notes, the better and the more rapidly you will write in future. It will take you fully three times as long to learn to read your shorthand notes with facility, as it does to learn to write them. Then think—of what use are your shorthand notes if you cannot read them! Write accurately first, last and all the time, and speed will surely follow. Bear this in mind now and always—"Make haste slowly."
NOTE-BOOK AND PAPER.
One of the greatest advantages of stenography is its ready adaptability to emergencies. All that is required to bring it immediately into service is paper of good quality, preferably in the shape of a note-book opening at the ends, and a pencil or pen. Because of the fact that Gregg Shorthand is written with characters all of one thickness, the best paper for note-books is that with a fairly smooth texture. This offers less resistance to the pen or pencil, is therefore easier to use, and avoids all danger of the pen point catching in the paper, as it often does in the rough paper note-books. While it is not absolutely necessary that the paper should be ruled for use with Gregg Shorthand, ruled paper is more convenient. Note-books ruled in blue are less fatiguing to the eyes than those ruled in red. A good plan is to have a perpendicular line down the middle from top to bottom of each page. The student should first fill up the space on the left of
