arbitrary characters to be memorized, he cannot but feel grateful that his lot as a shorthand student is cast in happier days. And yet this ancient volume was undoubtedly mastered by generations of shorthand writers, as its well worn pages elo- quently testify. It is wonderful to what length of puzzling hiero- glyphics some systems of shorthand have gone, and undoubtedly they have all had their devotees, who believed they were the best that could be in- vented. But when it comes to that, that a system of shorthand is so elaborate that it can be proved to be more difficult to write than longhand, as, I believe, has been shown in at least one case in our own time, I think it is time to call a halt ! There is certainly no need to go outside the Pitmanic systems of shorthand for beauty, sim- plicity, and every desirable quality needed in an art which has for its objedl the reduction of writ- ing to its briefest and most scientific form. That The Value of a Shorthand Library 63 there will be improvements in these systems, as time rolls on, goes without saying; but the grand invention of Isaac Pitman furnished a sure basis for the shorthand of the future. Although the Pitmanic systems of shorthand are undoubtedly superior to any others, yet I hold that it is well for students, or more particularly for teachers, to have some intelligent idea of the various other systems of shorthand, which are now, or have been, in use in the world. Not by any means to master them — for this would be very largely a useless labor, and one for which no human life would furnish the opportunity. But a good collection of shorthand books of the various systems, which can be kept and perused in one's leisure hours will well repay the time spent upon it, in the amount of valuable informa- tion and suggestions which it will furnish. The author of the crudest system may have had some happy thought which will be helpful to us, and at the very worst, his stenographic vagaries may serve as a "terrible example" of the things which we should avoid. Therefore I again advise every shorthand writer to enrich his library whenever he has the oppor- tunity, with works pertaining to the profession, whether ancient or modern. In one way or an- other, they will be valuable to him, and, in the 64 The Value of a Shorthand Library end, he will never regret their acquirement. — The Phonographic Journal, October, 1894. 3ts 3nfiufttrrfi. Werb all the influences, which from age to age, shorthand has exercised over the affairs of the world, published, a volume of rare historic value would be added to our libraries. The light it has reflected upon past ages, and with which our age is so radient, is still hidden from the appreciation and admiration of the world, and known only to the initiated. As a manifestation of the all-per- vading affections of stenographers for the profes- sion, it is worthy of enduring record in our ar- chives. It is one of those professions that will reach forward into our history, and seize upon those undying elements which shall transmit it to posterity. — Sanders* Shorthand Gazette. ^#!. 5II|^ Jm^inrtattrr of iEcaJitttg i'ljortljattii SnurttalB. BY FRANK HARRISON. This is the literature period of the shorthand profession. Within the past ten years, progres- sive members of our craft have come to appreciate the importance of shorthand pubHcations, in rela- tion to the general welfare of all concerned. Had there been published, years ago, the number of bright instructive journals which are now being issued in the interests of shorthanders, we would now have been far in advance of our present posi- tion in this regard. Some narrow-minded old fogies say we have too many shorthand journals. There cannot be too many. I am always pleased to hear of the conception of any new publication, which in any way will benefit the shorthand fra- ternity. Furthermore, Ibeheveit is the bounden duty of all true stenographers to liberally support journals published in their interests. Certainly none of them cost very much, and every dollar spent in shorthand literature of this kind will be returned ten-fold. I doubt if any money value can be placed on the benefits to be derived by re- ligiously reading the shorthand magazines. If a Importance of Reading Shorthand Jouriials 66 mau or woman, in the grand shorthand aggrega- tion, desires to progress and keep abreast of the times; keep fully in touch with all things pertain- ing to shorthand and typewriting; then he or she cannot subscribe for too many shorthand maga- zines. During many years experience as a report- er, I have never thought I knew too much not to read about my profession, and today I make it a rule to carefully read every publication that has in any way a bearing on my profession, and I ad- vise all persons in any way identified with short- hand or typewriting to do the same thing. Read them all. By so doing you keep out of a rut and get the ideas of many persons. I do not know of any shorthand magazine now published, but from which benefit can be derived by carefully reading the same, and I repeat, with all due respec5t to to some of the older members, who think they have outgrown the shorthand magazine, that every one who has the least interest in this great and growing profession should read much of what is said and being written about it, and which is pub- lished from month to month, in the shorthand publications of this country. — The Universal Writer. ^am ^ot (iia in It Carlyle's famous description of his fellow- creatures as "mostly fools," has been sometimes attributed to dyspepsia, but there is probably no- body who has not at certain moments in his life felt that the proposition is profoundly true. The phraseology is curt and unsympathetic : there is a repellent bluntness about it which seems to stamp it as the outcome of an atrabilious mood. Yet when one surveys impartially the behaviour of men and women in the past and the behaviour of large numbers of our fellows in the present, it is impossible not to confess that there is some war- rant for the severe and uncomplimentary verdidl of the Chelsea philosopher. It is unfortunately only too true that history is full of examples of human folly. As we look back upon the doings of our ancestors in those "good old times" that were once the objedl of so much eulogy, we see illustration after illustration of "how not to do it." At some periods the persistent wrong-headedness of those in authority seems almost miraculous. Having a clear end in view, they would endeavor 68 How Not To Do It to attain it, by methods that were certain to fail, methods which we can see had no possible chance of success. If an opinion or set of opinions were spreading among the people which those in au- thority deemed to be erroneous, dangerous and subversive, was there any serious or prolonged attempt to confute the wrong opinion, or to under- mine it by setting forth in a more conclusive way the right opinion ? No : the chief endeavor was to suppress the opinion, and to force it out of ex- istence by persecution and repression. Many times before had the experiment been tried : always had it failed. Yet it was persisted in century after century, generation after generation, with the in- evitable result of failure. It is not needful that we should multiply instances of the folly of man in the past. Anybody who will look round him at the present day will see abundant illustrations of "how not to do it." Some individuals indeed seem to have a positive aptitude for attempting to do things in the wrong way. A popular phrase describes them as people who always grasp the muddy end of the stick. What it is that makes them differ from other mortals we must leave to philosophers to discuss : we are only concerned with the facts. Now these awkward people are to be found a- mong the learners and the writers of shorthand. How Not To Do It 69 Sometimes their antics are amusing ; at other times they do things which make the wise man shudder, and send a thrill of horror through the minds of the more susceptible observers. Mr. Reed in his amusing lecture on "Phonography as a Pastime," gave some illustrations of a type of wrong-headedness with which every teacher of long experience has occasionally come into con- tacft. The pupil who will not learn how to unite two alphabetic characters, and upon whom ex- planation after explanation and illustration after illustration of the rules for using the / and r hooks, and the n andy^hooks seem utterly in vain, and who, after repeated lessons, and daily cor- rections of errors, persists in perpetuating blun- ders which ought never to have been made, is a reality that tries the patience and temper of the most painstaking instructor. Ofttimes this kind of pupil is gifted with a large amount of stolid but useless perseverance. Once he gets into a wrong groove it is a Sisyphean task to extricate him from it. In nine cases out of ten the teacher comes to look upon his pupil as incurable, and he gives up in despair the attempt to put him right. To those who have mastered phonography with ease, the very existence of people who cannot master it at all, seems extraordinary. But if we refledl that the same phenomenon is noticeable as regards 70 How Not To Do It other studies, we shall cease to be astonished at it as regards phonography. There are boys who appear to be positively incapable, no matter how prolonged their studies may be, to overcome the mysteries of arithmetic, beyond its mere element- ary stages. Many people go through life ' 'dunces at figures. ' ' Others show an equal incapacity to master languages. Some are unable ever to learn drawing. What wonder then that there should be people whose mental constitutions are so oddly framed that they cannot learn phonography ? But it is not only among those who fail to ac- quire shorthand knowledge that the principle of "how not to doit" is exemplified. Many a youth who starts with the laudable ambition to become a rapid and accurate writer of phonography, and who has no mental or manual incapacity which would prevent him from succeeding in his objedl, nevertheless does not succeed. He fails just be- cause he employs wrong methods. Disregarding the advice given him so abundantly in the text- books of the system, he will endeavor to write fast before he has learned to write correctly ; he will strain every nerve to take down a rapid speak- er before he has learned to take down a slow speaker well ; he will neglecl to read his notes ; he will disregard position in writing : and so he cultivates a slovenly style ; his notes are incom- How Not To Do It 71 plete ; the characters, being badly formed, are often illegible, and though he seems to have "put on speed" very rapidly for a time, he finds that all his endeavors to attain the high rates of speed which are absolutely necessary in the front ranks of the shorthand profession, are fruitless. His case is emphatically an illustration of ' 'how not to do it. " The fable of the hare and the tortoise is scarcely applicable to this case ; for the tortoise never by any possibility acquires the speed of the hare. Any hare, in real life, who allowed a tor- toise to beat him in a fair race would very proper- ly be an obje(5t of derision among his four-footed relatives and friends. But the learner who aspires to a place among the most skilful writers of pho- nography must manage to combine the patient plodding habits of the tortoise with the capacity of the hare for swiftness and to combine them so well that the one shall be made conducive to the other. The golden rule is to learn the system thoroughly first, and then to practice it diligently and intelligently. Practice regularly. Always write well — that is, with clearly formed outhnes: increase your speed slowly and gradually ; let practice in reading and writing be concurrent. Many a catastrophe would be avoided if every- body would conscientiously adhere to these simple principles. 72 How Not To Do It Many a man who has not succeeded to the ex- tent that he desired, looks around him for some- thing or somebody to blame, instead of looking at home. History is full of examples of this curious habit. In the Isle of Man there is an old roofless church, about which strange legends survive. It is said that when the church was in course of erection, all attempts to supply it with a roof were baffled by certain mischievous elfs called ' 'bug- ganes, ' ' who play an important part in the legend- ary history of Manxland. According to the story whenever the builders completed the roof of that church, the bugganes brought it down with a crash. The obvious truth behind this ingenious narrative is that the builders were incompetent. They could manage the construction of the walls without much difficulty ; but they did not know how to erect a roof that would endure. The pop- ular superstition was very convenient for them, but is not now available for those who have failed through neglecting right methods and who are yet anxious that the blame shall fall in some other quarter. Nevertheless they do succeed in find- ing a scapegoat. When their failure is with short- hand, it is invariably the system that they blam^e. This is truly an illustration of "how not to doit." Phonographers, able and experienced, exist in abundance. "How to do it" has been exempli- How Not To Do It 73 fied in the career of many a living man. If the learner will only pursue his studies intelligently, adopting those methods and that order in his study which long experience has found to be the best, he will, unless he be one of the "dunces" who though they are rare, do actually exist, find that his careful toil will be rewarded with success, and that though there will always be people whose inextinguishable perversity will make of them living examples of "how not to do it," he at least will not be numbered in their ranks. — The Phonetic Journal, June 7, 1S89. i (Siantt ISi^pavtn's (Halaatniplif. BY HARRY EASTMAN. Onck there was a scribe Pitmanic From whose won'drous brain gigantic Crooked marks and fly legs frantic O'er his notebook sported gay ; 'Mid the heat of legal wrangle He was never known to tangle Or fail to trace the proper angle In a most mysterious way, 'Till a family aristocratic Sought by oral proof emphatic To settle a disputed question in respecl to certain land ; In the course of the proceedings Plaintiff in support of pleadings To establish his contention, put a lady on the stand. She discoursed on education, Dress reform — emancipation, To the judge's protestation She paid not the slightest heed ; On subjects vital to the nation, Without pause or hesitation, A Court Reporter's Catastrophe 75 With dramatic gesticulation She held forth with matchless ?peed. Not by a remote suggestion Did she touch the case in question, And the scribe with consternation saw the sunset of his fame ; And he tore his hair and snorted, Vowing he would not be thwarted By a woman— forced to suffer all the pangs of untold shame. But the witness never ceasing, Rapidly her tongue releasing, All the time her speed increasing, Thought not of the steno's grief ; But the tide of luck was turning As the hour for court's adjourning, For which he was vainly yearning, Came at last to his relief. Yet he thought with mingled horror. If perchance upon the morrow Should his Honor ask the reading of what the witness had to say ; Imagine, then, his exultation When the cross examination Defendant waived without hesitation, when the court convened next day. So now he seeks some "Poetic" raven, To ask if in the Christian's haven 76 A Court Reporter'' s Catastrophe He will meet his fleet-tongued witness in the happy by and bye ; And if she passes through the portal Of the better land, immortal, He'll go on some grand excursion, if she's called to testify. — The Soiithemi Stenographic Magazine. 1^ The feasibility of conducting any business cor- respondence whatever in shorthand, has been sometimes questioned on the supposed ground of the undistinguishable similarity of the characters written by phonographers. There is, it is pointed out, a distinctiveness about the ordinary hand- writing of every individual, which makes it easy to identify it. It takes a clever man to make a successful forger, because there is this unmistak- able individuality about the customary handwrit- ing. As to the suggestion that only unimportant letters should be sent off in shorthand, the man of business replies that nobody can tell, at the time of writing, whether any given letter is important or not. It may, at that moment, appear to be trivial, but in the light of subsequent events, it may acquire a degree of importance which will make serious results depend upon the question where, when, and by whom, it was actually writ- ten. ' ' Except in a very few instances, " it is said, "we cannot classif}^ letters as important or unim- portant until long after they are written. We can 78 Individuality in Shorthand prove the handwriting of any person who has been in our employ, if necessity arises. But how are we to prove the shorthand ? How is it pos- sible to identify a man's shorthand, when you make all the characters alike?" If this were not, in the minds of some men of business, a real dif- ficulty, we should not refer to it. When we have been questioned by them on the subje(5l, we have always replied, to their great surprise, that there is no difficulty at all about the matter ; that pho- nography, although to those who do not write it, it may seem to be merely a kind of rapid drawing, is, in reality, a handwriting, and is affected by the same influences that tend to make the ordinary handwriting of different people differ. That this is under-stating rather than overstating the fa<5l, every experience 1 phonographer knows well. No two people are exactly alike, and no two people write exactly in the same manner, whether it be in longhand or in shorthand. Certain broad features we can recognize at a glance. We never mistake the handwriting of a German, educated iu' his own country, for that of an Englishman, educated here. Nor do we mistake the handwrit- ing of a Frenchman for that of a German. Na- tional peculiarities, dependent on various causes, create a distinction which we notice at once. But we should never think of saying that all Germans Individuality in Shorthand 79 write alike, or that all Frenchmen write alike. In the handwriting of different members of the same family, there may be found striking resem- blances. Just as a peculianty in the shaping of the nose, or the color of the eyes, or even some odd involuntary habit, will reappear, generation after generation, in one family, so will their pecul- iarities of handwriting continue. We have not had opportunities of comparing the shorthand writ- ing written by the members of one family for sev- eral generations ; it would probably be difficult at the present time to get enough examples to make any test yield satisfactory results. But we do not doubt that it will be found, when materials exist in suffi:ient quantity for trustworthy experiments to take place, that peculiarities of shorthand writ- ing are transmitted from father to son, and from son to grandson, and the collateral relatives ex- hibit the same peculiarities in a minor degree. To what extent this is true, it will be for the future to decide. But of one facft we are certain, namely, that the characteristics of shorthand writ- ing vary with each individual, so that it is easy for anybody who is in the habit of receiving much correspondence in shorthand, to tell at a glance the handwriting of any one of his frequent cor- respondents. Indeed we have heard it urged seriously, that there is more distinctiveness about 8o Individ^iality in Shorthand a. man's shorthand than about his longliand, and we are by no means certain that this view is not strictly corre(5t. A careful analysis of the char- acteristics of the phonography written by any dozen phonographers, would reveal an astonish- ing amount of variety, even assuming that they all write precisely the same outlines for the sanie words, and have all cultivated precisely the same habits with regard to phraseography, vowel in- dication, the use of position, and the like. We should find differences in the degrees of "shad- ing;" slight differences in the formation of the curved characters — some writers forming them as segments of a circle, and others as segments of an oval, with every intermediate stage— differences in the inclination of the characters tovrards or a- way from the line of writing ; differences in the care with which hooks, circles, and loops are formed ; and differences in the size of these rela- tively to the sizes of the ordinary alphabetic char- acters ; differences in the relative distances of the outlines from each other; and a multitude of other variations, all slight in themselves, but making up in their totality, an amount of difference that causes each man's shorthand to be, in appearance, unlike that of all ether men. Into the causes of all these minute variations, we do not here pro- pose to enter. They are numerous. Many of Individuality in Shorthand 8 1 them may be conveniently summed up by describ- ing them as due to the individuality of the writer. Those ingenious people vi-ho profess to be able to read character from handwriting, will probably, one of these days, turn their attention to short- hand as a revealer of character. If a man's dis- position and habits can be discovered from his longhand, there cannot be the least doubt that they can be equally well discovered from his shorthand. The fa (51 is, that there is no kind of work that a man performs unaided, which does not bear in it unmistakeable traces of the person- ality of the worker. That element can never dis- appear; and it is therefore an altogether errone- ous belief that shorthand is less distinctive, or is less easily recognized as the work of any particu- lar individual, than longhand. If the difficulty felt on that score be the only objection to the use of shorthand as a means of communication between men of business, there can be no reason why the innovation should not take place at once. A few comparisons of the phonography written by a few different writers, will soon satisfy the most scep- tical that there is no real ground whatever for the opinion that all phonographers write alike. We have said that it takes a clever man to make a suc- cessful forger; we are convinced that it would re- quire a man far cleverer than the ordinary forger, 82 hidivi duality in Shoriha7id to imitate the shorthand writing of another man, with such skill as to defy detection. — The Phonetic Journal. December, 1888. BY GEORGE MAYNARD. There is no doubt that success in newspaper reporting depends to some extent upon the pecul- iar mental and physical adaptability to that line of business. Some people have a natural talent for it, as others have for mechanics, or some of the professions. And yet to say that this is the main factor of success in that or any other line of business, is not, I think, correcft. An inclination for hard work, and a good store of general infor- mation, are of even more importance. The sub- jects with which the reporter has to deal are so various in their nature, that he must needs be, to some extent, a walking encyclopedia, if he would make his reports what they should be. This is a part of his fighting equipment for the battle of life. There is also another weapon for the same con- test, for which it is my purpose here to say a word, and that is, a good knowledge of short- hand. It is often said that a good longhand reporter, who does not understand shorthand, can make a Newspaper Reporting much better report of a speech, than a shorthand writer who has not had experience as a reporter. This is undoubtedly true, but it in no way mih- tates against the value of shorthand to the report- er. The experienced reporter would be able to make a vastly better report, if he were also an experienced shorthand writer, I lay this principle down as an absolute facft, that cannot be denied. And not until some first- class shorthand reporter tells me that he is sorry he ever learned shorthand, shall I ever believe to the contrary. Your shorthand makes an additional and im- proved tool with which to do your work. I venture to say, that, without the use of short- hand, no man can make an approximately ver- batim report of a speech of an hour's length, even if delivered at a moderate rate of speed. He may make a good report, but not a verbatim one. I would not by any means be understood as using the latter word in its absolute sense. Very few speeches would look well in print with all the grammatical imperfections that will creep into verbal delivery, even with otherwise pretty good scholars. To make them read well, the reporter must have enough common sense and knowledge of grammar to polish their rough angles a little, and possibly bridge an occasional hiatus, and Newspaper Reporiuig 85 eliminate a repetition or other redundancy of speech. All this is well ; but it takes the swift-winged pen of the phonographer to catch the fleeting words of eloquence, as they fall from the lips of a PhilHps, a Gough, or a Beecher, ajid consign them to a permanent place in the store-house of human literature. Therefore I say to the reporter : Don't despise shorthand, but cultivate its acquaintance, and make it your friend instead of your enemy. It is often said that a partial knowledge of short- hand is worse than none at all — all this may be true ; but, pray, why have a partial knowledge? Why not master the situation and not only make shorthand your friend, but your obedient humble servant, as well? I am not arguing that all men can make good shorthand writers, but I believe that a great ma- jority of reporters might learn it to their great advantage ; and it seems to me that it would be worth their while to make the effort. But whether the reporter writes shorthand or not, his life is not always a pathway strewn with roses. If he is a reporter for a daily paper, it is a question of time that continually confronts him. He has to work on the rush to get his reports in- to shape in season. And only a reporter can 86 Newspaper Reporting realize the difficulties he has to encounter in get- ting the material for them. The newspaper reporter must be ready for every emergency, and be able to work under all manner of conditions. He must make his reports where he can get a chance. If he finds a nice table all to himself, and nothing to disturb him, it is well. He may thank his lucky stars, and go ahead. But this is the exception, rather than the rule. It is more likely that his knee will be his table, if he has a chance to sit down. If not, he must hold his book in his hands, as best he can, or lean it on the friendly shoulder of some one in the crowd. If the meeting is late, and his copy is wanted at an early hour, he will have to hustle. That is what the newspaper reporter seems to be made for. And there is no other class of people in the community who can do it so well ; nor is there another class of people who have more need of good judgment. If his report is to be condensed, he must know what to use, and what to reje(5l. He must have ability to catch quickly the salient points, and put them in shape to make them readable. He must be familiar with the "boiling down" process, for any unnecessary verbiage is not to be tolerated in modern newspaper reports. Newspaper Reporting 87 When the young reporter first enters upon his chosen profession, he usually has some sad but wholesome lessons to learn in this respecft. He is sent to make his first report of some meeting or lecture, or of some event which, in his eyes, looks quite important. He writes up his report in ex- tenso, using the best and most flowery language of which he is capable. Then he carries it in, and the next morning when he looks for it in the news columns, he finds but a mere skeleton of what he has written, so clipped and abbreviated that he hardly recognizes it. The ruthless pencil of his superior has been through most of it, and his twenty lines have been cut down to five; the flowery language, on which he especially prided himself, has been left out entirely, and his glow- ing adjectives have taken on an air of subdued resignation. After a few such experiences, he begins to find that what is wanted of him is to state the principal facts in the fewest words. Then he begins to make words tell — to express himself in language that will convey a great deal of meaning in small space. I venture to say that the trained reporters of our great newspapers have a better command of language than almost any other class of writers in the community. They not only know how to 88 Newspaper Reporting put their thoughts into the very briefest forms of expression, but also to use, upon occasion, elo- quent and thrilling language, that will charm the ear, or stir the sense of the pathetic or the sub- lime. Undoubtedly much of the very best literary tal- ent of the country drifts into the field of journal- ism. That field has often furnished a stepping- stone to the highest rounds on the ladder of fame. It is a business that has a tendency to educate and broaden men's minds and bring out whatever there is in them. Of course, there is journalism and journalism, — much of which does not even deserve the name. But the great and influential papers of our time — those which, to a large degree mould public opin- ion, furnish a field to the young man entering up- on life, in which he is brought into contadl with the living world of today. It is a school of prac- tical training, which no college ever did, or ever can, give. — The Pho7wgraphic Journal, Augusf, 1894. Aji actual occur re7ice told in thyme BY FRED T. LEPORT. Hb comes upon the stand with a knowing air, Drops his silk hat on the bench, runs his fingers thro' his hair, Inclines his head a little to expose his cerebellum, And give the jury some idea of all that he might tell 'em. On dired: examination he wears a smile serene, And calls the Latin names of bones, not knowing what they mean; For he thinks he's placed upon the stand to show his erudition And do his level best to prove his patient's sad condition. But when the cross-examiner takes his inning at the bat And pins him down to facts alone, and the why of this and that; His jaunty air evaporates, he fain would make excuse. And wishes, now it is too late, he'd not been so profuse. go The Medical Expert on the Stand The comisel, as a feeler, asks, "Doctor, what's 3'our college Where j'ou learned the surgeon's art ; where did 3^ou get your knowledge Of fractures, dislocations, and other things hke that?" He sniles ; the question's easy, and he has his answer pat. With dignity, in measured tones he says, "In medicine I'm a regular physician, and such I've always been. Since the day I graduated, at the head of all ray class. And I know all things in medicine and surgery en masse. ''^ 'Tis a case of dislocation of a bone he calls the "femur;" And he now relates the history, without a single tremor; Tells about the "ligamentum teres," the sur- rounding "cotyloid," How the bone slips from the capsule, and leaves an aching void. He had noticed "crepitation," and from that made up his mind That a "fractured acetabulum" would be the case defined. The Medical Expert on the Stand 91 He reduced it by "extension," taught him at his Alma Mater, And brought it into place assisted by the "ob- turator. ' ' And having thus most glibly drawn upon his mental pabulum. Counsel asks him, "If you please, sir, locate the acetabulum." He loses all assurance, grows less confident in tone. Says he "thinks the acetabulum is some part of the bone." Pressed by counsel for the spot exadt at which it can be found. He lapses into a study, very brown and most pro- found; And at last revives again, and comes once more "on deck" He says "the acetabulum is of the bone, the neck." And having thus located it, from that he will not swerve, But repeats, ' 'It is just the point where the femur makes the curve," The counsel in a sneering tone says, "Sir, we're done with you, If you can't locate so large a bone within an inch or two. ' ' — The Western Stenographer. Ulg (Urtal ©rip. BY BATES TORREY. A FRIEND of mine, a successful reporter, drop- ped in one day at the business house where I was week after week ploughing out letters concerning wheat and flour, Chicago "booms" and Minne- apolis "outputs," until my work had become so "cut and dried" that, though conscious of a cer- tain mental stagnation, and idea of ever bettering my condition was exceedingly remote. However, my friend that day, instead of mak- ing me miserable by his usual remark — "How can you stand this eternal humdrum?" came with an invitation in behalf of his paper to assist in photo- graphing (in plumbago and phonetics) the big rally which was to be holden that evening in the interests of B. F. B's candidacy for the governor- ship of the old Bay State. I rather hung back, in distrust of my ability to follow the average orator; in fa(5l, felt kind of "all- overish" at the mere suggestion of my friend; but he gave me the best possible encouragement, and finally overcame my objections. At the appointed hour we hastened to Faneuil My Trial Trip 93 Hall. We entered at the rear by a private door which opened to a flight of stairs that finished its spiral way right back of the speakers' plat- form. Already a few enthusiastic politicians were up- on the stage. With much timidity I shrank into my coat and slunk by them to the reporters' table just below. Every eye was upon me (?) — I was a representative of the daily * * * — the motive power of a facil pencil which no utterance could outstrip— one of its foremost, most enterprising, ubiquitous, etc. All this and more I imagined was coursirg through the mind of every spectator as I strove to maintain an erecfl bearing, and make my pas- sage to the chair assigned me. How near the facts coincided with my idea of the situation, I leave it for the reader to judge; how successful I was in assuming a reporteresque (?) demeanor may be illustrated by the manner of the callow youth who for the first time essays to "speak in public on the stage." The other reporters looked askanse upon me, and I eyed them back with professional effront- ery, so I thought; but in the light of the present 1 have no doubt they regarded me as a decidedly verdant vegetable about to be soused into an ex- ceedingly sour pickle, and with glee awaited the 94 ^y Trial Trip struggle when my imbecil forces would wilt be- fore the rush of opposing eloquence. Stately gentlemen ascended the platform. More reporters arrived, and were greeted with cordial- ity by the others of the craft. With what nonchalence they pointed their pen- cils and arranged their books for action. These preparations were sufficiently terrible to me to make thinking an agonizing operation, and ex- istence a bugbear. The hum of the assembling audience, the blare of the brass band in the gal- lery, the gloom of impending evil in the atmos- phere, my embarrassment, sense of inefficiency, of guilt, of — I hardly knew what — so overwhelmed me that I have a serious notion of dropping under the table and creeping out, preferring the role of deserter to that of a vanquished shorthander. But the "great unwashed" back of me, standing, turbulent — composed mostly of laboring men — drove that idea out of my head, and perforce I resolved to stick it out. The "ball" opened, and all the war-horses of the campaign were present. Each scribe had his fragment of the exercises to put in shape. Others preceded my speaker on the program, and sufficient sanity was vouchsafed me to pre- pare somewhat for the fray. At length my Ne- mesis arose. My Trial Trip 95 By that time I must have resembled the famil- iar figure of the bird on our national specie — head eredt, every sense alert, elbows rampant, a sheaf of pencils in my fist. The speaker began very calmly; writer began with great flourish; latter individual manifestly nervous. My head was in a whirl; my characters assumed gigantic proportions; my book was too small; my pencil ungovernable. If the speaker had uttered more than the ordinary introductory platitudes I should have been undone; as it was his delivery was deliberate, his intonation faultless. I could take issue with nothing but my befuddled brain and the unbridled eccentricities of my pencil. If the word "candidate" was spoken, my pencil strode upstairs on the page before me, making a "can — " like a shepherd's crook; then plunged way down into the cellar-kitchen hunting for space to write the balance of the chartcter. Pencil points evaporated into thin air; the leaves of my notebook flew like a winnowing-mill; ray vertabrae curled and cracked; my eyeglasses slid serenely into space; my eye glazed; the scene around me faded. All this time . the orator was reeling ofE stuff about the election in Ohio. (How in the duce should I write "Ohio"?) "What a gorgeous 96 My Trial THp line of democratic States," he said, "we shall have, with New York (I never could write 'New York') in the centre, and Ohio and Massachusetts as the right and left wings of the American eagle, which comes swooping down through the air up- on these Republicans." What scorn was concentrated in these words, and how like the said American eagle was ye re- porter swooping down upon the words "gor- geous," democratic," and the names of "States," in a vain endeavor to clutch and appropriate every syllable before lost to hearing. Just then a veteran reporter at my right hand remarked in interrogation points, — "Go for him, young fellow. ' ' I gave him a wild and absent look, still pursuing my devastating way. Oh, my! I was a buzzsaw with plenty of buzz — a hurricane on the hurry— a blockade of beer- bungs — a Chinese kite, all eyes and mouth — Ex- celsior on his last lap, but my banner read, — "Go for him, young fellow!" If I had a thought out- side of the speech I was pursuing, it was of those derisive words; and how I hated that reporter for the sarcasm! But such experiences have an end. The orator ceased speaking. Vehement applause followed closely on, but to my dazed sense it seemed to roll and reverberate from a vast distance like the rumble of a tempest My Trial Trip 97 past due. During this outburst I partially re- gained reason; I groped for ray glasses; their re- covery made the scene take on a little brighter aspe(5l, but even now I was quite distant from mundarae affairs —my thoughts were far from co- herent. In a maze I followed my friend to the ne\AS- paper oiTice, feeling there was something perit up within me which must out or burst the receptacle. How I deciphered the greater part of my i>otes is a mystery to this day. If it had been difllcult to l>rand the burning rhetoric upon the pages, it was ten times more difficult to make a story of the hieroglyphics. Near the end of the speech I tapered ofi" with short, pithy sentences. I had to; I did not have on my book over four or five words of a period. I drew liberally upon my imagination to fill the gaps, but at the very climax my invention failed me. There I stuck; stuck fast and aghast — glued to the spot before this unsuggestive character. — The connection read, - "Yet I think there is still a chance for the Republicans, driven like rats from the State House, to find an abiding place. Let them go out and sit on * * * " Sit on what? The time for going to press approached rapid- ly. What a dashing of my hopes for success if 98 My Trial Trip at the last moment found me still groping in the dark! When just one remove from sheer madness I sought my friend, who it happened remembered the peroration perfectly. Alas ! I remembered nothing; my memory deserted me an hour ago. Studying the notes together we made them read , — "Let them sit on 'bug light' down the harbor, or let them clamor buoy off the 'Graves.' " The end was attained. I would like to have cried "Eureka," but feared another held the most stock in the discovery. I had begun the transcript with the bearded "chestnut" — "The old ci'adle of liberty rocked, etc., * * *" and now 1 appended to my Mss. — ' ' ( Deafening applause. ) ' ' It is no pleasure today to review the pages of that notebook. Neither do I yearn to make such another maiden passage of the firey furnace of campaign oratory. Faneuil Hall may be full of patriotic sugges- tions for some, but for me it will be always con- sidered as the scene of a battle which was all but a "Waterloo," and left recollections as poignant as those of defeat. — The Cosmopolitan Shorlhander, July, 1886. BY GEORGE MAYNARD. I SUPPOSE there are very few students of our art who have not at some period in their career, had their "blue" days, when they felt that the path they were treading was like Jordan, "a hard road to travel. " They have struck some steno- graphic snag, that would not yield to their as- saults, or have wandered into some slough of un- certainty, where their feet could find no sure and solid groiuid upon which to stand. It is one of those common experiences of stu- dents of any science ; but perhaps shorthai:d has fully as many pitfalls for the unwary as any other, and especially when the tyro has taken up the study unaided by a competent teacher — a thing, by the way, that is not profitable for him to do, unless, in his case, time is of considerable less value than money. He who studies "shorthand without ateacher" w411 generally find, in the end, that, although patient perseverance has enabled him to overcome the enemy, he has had in reality to employ a teacher, who has, indeed, led him to his destination, but alas! by roundabout paths, lOo The Phonographer Triumphant and often several times over the same stony road. The name of that pedagogue is — Experience; and though, as the old adage hath it, her "fruit is sweet," I can't say so much for her present smile. This life of ours is, at the best, a long warfare, in which we fight innumerable battles. Happy he who wins them all. But let no learner of pho- nography ever despair of ultimate success. I speak from experience when I say that every obstacle in the path to successful verbatim report- ing can be overcome by determined effort. Let the student only make up his mind to faithfully master each step as he goes along, never relax his efforts to win the battle, and have an abiding faith in the result. The harder the conflict, the more satisfaction will the victory give. As a means of obtaining speed in writing, after having fully mastered the principles of outline formation and phrase writing, I have found great benefit in reporting lectures and political addres- ses. No matter how varied the subjects — the more so the better. In following the same speak- er through a long course of lectures, I have been surprised and gratified to see the difference be- tween my last effort and my first. The attain- ment of a high rate of speed is not a matter of a few weeks' labor. But, if you gain a little every The Pho7iographer Triumphant lol week, and keep np 3'our practice, yon will find, in the course of time, that you will be master of the situation. For acquiring facility in reading shorthand of any system, there is nothing like reading. You may write it all your lifetime, but if you never practice in reading, you will always hesitate. The best practice 1 ever found in that line was to take my old notebooks, containing reports of sermons, lectures and political addresses, extending back over many years, and spending two or more hours daily in continuous reading of them. When I became fairly proficient in that I would lay my book down on a stand in front of me, and attempt to deliver the addresses from the notes. At first I found this somewhat difficult, but finally I found that it became as easy a matter as if they had been written at a rapid rate in longhand — while care- fully written notes in a bold hand would present no difficulty whatever for delivery in public. To the court reporter, this facility in reading is a prime necessity; and no shorthand writer who takes pride in his art, should neg'ecfl this very important part of it. The reading of printed phonography is exceed- ingly useful, in an educational way, in the learn- ing of correcl outlines and proper phrasing ; but what the phonographer most needs is the ability 102 The Phonographer Triumpha7ii to read rapidly and certainly his own notes. To read those of another person is, hke readhig their longhand, largely a matter of experience with their peculiarities of writing. We generally get so well acquainted with the handwriting of our friends, that we can read it — even when the strang- er might find it a Chinese puzzle to his uninitiated eye — because we have found out by long experi- ence, just where to look for dotless i's and un- crossed t's, and what kind of a serpentine trail means "have," and what other means "never." So in shorthand; what at first looks like the con- tortions of a skinned eel, finally resolves itself in- to order and harmony, and we find that, after all, there is a "method in the madness" of the writer. I am well aware that some noted shorthand writers use certain outlines for certain word.*;, which, so far as the principles laid down in the textbooks are concerned, might as well represent their direct: opposite, or, indeed, an\' other word in the language; but when you find that they ha- bitually do this— that the fearful hieroglyphic is a constant quantity in their penmanship, it all comes plain enough to you, and you have practi- cally nrastered a new system of shorthand. But however many battles j'ou fight, or to what- ever higlits you may climb, always bear in mind that the results will compensate you for your tcil, 7ke Phonographer Triianphani 103 no matter how arduous it may be, just as in the pursuit of any other practical knowledge. You will not hear the accomplished linguist or lawyer regret the hours or months of hard study he has given to secure his present ability ; nor will the stenographer who has successfully climbed the hill, look back with dissatisfaction over the weary way. Phonography is a practical science, and there- fore, in this practical age, it must take a high rank among human accomplishments. But it is not alone in the office, the court room, or the halls of legislation, that it is useful. In a thou- sand ways in life, it comes to the aid of its master, and as the world progresses, this will become more and more true. A practical knowledge of this art must ever be helpful to him who attains it, and is one of the best stepping-stones to suc- cess in life, that can be laid. Young men and women, don't be afraid of hard work; don't give up the ship, on account of a few storms ; and never, oh never, stop, till you be- come what I have chosen as the title of this arti- cle — a Phonographer Triumphant ! ^^ "All this talk about speed," said a shorthand writer, "reminds me of a little experience that I had away back in 1866. I was then located in New York, and was a mere lad and comparatively new in the business. I had never been in a court room, and knew absolutely nothingabout the form of trials. I could write shorthand, however. There was a big murder trial going on in North Carolina, and they sent to New York in hot haste for a ste- nographer. I happened to be the only one at the time available, and Graham sent me down. I shall never forget that experience. About the first man I came into contact with was the Judge Advocate. He was as grave and sarcastic as a cross-cut saw half a mile from an oil can. He looked me over in a sneering way that I shall never forget, and seemed to be sadly disappointed over the fa(5l that there was not more cf me. 'The man whose shoes you have been sent to fill could write 200 words a minute,' he said gruffly; 'how many words can you write?* 'I do not know, ex- actly, sir,' I stammered. 'Well, I'll drop in your no A Question of Speed room in the morning before the court opens and put you through your paces, he said, sarcastically. When I got to my room I was about the worst frightened boy you ever saw. This was a nice sort of man for one who knew nothing about courts, to encounter. About the first thing I saw when I entered my room was an old volume of Webster's speeches. An idea at once struck me. I picked out one of those and practiced on it al- most all night. The consequence was that I had committed it to memory and had it right at my finger's ends. All that remained was to devise some scheme to get the Judge Advocate to seledt that particular speech for the test. Early next morning he came into my room, *Have you any- thing here that I can read to you from?* he ask- ed. 'I do not know,' I repHed, as carelessly as possible. 'Let us see. Ah! here's a book which seems to belong to the room. It's Webster's speeches. Maybe this might do.' I opened it carelessly at the particular speech which I had practiced upon and handed it to him. He ex- amined it carefully, and all the time my heart was in my mouth. I was afraid he would turn the pages and pick out some other speech. But he did not. 'I should think this would do,' he said, and proceeded to count off 200 words. Well, at it we went, and when the 200 words were written I A Oiteslion of Speed 1 1 1 still had fifteen seconds to spare. He timed me with one of those old stopwatches — can see it yet. 'Hum,' he said, 'I guess you will do.' And after that he seemed to think I was more of a man than I looked." i>I|ortI|an!i as an Art BY ISAAC S. DEMENT. The art of shorthand writing is fascinating, ex- hilarating and discouraging. If it were not fas- cinating, very few students would become accom- plished in it; that it is discouraging is proved by the fa(5l that so few become accomplished in it. It is exhilerating at every point where progress is apparent, and discouraging where it is not; it is fascinating in either case to the persevering and determined student. Therefore, shorthand is an art, for it possesses all the elements of an art: fascination, exhilera- tion, discouragement. If one would become a painter, the knowledge of colors is readily acquired, and even the obtain- ing of many tints, as, also, the handling of the brush; but the masterful sweep and touch of hue, that flow from an impulse sent out by a trained mind, are only produced after much discourage- ment and exhileration, overcome and enjoyed by the fascination of mastering a difficult problem. Just so with shorthand. The alphabet, the gen- eral principles and simple phrasing are soon ac- Shorthand as an Art. 113 quired; but the sweep of the hand, during which there are blended harmoniously and accurately, cognate forms, without pause, without hesitation, and such perfedl phrasing that there are flashed back to the mind, as it gazes upon them, true word-pictures of the utterances they but photo- graph, only come as the fruit of unwavering per- severance in thought and in practice. Gold dollars are not made of wood, for the grain of it is too coarse. The finer the oil and the pig- ment, the better the painting, even in the hands of an artist. So with shorthand. We do not have verbatim longhand reporters, for longhand is too coarse and clumsy. The clearer the rules, and the less the load of arbitrary forms, the greater the ease of writing, even in the hands of an art- ist. Dictation, April, 18S6. ^^ ^l|ortljattb in 3l0urnaUam. BY A, E. LEON. "Sorry for you, old fellow — but you see the advantage of not knowing shorthand. Good night!" Is there anything more exasperating? Who of us — we, I mean, who are so often "stuck" with five column reports of court trials, lectures, and after-dinner speeches; we who at midnight, as the tradition runs, may be found in the secluded cor- ners of the office, coatless, collarless, it may be, and desperately perspiring, dictating to the patient typewriter, with our heels perched upon the edge of a neighboring desk, while the monotonous "click" marks the rentless approach of the hour for "going to press" — who of us, I say, has not heard that expression of patronizing sympathy, has not, in fadl, had it rung with innumerable changes in his ears until his blood had boiled with indignation, or until he has himself come to the morbid conclusion that the ability to do verbatim reporting is a delusion and a snare? Does it pay, all things considered, for the re- porter of today to master shorthand? Do those Shorthand in Journalism 115 who already possess the abihty to follow a public speaker enjoy better present advantages or have better prospects than their longhand brethren ? To which class of journalists is the wider range of professional possibility opened, and if to the form- er, is there enough difference to warrant the ne- cessary expenditure of time and energy to acquire the art, atid to make up for the vast amount of genuine drudgery which admittedly falls to the lot of him who has made that art his own ? These are interesting questions — and import- ant ones, withal — questions which in this day of labor-saving, this era of mechanical swiftness and radicalism, are demanding consideration and set- tlement in every daily newspaper office of the country. They are questions of the survival of the fittest ; and according as each man, realizing this accepts as useful or discards as a clog and a hinderance the stenographic factor in our nine- teenth century journalism, will largely result his individual progress toward the common goal — professional success. What, then, are the facts? Now come the sceptic throng innumerable; listen to their dismal chorus : "We have no use for shorthand, because : it is the most disagreeable and tedious 1 16 Shorthajid in Jotirnalisni branch of newspaper work." the reporter who can do it commands no higher salary than the one who can't." if a man once demonstrates his ability for good verbatim drudgery, the ave- nue of office advancement is at once and forever closed to him." the use of stenography and continued reliance upon it, tends to injure the memory, without which a thorough journalist is as a ship without a rudder — a kite without a tail." it ruins a man's originality, makes him a mere cog-wheel in the intricate mech- anism of his office, and destroys what- ever he may have of genuine news- paper instincfl, and discriminating esti- mate of what is and what is not news. " What can be said in opposition to this formid- able arraignment ? Simply this : First, that, other things being equal, a working knowledge of shorthand is an invaluable help in securing a foothold upon any of the daily papers. Secondly, that, other things being equal, when it comes to a question of managerial economy and reduction of force, the man who has this knowl- edge will be the last to go. Shorthand in Joiir^ialisju i r 7 Thirdly, that there are times, however rare, in the experience of every longhand journalist, when he needs to catch, verbatim, some specially im- portant utterance, and when not to be able to do so defaces the professional accuracy of his report, and brings home to himself a realizing sense of his own inefficiency. Are these answers not sufficient ? Mark 5'ou, I have said in every instance, other things being equal. Unfortunately, it must be admitted, in too many cases they are not equal. The average shorthand writer has been, and is, too prone to settle down contentedly into the narrow rut of his specialty, only arousing himself occasionally from his plodding to ask in wonderment why it is that he is not appreciated, and why his salary is not increased. What he needs is to have infused in- to him the true spirit of journalism. Then he will see that he has only made the mistake of as- suming that his art is in and of itself the ultimate disideratum in his profession, whereas it is but one of many tools for the accomplishment of a great end— the gathering and publishing of news. He has confounded the derrick with the granite block it was designed to lift. He has fallen into the error of supposing that he has hollowed out a sacred niche for himself in the gallery of the pro- fession, a trifle more exalted than his fellows, 1 1 8 Shorthand in Joiirnalism whereas he had done only what every aspirant for success as a reporter should do — fitted himself for grappling with a possible emergency. The man who is merely a shorthan,c! writer, and the man who is not one, are neither wholly fittea for newspaper work. The manager of a grest Boston paper drove the nail home when he said, "We are not in want of shorthand writers — what we are looking for is journalists." This is the point exactly. That is the whole matter. The modern daily, with its hurly-burly, its rush, and roar, and innumerable editions, has no time nor money to waste in "monkeying" with specialists. Is there an important murder trial to be reported verbatim ? Good ! It is a matter of news, and any member of the staff should be com- petent to handle it. If 2S\y man is not competent to do the work, then does he fall just so far short of being thoroughly equipped in his profession; and there can be but one result — that man will ultimately be crowded to the wall. Is there a criminal mystery to solve, a case of bankruptcy to fathom, a fatal railroad accident to report ? The same man should be on deck, if need be, nor feel that he, being a stenographer, is exempt from that duty which calls "into action all the latent shrewdness and daring of his being. The English journals, in spite of their conservative tendencies, Shortha7id in Journalism 119 long: ago awoke to an appreciation of the value of this "all-round" ability, and today the attainment of shorthand is there a standing requirement for admission to tbe profession. It is the man upon whom the management can call at any time, in any place, under any circumstances, to do any- thing; for whom the question of salary is self-ad- justing. Those, I am convinced, to whom this broader comprehension of the scope of their profession is as an outlying field of possibility, unmeasured and undreamed-of, are, invariably, the chronic "kick- ers" against the development of stenography in the newspaper office. Chief among them is the "fly" man — -that ubiquitous member of every staff. We all know him — he, the invincible ingen- ious and quick-witted ! His prodigies of achieve- ment are the crowning glory of the office; his pro- fessional conceit is equalled only by the blind stupidity of his ridicule of mechanical auxiliaries. Alas ! how slender is the chance of his salvation ! His deafness is as that of the adder in fable, who, to prevent hearing the voice of the charmer, lay with one ear to the ground and with his tail ob- stinately stuck into the other. Were it not so, he might long ago have made an important dis- covery — might long ago have realized that the "fly" man who is armed with stenography is made I20 Shorthand in Jouryialism doubly "fly" thereby. Of course a good deal of this sort of ridicule has a suggestion of sour grapes about i^, yet it has a serious influence in molding the opinions of the second class of objectors— the younger short- hand members of the force, who are thus, many of them, unthinkingly allured into a contempt for the art which they have been at so much pains and expense to master. The lapse of time will find them either cured or degenerated into the third and most pitiably hopeless class of journal- istic pessimists— the old stenographers, who find themselves at forty still floating in the dull and dismal eddy of professional stagnation. "Disagreeable and tedious," they croak. Grant- ed at the outset; but what truly enthusiastic dis- ciple of Pitman, Munson, or Graham, does not know the fascination, the excitement, of being able to follow, on the wings of thought, the words of a rapid speaker, and to hold them captive, at the ni'-rcy of his own sweet will, with the point of a "P'aber 3"? Then, too, is there no inward uplifting of pride, no secret exultation, no con- sciousness of reserve power, when some "depart- ment" mm, ordinarily a model of independence and professional impregnability, confesses him- self beaten, and telephones for stenographic rein- forcement from the main oSice, because, forsooth, Shorthand in Jourtialism 121 the unexpected has been "sprung" upon him ? "Injurious to the memory" Bah! Only in the sense that books, and all other intellectual conveniences, are injurious. Nothing, hi my judgment, surpasses the study of shorthand for mental training. It is, in its very essence, an ac- quirement that lies far outside of the mental limits attainable by idiocy, and the application of its principles calls for the constant exercise of a great- er and steadier power of concentration than the technicalities of any other known accomplishment. The fastest writer is habitually, on the average, from six to a dozen words behind the speaker, and to carry these in the mind, while at the same time executing multifarious stenograpliic intrica- cies upon the paper, is a feat which can hardly be said, with truth, to lessen the brain's retentive faculty. As for the charge that the use of short- hand destroys the power of justly estimathig the value of news, it is hardly worth refuting. There are machine stenographers, as there are profes- sional automata of all kinds, but they are no more worthy of adverse criticism than is the veriest longhand tyro in the city department; and the stubborn fact remains that there are stenograph- ers who have reached the top-most rung of the journalistic ladder by basing their method of work upon a careful discrimination and a faithful rend- 12 2 Shorthand in Joiirnalisvi ering of details. Let us, then, take heart, we q^ the newer school, for we have much to hope for. Let us rise to the occasion, read the signs of the times aright, and grasp at the possibilities of the future. Let us bear in mind the universal truth that knowledge of whatever sort, when used as a means, and not worshiped as an end, is power, ignoramuses to the contrary; nor let us, in a mo- ment of short-sighted and disgruntled petulance, kick at the treasure-laden basket of opportunity, only then to stand, Alnaschar-like, mourning over the shattered fragments of professional ambition. — The Writer. ®l^f ^I^urtliattb Wv'xtn. Published an exceedingly valuable history of short- hand in 1816, this being JAMES HENRY LEWIS. the second English work 1786 - 1853. upon the subjeH. The following is from ' The Ready Writer, ' 21st edition. His system of shorthayid first appeared in 1812. He who in shorthand would excel Must know each mark and form it well; And if he wish to write with speed, And what he's written hope to read, Each word that's in the tables placed Must on his mind be deeply traced. In vain may he expedl perfection Who shuns or slights each choice direction; But he who will himself divert, And with the rules become expert, Can copy out whate'er he please, And read the whole with perfecft ease; Take down a sermon, or a speech, And speedily perfection reach. In short, in each important matter. He'll write as fast as tongue can chatter. — The Shorthand Educator. Bamt A^oatttag^s ta bt irrtupii from tljp i>tubg of piionograpliu. BY W. C ANN AN SMITH. I SOMETIMES wonder whether Isaac Pitman, when he was at work perfecting his system of Phonography, ever thought of the good he was doing his fellowman. Can he have looked down the vista of years, and seen dimly in the distance the rising sun of a busier day, when men would call for pens as swift as tongues ? He must have anticipated a period, of which we know the dawn, when the enthusiast's dream will be realized; '''' And gy-ant henceforth that writing be As sivift and free as speech.'' A backward glance over the intervening fifty or sixty years since the first publication of Pho- nography, places Mr. Pitman's work among the children of inspiration. There may be some writ- ers who will criticize the attempt on my part to date the commencement of shorthand writing from the publication of Mr. Pitman's works. Certain- ly, Phouograph}^ as we know it today, owes its parentage to him; whatever may be advanced in support of other systems. It was he who pre- Some Advantages to be Derived from the 125 sented our art based upon such philosophic prin- ciples as to insure to everyone who might stretch forth his hand the blessings of a lengthened life. Nor is this all. He added a new branch to the CTirricuInm of our general education, — a branch that bids fair to become foremost among the first; possessing as it does the essential elements of a prime educator. It is soon noticed that phonorgaphers are a patient, painstaking race, whenever seem to grow weary in well-doing; and, no matter how puzzling a problem of hooks, crooks and dashes may be, they stick to it until solved, displaying a zeal worthy of the best cause. The patience exhibit- ed by Job in the midst of his greatest tribulations fades into insignificance, when compared with these illustrations of earnest determination. David Copperfield, one of the most famous students of this great art, was merely an exponent of a large class of his fellows; each of whom has since then, hewn his individual pathway through the forest of difficulties. The memory, too, receives a healthy stimulus from the study of this art. Full many a good thing is preserved to us through the point of a pencil; but many a better owes its crystalization into cold type to the tenacious memory of a Knight of the Pen, upon whose ears fell the words. I do 126 Study of Phonography not wish to be construed as meaning that, in or- der to become proficient, one must memorize word- forms ; but, in the close application necessary to the proper study of Phonography, the memory is so trained through the eye and ear that, by imper- ceptible gradations, a high state of tenacity and mental alertness is attained. The books advise the student to pronounce aloud each word as written. Thus the ear is trained to distinguish the melodies in our language from the harsh sounds ; and the eye to know the good from the the bad. In this way, the phonographer unconsciously becomes an admirable literary critic, who is well able to judge at a glance the value of a composi- tion, and to separate the chaff from the wheat. How many men are there in our profession who are indebted to our art for all they know of the English Classics? An eminent writer has re- marked, "We want the gold of our literature, but many of us are too lazy to do the digging. ' ' Every phonographer possesses the miner in his art, who is always at his master's right hand, ready to obey the call of duty. By the very nature of things, shorthand and literature march hand-in-hraid, comprising a formidable alliance against ignorance and bigotry. It is difficult to conceive of an ig- norant expert stenographer. His must be a de- Some Advantages to be Dcyived from the 127 plorable condition, who, with all these advantages lying within his grasp, will yet allow his sight to be clouded when every inducement is oflered him to rise to a higher plane, there to obtain a better and broader view ot" his surroundings. From this point of observation, one may see passing before him a galaxy of characters in a grand procession ; each of different individuality, and each swayed by different passions. What a splendid opportunity for the study of human-na- ture ! There goes the man who dictates in a halt- ing manner. He repeats, re-reads, expunges and adds. Now passes the man who talks fluently and without repetition. Here comes the fellow who sits at his desk, correcting copy with a pen, greatly to his stenographer's disgust, and to the ruination of the sheet. Last of all, there ap- proaches the ideal, who simply tells what he wants to say, allowing his secretary to use his own words. He it is to whom, above all others, we bow in grateful recognition. We have briefly seen how phonography pre- pares the way for other accomplishments. What single branch of study can equal it in this re- spe(5l ? It is the one profession whose require- ments are not to be found in the following par- allel of branches. The student pursues his even course, picking up bright bits of knowledge from 128 Si7idv of Phonography I the by-paths, — never appreciating the progress he is making until a retrospecft reveals the won- drous stride. — The Universal Writer. ^I|orll|attb. Fortunate art, by which the hand so speeds. The words are now of slower birth the deeds ! Dissembling age, that faith so often breaks, Learn hence to do more than the proudest speaks. Speak not the author's praise, his art commands Our tongue should be more crippled than our hands ; Nor can we scape this spight his speed affords From being overtaken in our words. What shall become of their divinity. Which scatter 'd through two hours tautologie, Gather 'd by these quick charaAers must hence T' indure the doom of such as can speak sense ! Print then that praise which volumes cannot hold But in thine own compendious figures told ; Figures which make us duller-handed think Words from the speaker's mouth dissolve to ink, And fall upon thy papers, or thy quill. Made of some nimble tongue, gave thee this skill. Still may that full pledg'd pen with moisture spring Snatched from the eagles, not the goose's wing. 'Ihomas Shelton. Strange misconceptions are sometimes enter- tained, both as to speed with which words are uttered and the speed with which they are and can be written in shorthand. Young stenograph- ers, relying upon their own guesses instead of on results of a careful test, occasionally over-estimate their attainments in the way of speed to an extent that is really ludicrous. When an applicant for a position as shorthand clerk or transcriber, con- fidently affirms his ability to write one hundred and fifty words a minute, and proves capable of managing but one hundred with difficulty, it is evident that he is the subjedl of a delusion that will probably bring him into discredit. On the other hand there are employers of shorthand to whom the statement that one can write so many words a minute convey no meaning whatever. Beyond the broad distinctions between a fast and slow speaker or a fast and slow writer, their ideas of speed in speaking and writing do not extend. Whether loo words a minute represents great facility of writing, or merely a trifling degree of skill, they could not say with any certainty. If 130 speed in Shorthand a candidate for a post in their office were to de- clare himself able to write 500 words a minute, it might occur to them that this was rather quick; but they would not know that it was impossible. In their case, ignorance on such a point is of lit- tle consequence. So long as the stenographic work that they require is efficiently performed, they are content, and have no need to trouble themselves with the statistics of the work. With the shorthand writer, however, and particularly with the learner, the case is different. To know the precise speed with which he is able to take legible notes, enables him to say with some degree of certainty what kinds of work he is competent to undertake. His successive accretions of speed not only represent landmarks in his progress, but give indications also of his fitness or unfitness for tasks of a special description. Not indeed that speed is the only thing, or the chief thing, to be considered when fitness or unfitness are to be de- cided. Nevertheless, speed is an important ele- ment — an element that no stenographer, what- ever his capacity in other respects, can atTord to ignore. The possession of the most brilliant tal- ents, and the most highly cultivated intelle(5l will not save from grief the shorthand writer whose speed in writing is below that which the exigen- cies of his particular work demand. Hence the speed in Shorthand 13X phonographer who knows, and can state with tolerable exactitude, whenever occasion requires, the precise speed with which he can write, is in possession of a piece of information which ought to prove of special value to himself. Unfortunately, misconceptions as to speed pre- vail in other quarters where ignorance is from every point of view, inexcusable, and where in- deed its effects may be mischievous. Some years ago, an American author produced a book which would never have been written but for certain ex- aggerated estimates that he had formed with ref- erence to the rapidity of speech. Starting with the statement that the speed with which words were uttered reaches 350, 400 and son;etimes as many as 500 words a minute, and impressed with the fa<5l that for a shorthand writer to write 200 words in the same space of time is regarded as a remarkable achievment, this writer set his ingen- ious intelledl to work to discover a method of avoiding the great loss that so striking a disparity between the capabilities of speech and the capa- bilities of shorthand must necessarily occasion.* Among other noteworthy expedients which he suggested for meeting the supposed difl&culty was a novel application of Mr. Charles Reade's doc- * Vide Fowler's '''Shorthand Executio7i." 132 speed in Shorthand trine that we ought to accustom ourselves to write with both hands. We are not aware that Mr. Reade thought it possible to write with both hands at the same time. But the American author to whom we are indebted for the extension of the idea to shorthand, was so convinced that that could be done, that he gravely propounded a scheme of "simultaneous writing," as he termed it, which involved the training of the left hand to write concurrently with the right hand, so that whilst the latter was taking down the first words of a sentence, the former would be taking down the second, and so on. In this way it was calcu- lated that the speed could be readily redoubled. What surprised us was that an author so fertile in suggestions should have overlooked the enorm- ous advantage that would accrue by enlisting the services of the feet as well. We remember see- ing, a few years since, at the museum at Ant- werp, an artist who, having lost both his arms, had trained his feet with such nicety that he was able to earn a living by making and selling copies of the famous productions of Rubens and other Flem- ish masters exhibited there. If the feet could be taught to paint pictures, they could undoubtedly be taught phonography; and if the simultaneous use of both right and left hand is feasible in re- porting, there should seem to be no insuperable speed in SJiortha^id 133 difficulty in imparting the same accomplishment to the "pedal extremities." If this were achiev- ed the stenographer's speed would, by parity of reasoning, be of course quadrupled. With the majority of speakers a man might contrive to con- fine the operations to his hands but on encounter- ing an exceptionally rapid orator, he could call in the aid of the other trained "members," The man who should successfully perform this task, and successfully transcribe his four sets of notes after- wards, would achieve a triumph before which all the remarkable stenographic feats hitherto re- corded would pale into insignificance. Seriously, however, our author's whimsical proposals result wholly and er.tirely from an er- roneous notion of the real speed of public speak- ers. What are the facts? We will endeaver to state them as briefly as we can, promising that our estimates represent averages only. Every speaker varies more or less, not only on different occasions but also in different parts of the same speech. It must be remarked also that any at- tempt to classify people as regards their speed of utterance is necessarily to some extent imperfecSl, because in this matter particularly, there are in- dividual exceptions which will not fall within any rule. Absolute precision is, therefore, not to be expected, Nevertheless, it is not difficult to at- 134 Speed in Shorthand rive at a statement of the fa(5ls that shall be sufl5- ciently accurate for general purposes. Takmg then, first the numerous body of legal, commerc- ial and literary men who employ shorthand clerks and amanuenses, it will be found that these vary considerably in point of speed. The art of dic- tating is an art that is not acquired at once. The business man to whom it is new, will probablj' dictate very slowly at first; but his speed will in- crease with practice, and in a few years he may be able to tax the ability of a really rapid writer. There are business men who dictate on an aver- age not more than forty or fifty words a minute, and some men never attain the power of dictat- ing at a much higher rate than that. Sentences do not always form themselves in the mind — es- pecially a mind weighted with a sense of the great responsibilities that attaches sometimes to even the choice of a phrase —with nothing like the cel- erity with which the tongue is prepared to utter them or the attendant phonographer to take them down. Our observation leads us to the opinion that the majority of employers of shoithand do not dictate correspondence, or other original mat- ter, at more than 120 words a minute. Even in these cases such common phrases as "I am in re- ceipt of your letter," "I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter," etc., are delivered with a speed 171 Shorthand 135 fluency far greater than that figure represents. With the energetic city man, gifted with a ready mind and tolerable flow of language, 150 words a minute is by no means uncommon, though we believe it to be above the average; and there are busy men whose utterance, whilst delivering themselves perhaps of a long string of familiar technical expressions, approaches the rapidity of animated conversation. In fa<5l it may be said that speed varies more in this department of short- hand work than in any other. Anything from 40 words a minute to 180 is to be expected, though, of course, both extremes are rare. The short- hand writer engaged in this class of work has, however, one advantage over many of his profes- sional bretheren. He has alwa3's to take down from a speaker to whose peculiarities he scon be- comes accustomed, and for whose pet phrases he is therefore soon prepared. To turn now to another variety of speaker. The clergyman as a rule is measured ar.d delib- erate, as becomes the gravity of his themes, though there are impetuous orators in the pulpit as well as elsewhere. Many preachers there are whose de- livery seldom rises above 120 words a minute, and is generally below that rate. If we say that the eloquence of the pulpit carries from about 90 to 150 words a minute, we shall be within the mark. 136 speed in Shorthand Other public speakers — politicians, lecturers, and so forth — talk faster than preachers. The mini- mum is higher than of the pulpit; and when pas- sionate indignation rouses thera to vigorous de- nunciation of some real or fancied wrong, or en- thusiasm kindles them to a glowing eulogium of some hero whom they admire or some cause that they support, words are poured forth in a torrent which it seems prosaic to estimate in figures. But the torrent has its speed, and when calmly counted will not often be found to consist of so much as 180 words a minute. We therefore put the rate of this class of speakers at from 1 20 to 180 words a minute. One hundred and fifty is a very good average which many public speakers never exceed. Barristers are perhaps, as a class, the most rapid speakers to be met with, and it is in some respects fortunate that speeches made by them in their professional capacity are so seldom required to be reported verbatim. The oratory of the barrister is, however, by no means confined to the law courts, and the efEcient reporter must be prepared to deal with it when he meets it, as he will occasionally, elsewhere. Conversation frequently reaches 200 words a minute, and sometimes even oversteps that limit; but the additional effort involved in public speak- ing makes anything above 180 words a minute speed in Shorthand 137 exceptional. Phenominal speakers may deliver themselves of 200 words a minute, but of the few men capable of addressing an audience at that ab- normal speed, scarcely anybody will discourse matter deserving the honor of a verbatim report. American orators may be, and probably are, as a rule, somewhat faster speakers than their British cousins. Yet we take leave gravely to doubt whether the United States possesses a public speaker, or a private speaker for the matter of of that, we do not say accustomed to utter, but who on some occasions does utter, even 350 words a minute. That it would be absolutsly impossible for any man, by dint of training, to drill himself into ennunciating 350 words in one minute we do not assert. We have not succeeded in finding any man who, on being tested, proved capable of articulating 300 words a minute. If some excep- tional individual were discovered who could read- ily contrive to speak 350 words in that space of of time, the performance could not be sustained for more than a single minute, and it would con- sist simply of an unintelligible jumble of sounds that would convey to the hearer no meaning whatever. Four hundred words a minute we re- gard as a physical impossibility, to be ranked with other marvels known to us only through the medium of American literature. speed in Shortha7id That svich remarkable misappreliensioiis should have been seriously entertained by a writer who devoted his thought and ingenuity to the subject is a striking illustration of the pitfalls that lie in wait for even clever men who negle(5l ordinary tests. Nothing is easier to ascertain than the average speed of any speaker, or of any short- hand writer. By the simple expedient of observ- ing the exa(5t time when a speech commences and the exadl time when it concludes, and by count- ing the number of words uttered by the speaker in the intervening period, and by repeating the process with a few of that particular orator's speeches, his average speed can be ascertained with strictly scientific accuracy. Eut it is far easier to weave beautiful, though impracticable, theories than to undertake the exacting labor which the preparation of trustworthy statistics always entails. For writers desirous of knowing their precise attainments in the way of speed, a simple test is at no time unavailable. The information is in many instances useful to them. Phonographers, as our readers are aware, are now enabled, by passing a genuine examination, under conditions that reduce the possibility of mistake to a mini- mum, to obtain an official certificate which will place their actual facility of waiting quite beyond speed in Shof'ihand 139 doubt. That they will avail themselves in large number of this means of testing their skill we do not doubt. The results of such examinations will help considerably towards dispelling the er- roneous notions that still prevail on this subje<5t. — Pho7ieiic Journal, 1883. :^ BY GBORGE MAYNARD. The value of the context in the decipherment of shorthand notes has been, I beUeve, some- times underrated. It is claimed that too much reliance is placed upon this aid, and that the stenographer should be able to practically read the text without any context. But how far is this idea corre(5l? Not absolutely so, I am fain to be'ieve. It is certainly not applicable in reading longhand writing — I mean such as Virginia law- yers once had the reputation of using. I think we little realize how much we are de- pendent upon the general idea of the context, even in fluently reading ordinary print. As the rapid reader of a newspaper or book skims along, like a swallow in its flight, across the printed page, he intuitively feels, to a large extent, from what has preceded, what must follow. The sub- jec'l and predicate, the verb and its obje(5l, the preposition and the word it governs, must follow each other in grammatical sequence and form; while negatives and afi&rraatives are largely fore- shadowed by what has already passed over. Fa- Text and Context 141 miliar phrases and quotations, when once entered upon, trip ahnost unconsciously from the tongue — the eye merely glancing easily along the line in search of any change or break. In longhand writing of the Satanic style — for I can only believe that Satan inspires some of it — we often find words which no sane man would ever suppose meant anything like what their writers intended them for. A half-formed letter or two followed by a dash, never did and never will convey to the mind of the general reader any definite idea, unless he has some side light upon the subje(5t. He is in the fix of the school boy struggling with a difficult passage in Caesar or Xenophon — he is "stuck" most woefully upon some phrase, and there he will remain deep in the mud, unless the context comes to his relief. Now in phonography, one has the same ex- perience, only, perhaps, in a greater degree. It is impossible to always decide how an unvocalized outline should be read, unless the words going with it are taken into consideration. There are many outlines, even in the same position, which represent several different words, and for which no system of shorthand has provided distinctive forms brief enough for use iu verbatim reporting. Such words are ball, bill, bile and boil; blaze, blows and bless; streak and strike. It depends 142 Text and Context upon the context how these outlines shall be read; and this, together with a due admixture of common senfe, will be likely to give the corre(5l reading. Forms that cannot be correctly deciphered by aid of the context, should never be written un- vocalized. But to say that all combinations of words can be correctly read without its aid, is mere bosh. Especially is this true of parts of sentences made up of logograms, which each re- presents in the briefest form several different grammalogues, and also possibly the full outlines of some other words. The context is useful to the shorthand reader, as it ever was to the reader of the Scriptures. By this, I do not mean that total and continuous re- liance should be placed upon it in reading— since the phonographer should familiarize himself with outlines so thoroughly as to be able to catch read- ily and give their true value to all distinctive ones — but, in cases of doubt, the context must de- cide, and that it does so, I feel to be certain from the fact that I rarely find difficulty in reading my own notes with a fair degree of readiness — even those of several years' standing- though a vowel among them is about as hard to find as the tradi- tional needle in the haymow. And I am fain to say that this legibility has come quite largely Text and Context 143 from a judicious use of phrasing and position. Speaking of legibility, I believe that phonog- raphers, especially young ones, would do well to use the dot (or stroke) a little more freely to re- p-esent the final ing. Where they are system- atically omitted, there are cases where the read- ing becomes blind, even with the help of the best context. For instance, if we read that some one said to a group of pugilistically inclined individ- uals, "This fighting must be stopped," how are we to know that the true wording is not, "This fight must be stopped," unless the ing is repre- sented ? Finally, there is some shorthand so fearfully and wonderfully written, that no one (save per- haps the writer) can read either text or context. When it comes to deciphering that, I beg to be excused. L,ife is too short ! I might be able to guess out the India ink puzzles on a Chinese laundry check, but I have seen some specimens of what dared to call itself Benn Pitman phonog- raphy, written by ore who had a national reputa- tion, that make me think of a pine forest after a cyclone. No wonder such phonography can be written at three hundred words per minute ! — The Phonographic JcAiTval, November, i8g6. In the study of shorthand there are several things to be noted among which are these. First, it is necessary for the student to make up his mind that the art is one worth much toil to acquire ; and that it will be necessary for him to apply him- self cloiely to his work. Secondly, it will be ob- served by the student that the brain as well as the hand needs training ; for it will become ap- parent that it is impossible for him to place upon paper signs for words unless he has first heard and comprehended the sounds of the words, sep- arated the consonants and vowels, and made up his mind which consonant outline is the best for the particular word under consideration. When this has been done the student is prepared to write. This is a complicated operation, but is one that must be performed, and also one that in the course of time is often unconsciously performed by the writer, that is to say, the writer is no more conscious of thinking of the separate strokes that represent the sounds of the words than he is con- scious of calling to mind the peculiar turns and curls which he makes when he writes an ordinary The Shidy of Shorthand 145 script letter. Now, it will be readily understood that in order that the brain may become accus- tomed to this new and complicated mental opera- tion, the student must practice faithfully and steadily and must be prepared to make no notice- able progress for, perhaps, weeks at a time. But these weeks of practice are by no means lost time. During this season of continued mental and man- ual effort, the tissue of the brain is becoming hardened, and the student is getting used to the new style of writing. The brain must be con- sidered as muscle. Its strength is brought out and kept up by continual use, and only use will harden and make it capable of hard work. It is clear, then, that no student should allow himself to become discouraged by an apparent lack of progress in acquiring speed. Speed in shorthand is the result of the abihty of the writer to think quickly, and move his hand quickly, and in order to gain this capacity, it is obvious that much prac- tice must be had. For instance it has been found that on one day it was impossible for the student to write more than say 60 words per minute. Up to that time it would seem that the student's brain had been assimilating new principles and becoming hardened and accustomed to the opera- tion necessary in thinking of shorthand characters. The next day or the next week the student has 146 The Study of Shorthand found that the line has been crossed, and to his great surprise and immense satisfaction, he has found himself able to write at a speed of 70 or 75 words per minute. Now, this extra speed was not gained in a day or in a week; it is the result of the arduous labor of the student for the pre- ceding months, and if he imagines that he is Hkely to realize another burst of speed of 10 or 15 words a minute in the next day or week, he is very sure to be disappointed because the process of harden- ing the brain and training his hand to still great- er effort, will take up perhaps as much time as he had devoted to that work before he made his first appreciable gain of speed. In this fadl there is to the hard working student reason for great encour- agement; for it is certain that the sun shines, al- though clouds obscure it and it is hidden from our vision, that steady, intelligent practice in short- hand writing will bring to the practitioner the speed which he desires. The only limit to the rate of speed which may be acquired by practice is a constitutional one. Some people are so con- stituted that it is absolutely impossible for them to complete a rapid mental operation. For such as these there can be no rapid shorthand writing; but happily this class is not a very large one. Now we may judge from these observations that it is not wise to throw too much of the labor The Study of Shorthand 147 of rapid writing upon either the brain or the hand. In some shorthand systems an attempt has been made to contra(5l the signs representing words to their least possible geometrical size and the re- sult has been that writers of such systems are compelled to load their memories with long lists of special word signs and contractions, and much of the labor of reporting which should more pro- perly be done by the hand is thrown upon the brain. Another result of this style of writing is a danger of misreading the very small contracted forms and any one who knows anything about shorthand and how it is usually written at great speed knows that it is to most people almost an impossibility to form characters rapidly written with any degree of precision. This being the case, the smaller the characters when properly written, and the more hooks and curls and circles engraft- ed upon the single stem the greater is the mechan- ical difficulty of writing the signs correctly and of course the greater difficulty in reading the words. It is also well to avoid a long sprawling style of shorthand, because that kind of writing, (the characters being made very large and thrown out of position), is perhaps as difficult to read as the very contracted style. Moreover, the writer is put to much trouble and uses too much paper; is compelled to turn too often the leaves of his note- 148 The Study of Shorthand book and cannot do his work with celerity, dig- nity and grace which characterize the expert shorthand writer. Therefore I would say, cultivate the happy habit of writing characters of a neat and uniform size, and make it a point to write characters in position, and with due observation of the proper angles. Do not be led away by the idea that much phrasing is of advantage, and conducive of speed. Experts have found that in actual and very rapid writing, it is necessary to follow the speaker as closely as possible, and the curious fa(5t has been developed that when this is done the writer rare- ly phrases except to join the most common com- binations of words together, and the page of notes written at high speed show the words written al- most without phrasing and with a regular or ir- regular spacing which indicates the very style of the speaker, showing how from time to time he had uttered several words with great rapidity, bringing them close together, and at others had made pauses of greater or less length between the words. The student should understand that in order to fit himself for shorthand work he must have a knowledge of the English language sufficient to enable him to wiite grammatically and spell and punctuate correctly. Having this knowledge and The Study of Shorthand 149 the determination to succeed, and being willing to work against apparent lack of progress at all, he may rest assured that it is only a question of time when he will have the proud satisfaction (and it is a source of pride) of feeling that he can enter any assembly and sitting down before any speaker, be prepared to record correctly every- thing that is said, and make a readable transcript of his notes. MAX. — Browne* s Phonographic Monthly. ®l|?0rg B^rsua prarttr?. BY GEORGB MAYNARD. In the development of shorthand systems, as in any other art or science, a theory is a good thing, if it will only work in practice; if it will not, it certainly should not be relied upon too closely, in facft it is too often "dead wood" cum- bering the phonographic field. If it were possi- ble to build up a system of shorthand theoretic- ally perfecft, and without any exceptions to gen- eral rules, and which, at the same time, would answer every requirement of speed, ease of writ- ing and legibility, it would indeed be a grand ac- complishment. But that this ever had been, or is likely at present to be done, I do not think even the most enthusiastic phonographer can claim, any more than we could justly lay a similar claim for the scientific perfection of our Knglish alpha- bet, or of any language, living or dead. There are conditions and circumstances constantly aris- ing, which make departures from established theories necessary or desirable. All the briefer systems of shorthand now known have been obliged to sacrifice theory to some ex- Theory Versus Practice 151 tent. In some of them this is shown in the diff- erence between the so-called corresponding style and the reporting forms. Theoretically, the words "firm" and "form" should be written with the same outlines; but it has been found advisable, for legibility's sake to differentiate them, so to speak. The same can be said of many other conflicting outlines, and is true, to a greater or less extent, of all systems that are of practical value to the verbatim reporter. Some systems, in attempting to follow theor}^ have adopted awkward and cum- bersome forms, which must inevitably militate against their success in this rapid age. What we are looking for in shorthand, is re- sults. That system which will produce the best — viewed from every standpoint — must eventu- ally be the successful competitor in the race. The practical stenographer cares not so much for brill- iant theories about his system of shorthand, as he does for an easy, rapid and safe means of attain- ing his desired ends. The outlines which will flow from the pen, as the river glides ocean ward, and yet assume an individuality of its own, which cannot be lost in the company of its fellows, is worth more to him than the thoeretically corredl one, that does not possess these qualities. It is well known that the shortest outlines are not al- ways the easiest to make, and therefore not always 152 Theory Versus Practice conducive to speed. Look at a flash of lightning as it streams from the sky to the earth. It does not go in a dire(5l course, but in a zigzag, or, more properly, a spiral one — that is to say, it follows the line of least resistance. So must the pen of the shorthand writer, if he would attain the high- est speed. That rapi 1 writers either strive to, or unconsciously do follow this natural law, is shown by the changes in the forms of outlines and the direction of strokes — the greater the speed, the more striking the change. Angles are softened down, curves change their direction, circles as- sume an oval form, and straight lines lose their rigidity. In the case of a skillful writer, this tends to beautify and give life to his phonographic notes, and is no disadvantage. As to theory in shorthand, it may be said that when the violation of a general rule will result in the production of a large number of outlines of a brevity of form or facility of execution that could not otherwise be attained, then it would seem to be wise to make the exception even establishing it as a subordinate rule, if he will. But if the re- sults attained are of so trifling a nature as not to compensate for the infraction of the general rule, then such an exception would be unwise. As to the use of absolutely arbitrary outliries, it is a question how far they may be advantageous. Theory Vt'rs7is Practice 153 Some systems of shorthand have employed them extensively, but it has been perhaps more from a poverty of material from which to construe?!: out- lines of the necessary brevity, than from any other cause. In the Pitmanic systems, there would seem to be little need of these expedients, except in special cases, when each stenographer can eas- ily supply his own "short cuts" for words or phrases to suit the occasion. In the matter of phrasing, however, it would seem as if the practice of abbreviation of full forms, or the use of arbitrary characters, might be gen- erally extended, with good results, especially in the matter of intersected phrases. In what I have written, I would not be under- stood as condemning theor5\ It is only a too blind adherence to it that I would disparage. Shorthand without a theory must necessarily be like a building without a plan; but shorthand that is all theory, is better for the philosopher than for the reporter. The results of experience are of more practical value than an}- mere theorizing can ever be. And so I hope that if any veteran in the art ever catches the writer in any serious lapses in his statements, he will not hesitate to infli(5l the deserved criticism. We should all have an eye to the good of the cause, and there 154 Theory Versus Practice is nothing better for any cause than candid dis- cussion — even in politics. — J he Phonographic Journaly October, 1896. f Unman Bima^vnp^n, SPEECH BY JAMES ABBOTT AT BANQUET OP CHICAGO STENOGRAPHERS, 1880. We know but little about the reporter who flourished on the banks of the Tiber during the early period of the Roman republic. History in- forms us, however, that such an individual did live and move and have a being. Perhaps it was largely a matter of locomotion, if then, as now, the practice of the profession required the dex- trous use of legs as well as brains. The Report- er, who as Special Correspondent of the Athens Daily News did the "mill" between Romulus and Remus is not mentioned by Livy, who likewise omits to mention the ubiquitous Press Represent- ative accompanying Tarquin to count his quarters and laps in his walk from Rome upon his abdica- tion. But as Rome grew in population and wealth, the reporters increased in numbers and influence. The infrequent allusions to them by early histor- ians become numerous later on, until, in the days of Cicero, we find the stenographers an import- ant political element, whose rights were duly 156 Ye Romayi Stenographer considered in the making up of the slates for the spring and fall plebiscita. As now in this Western Metropolis; as now in the Eternal City, they were united by the ties of brotherly love. Their services were solicited by wealthy patricians. Their skill did many azes to their coffers bring. Their liberality toward the applewoman, whose stand was on the curb oppo- site the ticket office of the Coliseum, did occasion much remark. In short, they were "bloated bondholders," with surplus receipts securely in- vested in Four per cents and schedule of rates constantly advancing. Fees were at first, for per diem, a sestertium; for transcripts, five denarii a folio; but in the later days of their prosperity, charges were regulated only by the client's abil- ity to respond. Stenography came to be used as a stepping-stone to future greatness by ambitious youths from the provinces. The novitiates were always received with open arms by their brethren at the Capitol. The veterans would take notes beside them, to assist them in their labors; and would compare transcripts, written up free of ex- pense, to see that the youngsters made no mis- takes. According to Tacitus, Scipio Africanus was acquainted with a young man whose brother studied shorthand. Pompey is said to have first made a shining mark by blacking boots in a Re- y^e Roman Stenographer 157 porter's office. The emperors retired on a pen- sion for life all stenographers who had taken one hundred divorce cases. There were giants in those days among the craft, whose fame extend- ed from the Hellespont to the Pillars of Hercules; but I forbear to state the number of hundred words per minute they could write, or how with one hand they could take notes, while with the other they made up calendars and executed daily copy, lest my reputation for truth be irreparably damaged. The devices resorted to by learned Roman ad- vocates to curry the favor and secure the service of a stenographer were among the "ways that are dark, and the tricks that are vain. " On such oc- casions, after learned advocate had agreed to pay gold instead of greenbacks, and to watch all the Reporter's cases and telegraph when they were reached, that wily individual would reply, having an eye on a postoffice or a collector ship, for which the advocate could lay the pipes and give a sub- stantial boost: "Well, Charley, you're all really good fellows, but I want to favor you. I think I shall really have to attend to your case this time," well knowing that he could repeat the same false promise to the next advocate whose backing is likely to be needed. As the recurring seasons brought each year to 158 Ve Roman Stejiographer a close, the Knights of the Art Mysterious as- sembled themselves together at the Annual Ban- quet of the Stenographic Orphans, where the "feast of reason and flow of bowl" was a thing long to be remembered. Then did Bacchus hold high carnival. When the festivities were over and the effusions of eloquence had subsided, these Knights would vote to have their proceedings printed in pamphlet form, to be laid away beside the Pandecks and Twelve Tables among the arch- ives of Rome; and, furthermore, would leave the committee on publication to defray the expenses of the same out of their own pockets. Among the illustrious individuals who adorned our profession in those ancient times, there was one man who was a power of strength to his less opulent brethren, whose wealth was only a mat- ter of conjecture —whose figure stands forth like that of a tom-cat on the ridge-pole of a barn at midnight. Need I mention his name ? When Tyro took his afternoon drive down Apprian Way with his four-in-hand, the magnificence of his equipage was a sight for the immortal gods and small boys to gaze upon. And when he rode forth in the morning toward the halls of the Praetors to perform his official duties, one servant carry- ing stilus and tablet, and the other propelHng a wheelbarrow to collect fees, the plebs stood back Ve Roma7i Stenographer 159 in silent awe, and the patricians retired for pret- zels and beer. To show in what high esteem this noble Roman was held by his contemporaries I will read the following from Horace (B. 13, Ode 9), leave of Brother Edwards being first had and obtained: O, Tyro! in thy hours of ease, High-priced, disgruntled, hard to please, When troubled printers try to make Sufficient copy for a take; And striving long, yet fail to find That which will suit the public mind: O, then ! that thou would'st condescend, Those shiv'ring devils to befriend. Into the Forum, thou could'st go, Report a speech by Cicero, Transcribe the same, on jujube paste Run off the copies in great haste. But thou hast earned enough of gold; Thy marv'lous skill has oft' been told, Thy services can not be had. • How melancholy, O, how sad. That Rome's most brilliant gems of thought Are spoken but to be forgot! As long as Rome was free, the stenographers were the favorite sons of fortune. But revolu- tion and invasion laid waste the temples of the gods and banished the tutelar divinities. The cackling of the geese could no longer save the walls of Rome, nor the bacon of the stenograph- ers. A change came o ' er the spirit of their dreams. l6o Ve Romayi Stenographer The superb palaces and porticos, by which had rolled the ivory chariots of Maiirius and Ccesar moldered into dust. The laureled fasces, the golden eagles, the shouting legions, the captives, the pictured cities and the triumphal processions were indeed wanting. The scepter passed away from Rome; and the glory of the stenographers departed. They had reduced to enduring form by their art preservative the triumphs of philos- ophy. Their captives were the hearts of admir- ing nations who had offered the just tribute of their cash. But their daj'S were numbered and they must bite the dust. Why this change? Ac- cording to Plutarch, some genius in an evil hour invented a machine, into the hopper of which the stenographer could cast his notes, and a printed transcript w^as run off, for which "no more was charged than usual rates, and extra lithographic copies, at but slight additional expense. ' ' A cor- poration was formed, which bought the exclusive right to turn the crank within the walls of Rome, and thereby did they hope to run a corner. But those reporters, who viewed with a zealous eye the vast monopoly this machine was creating, took counsel one with another that they, forsooth, might hit upon some device to multiply second copies as the sands on the seashore. The result of their endeavors was the discovery that a pan of Ve Roina7i Stenographer i6i putty would produce wonderful facsimile copies in any required number at slight additional cost. Competition now waxed fast and furious. The profession became divided into two parties. The battle cry was "putty vs. machinery." The time- honored rates of their ancestors were ruthlessly reduced. Scouts were sent abroad throughout the city to secure patronage. Three or four ste- nographers did lay claim to the same case. They stood in line on the Ides and Kalends of the month to gather in divorces until at last it was with diffi- culty that an advocate could be persuaded to al- low his case to be reported at all, and then only on presentation of a chrorao. Actus est de stenog- raphico; or, in other words, the jig was up. Today as you visit the Eternal city, no friend- ly hand grasps yours with a cordial invitation to take a "smile" — at the same time enquiring if you have a case to be reported. Ask for a ste- nographer, and the shopkeeper will tell you that he has disposed of the last one he had. The monks and soldiers will shake their heads and view you with suspicion. Direcft your footsteps down into the catacombs, and you will find the resting place of that machine. And this is his epitaph : 1 62 Ye Roman Sietiograpker ^''Here lies a youth ^ who died of vain ambition and too much copy.** — Browne* s Phonographic Monthly February^ 1880. ^{#d Of this edition one hundred copies have been printed and the type distributed. Each copy is numbered^ and this copy is // Number / i INDEX Page A Court Reporter's Catastrophe, Harry Eastman, 74 A Question of Speed, (Unknown) 109 A Recordin' Angel, S. H. Gray, 58 A Reporter's Ravin', W. E. McDerraut, 41 Antiquity of Shorthand, The, George Maynard, 17 Curiosities of Shorthand, The, Eugene L. Dider 23 Development of Phonography, The, George Maynard, 37 Fin de Siecle Shorthand, J. L, Driscol, 46 Future of Stenography, The, EBB, 54 Historical Value of Shorthand, The, Frank E. Nevins, 12 How Not To Do It, T/ie Phonetic Journal, 67 Importance of Reading Shorthand Journals, The, Frank Harrison, 65 Individuality in Shorthand, The Phonetic Journal, 77 Its Influences, Sanders' Shorthand Gazette, 64 Medical Expert on the Stand, The, Fred T. Leport, 89 Page My Trial Trip, Bates Torrey, 92 Newspaper Reporting, George Maynard, 83 Phonograplier Triumphant, The, George Maynard, 99 Phonographic Collaboration, The Phonetic J 02i7'7ial, 104 Shorthand, Thomas Shelton, 128 Shorthand as an Art, Isaac S. Dement, 112 Shorthand in Journalism, A. E. Leon, 114 Shorthand Writer, The, James Henry Lewis, 123 Silent Man, The, Charles Currier Beale, 5 Some Advantages to be Derived from the Study of Phonography, W. Cannan Smith, 124 Speed in Shorthand, The Phonetic Jcnriial , 129 Study of Shorthand, The, Max in Browne'' s Phonographic Monthly^ 144 The Antiquity of Shorthand, George Maynard, 17 The Curiosities of Shorthand, Eugene L. Dider, 23 The Development of Phonography, George Maynard, 37 The Future of Stenography, EBB, 54 The Historical Value of Shorthand, Frank E. Nevins, 12 The Importance of Reading Shorthand Journals, Frank Harrison, 65 Page The Medical Expert on the Stand, Fred T. Leport, 89 The Phonographer Triumphant, George Maynard, 99 The Shorthand Writer, James Henry Lewis, 123 The Silent Man, Charles Currier Beale, 5 The Study of Shorthand, Max, in Brc'vne'' s Phonographic Monthly, 144 The Value of a Shorthand Library, George Maynard, 60 Text and Context, George Maynard, 140 Theory Versus Practice, George Maynard, 150 Value of a Shorthand Library, The, George Maynard, 60 Ye Roman Stenographer, James Abbott, 155 ^^ ERRATA. P. 9, line 14, last word repeated in line 15. P. 26, 6th line from foot of page, last word should be from instead of form. P. 62, line 3, 2nd paragraph second word should be undoubtedly. P. 66, - paging reversed. In line 17 last word re- peated in line 18. P. 107, line 6, possibly should be possible. P. 114, line 14, 4th word should be relentless. P. 125, line 1, second paragraph, sixth word mis- spelled. There may be other typographical and mechanical errors which mav have been overlooked. Pastr tl)is in your tap^ of "Qltfp ^Urnt Ulan/* ADDITIONAIv ERRATA. It has just been discovered that a very serious error occurs on page 98. In making the typewritten copj' ~ over 25 years ago -- from which the type for the book was set, an entire Hne in the original printed article was omitted, and when type was set copy was not verified. The sentence beginning at line 8, should read: "— Ivet them sit on 'Bug Ivight' down the harbor, or let their clamor be drowned b\' the shrieks of the whistling bouy ofif the 'Graves.' " P. 156, first line of paragraph should read: "As now in this Western Metropolis, so then in" — Note change in punctuation. Same paragraph, 4th line, "azes" should be "ases." P. 158, 7th line, — in some copies -- last word should be "these." P. 158, 3rd line of paragraph, "power" should read "tower." UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. AUG 13 labt NOV 23 1980 orm L9 — 15m-10,'48(B1039)4i4 Z^3 S89s 3 1158 00644 633^ UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 001 166 773