Practical Pointers for Shorthand Students/Part 4
PART IV.
Pointers About Reporting
HOW TO BECOME A SHORTHAND REPORTER.
"Verbatim reporting," writes Mr. William E. Finnegan in Chat, "like everything else worth knowing, is easy when you know how, but the beginner who is afraid of hard work will never know how, for the art of reporting is not easily mastered. Therein lies its chief value. If the ability to follow accurately a rapid speaker could be absorbed as a sponge takes up water, the stenographic profession would soon be filled with the failures from every other department of work. Fortunately he who would become a verbatim reporter must, far from absorbing the knowledge he seeks, dig for every morsel of it—dig deep through strata of principles beset with difficulties, which only the patient, industrious and resourceful mind can hope to overcome. . . . . . Whoever is ambitious to become a verbatim reporter must not make the fatal error of being in too great a hurry. He must be willing to spend time enough to learn the art of shorthand thoroughly. If he trusts his reporting fortunes to an instructor who guarantees to turn out experts in three months his experience is certain to be like David Copperfield's whose 'imbecile pen staggered about the paper as if in a fit!'"
The chief aim and ambition of the stenographer is to become a reporter—to be able to report verbatim the loftiest flights of the orator, sermons, lectures, and the rapid questions and answers of the courts. It would be well for the ambitious stenographer to realize from the very start that the art of verbatim reporting can be acquired only by constant and persistent practice for a long period of time. Those who have been most successful and have reached the highest positions in the stenographic field as congressional and court reporters have done so, not by good luck or influence, but by evolution and persistent, hard work.
Under another caption we will set out in detail the various periods of preparation and study that many of the best reporters have had to undergo before they reached the height of their ambition. To be a successful reporter the stenographer must possess good sight, excellent hearing, the keenest of observation and good expression, in addition to possessing a thorough command of his shorthand system, and the ability to write it swiftly and transcribe it accurately. He must also have a thorough command of the English language, history and current events. In fact, the reporter to be successful must be intelligent, well read, quick, and uniformly well-informed on a multitude of matters. His daily duties are so likely to require the keenest perception and knowledge of matters outside the ordinary pale of commerce that nothing but supreme alertness as to what is passing about him would fit him for his position.
We do not wish to discourage the ambitious stenographer, but if he desires to become a shorthand reporter he must remember "No victory without a struggle, no success without labor." The field is wide and open; persistent study, and a determination to succeed will attain success. Don't be discouraged
SOME POINTERS FOR THE EMBRYO REPORTER.
Master Your System. The first step to good reporting speed is a thorough mastery of your system. Utilize in study every spare moment of the day, but exercise the hand simultaneously with the mind. The mind must act quickly, and the hand must be instantaneously responsive. Mr. David Wolfe Browne writes: "The mind's conception and the hand's response must be so prompt as to leave no appreciable gap between hearing and writing." Again he writes: "The attainment of the highest speed requires not only a well-trained mind, but a well-trained hand." This harmony of mind and hand can only be attained by practice. Master every principle of your system of shorthand thoroughly. Have someone read to you on a variety of matter, so as to enlarge your vocabulary, and apply your rules and principles to every new word. Write in shorthand and think in shorthand.
Read Your Own Notes. Read everything you write. Better even than reading is to transcribe on the typewriter every word that you write in shorthand. Omit nothing; make sense of all, you transcribe. Read also everything you can find printed in shorthand. Of course the best practice is obtained when you read your own notes. In transcribing read always a few sentences, so as to avail yourself of the context, carrying as much of the transcript in your mind as you can at one time, so as to keep the carriage of your machine traveling the whole time.
Word Building. It is an impossibility for any mind to memorize arbitrary outlines for all the words in the English language. The rules and principles of your system, if properly applied, will enable you to write the most difficult words in the language with ease and accuracy. This word-building facility is the foundation of the reportorial structure. "The key to success in the practice of shorthand." writes Mr. Brown, "is in the mastery of the word-building principles." "One word in 10o," he writes, "is more than enough, as every reporter knows, to break down any shorthand writer whose training has left him unable to write the hard words promptly." Don't write the hard words in longhand; it is a slow and absurd custom. Write everything in shorthand; divide each word into syllables, and as you pronounce the syllable write it in shorthand with the consonants and vowels in regular order. "The hard words," says Mr. Brown, "must be written—they must be written in shorthand; they must be written promptly."
Small, Neat Notes. The smaller your notes, other things being equal, the swifter your shorthand. Don't let your notes be straggling, but neat and compact, written with the sole idea that they must be read with ease and celerity. Acquire a good style of writing. The more rapidly the speaker reads the smaller must be your shorthand notes. If this advice is followed it will result in increased speed. Mr. Alfred Baker, in "Reporting Hints and Practice," writes: "There is no doubt a great tendency to acquire speed at the expense of good style; this, if yielded to, results in the formation of ragged, scrawling and inaccurate ways of note-taking, which militate greatly against that perfect accuracy that the reporter should endeavor to make the primary characteristic of his work."
CONTINGENCIES IN REPORTING.
Learn to write anywhere—on a table, on a desk, on your knee. The reporter is at times called upon to write with poor ink, or with a hard lead pencil on bad paper. He may be required to take notes in total darkness, standing or seated in a moving vehicle, in a crowd, on any kind of paper, with and without lines. He must become accustomed to these contingencies, and take them as a matter of course. His shorthand must be so well mastered that the means of applying it anywhere, under all circumstances, must be a secondary consideration. We heard of a recent important case where a large part of the most convincing and important evidence was taken by a reporter behind a curtain in the dark. Learn to write shorthand with ease and facility under disadvantageous circumstances and be sure to read what you have written.
GETTING UP SPEED.
Mr. F. H. Hemperley, of Philadelphia, the editor of the "Stenographer," wrote some time ago: "The best way to learn to report in shorthand is to begin to report at the beginning—that is, to write from dictation from the first lesson. It is like learning to walk: stand up and take one step, then another, until you get the needed strength and grace." Assuming, as the late Mr. Fred Pitman wrote, that the pupil possesses "accuracy of form; a good smooth method of writing; facility in reading notes; the ability to transcribe notes neatly, quickly and with scrupulous fidelity; the capacity, when pressed beyond one's pace, to catch the sense and record it, at the possible risk of losing a few words or possibly some fine phrases—these and many other attainments ought to advance abreast." He then recommended the writing of one sentence repeatedly, so as "to teach the hand how to move along." This advice is also given by Mr. Andrew J. Graham, the author of "Graham's Shorthand," and Mr. Fred Irland, the congressional reporter. Write the same sentence until you can write it fluently, and, as Mr. R. R. Hitt, another famous reporter, said, "leaving speed to come when it will."
We would like to quote here some extracts from a very interesting article by Miss Mary N. Evans, official stenographer of Sandusky, Ohio, which appeared in the "Phonographic World" in June, 1891:
"My own habit has been, and my advice to my pupils, is this: begin with a single sentence only. Write it over six times, numbering each, and if there should be any outlines in it which seem especially difficult, cover a page or so of the paper with each of these until they are mastered sufficiently to be written as readily as the rest of the sentence. Then take up the second sentence in the article in the same way. Now go back to the beginning, writing both sentences six times over, finishing up with writing the second six times additionally. Then take up the third sentence, write it six times, and afterwards write all three six times, finishing as before with writing the last six times more than the others. (It will be understood that this sort of practice is done from memory and without a reader; of course it is necessary to glance at the book occasionally, but in repeating the sentences so many times the mind soon retains them.) It will be a pleasant diversion for the student to count the words in each sentence and time himself at the close of the sixth time of writing. He will find that he can gain speed quite perceptibly, and by this means the long continued practice on a single article becomes, instead of a tedious and never-ending drudgery, a delightful and fascinating race which the enthusiastic and earnest student will be loth to relinquish even after several hours of practice; and though it takes a long time to finish an article in this way, yet there is inspiration instead of discouragement in it, as the student can note constant and most decided progress in his speed from day to day. It is also a wonderful drill to the memory; a well drilled memory, I need scarcely say, is a sine qua non to the successful reporter. Another advantage is that it enables the student to utilize in helpful shorthand practice many minutes that would otherwise be lost to him from the impossibility of having someone read to him at those particular times. Of course this sort of practice may, and should, if possible, be varied by writing from some one's dictation."
PRACTICE AND DICTATION MATTER.
The student desiring high speed must practice regularly and ceaselessly day after day. Get a good, patient reader if possible. If that is out of the question utilize a phonograph, having previously prepared your records. If even a phonograph is not available, practice in the way suggested in the previous chapter, but in every case make your practice regular and not intermittent. Copying from correctly written shorthand is very useful in order to acquire a neat, symmetrical and legible style. The kind of matter to be dictated or written should be varied, so as to give as large and complete a range of language as possible.
Mr. W. Whitford, Medical Reporter of Chicago, in a letter written for a symposium, called "How Long?" stated: "I wrote Paley's Evidences of Christianity, a good deal of the Bible, and many sermons from dictation, Sidercal Heavens, Lectures on Astronomy, Macaulay's Essays, The Intellectual Development of Europe, Civil Policy of America, Charles Dickens' Works, selections from Washington Irving, Carlyle, and Goethe, three volumes of the Manchester Science Lectures, works on Geology, proceedings of railways, medical, dental and pharmaceutical conventions, as well as articles from scientific and literary magazines." Col. E. B. Dickenson, Official Reporter of New York, also wrote from dictation "many volumes of miscellaneous matter; history, biography, lectures, trials; in fact, almost every branch of literature." Mr. Theodore C. Rose, Official Reporter of Elmira, New York, when practicing for speed, worked eight hours a day. Mr. David Wolfe Brown, Reporter U. S. House of Representatives, wrote from dictation "such works as 'Blackstone's Commentaries, Macaulay's Essays," etc. From these experiences of expert reporters it will be seen that to attain success in the reportorial art one must practice untiringly. "Success treads on the heels of every proper effort," and though the work may be hard and at times discouraging, the embryo reporter should bear in mind the words of Mirabeau, "Nothing is impossible, but everything possible to the man who can 'will' and knows his end, and goes straight for it and for it alone."
THE LAW OFFICE AS A TRAINING SCHOOL.
One of the best steppin-stones to the reporter's chair is the law office. We would strongly recommend the stenographer who desires to become a court reporter to obtain a position in a busy lawyer's office. It will familiarize him with legal phraseology, he will occasionally be called upon to "take" references, depositions of witnesses, attend hearings in court, and have many opportunities of receiving thorough training, which will prepare him for the much coveted reporter's chair. Many of the best present-day reporters have had training of this character. It may take two or three years, but it will be time well spent. In addition to this valuable experience the stenographer will almost daily be brought into contact with men who may assist him in his ambition. Judges, when choosing court reporters, invariably choose those stenographers whose work they are already familiar with through references or hearings.
In taking a reference, sit as close as you can to the speaker or witness. Make a note of everything that takes place, as well as what is said. The court reporter should understand thoroughly the meaning of rulings, exceptions and objections, generally used in court procedure, so as to be able to make a proper record of them. Exhibits entered in court as part of the evidence should be carefully marked in the order in which they are produced. Beginning with the first mark them "Exhibit A," "Exhibit B," and so on. Articles which are entered as exhibits and which cannot conveniently be marked as such, should have labels attached to them, with the number of the exhibit marked thereon. Names and addresses of the witnesses should be carefully recorded, and it is the duty of the stenographer to take down, word for word, everything that is said. If a witness or lawyer is incorrectly heard, the stenographer must ask for the question or answer to be repeated, as it is most essential that a proper record of the proceedings be made. Some reporters distinguish between the question and answer by drawing a horizontal dash from right to left. Others prefer to write the question at a special place on the page on one line, the answer indented still more on the next line, and objections or remarks of the court still further indented. The note-books should be numbered and dated, and carefully preserved.
It will be readily gleaned from these remarks that the qualifying for the position of court reporter entails a considerable amount of study and training, and a few years' experience in a busy lawyer's office will be an invaluable aid. Mr. W. H. Thorne, lawyer and court reporter of Johnstown, N. Y., began work in a law office and subsequently studied law. Col. E. B. Dickenson, official reporter, Surrogate's Court, Brooklyn, N. Y., read law for five years before he was appointed official reporter. Mr. Philander Deming, official reporter of the Supreme Court, New York, Albany Circuit, graduated from a law school. Mr. C. C. Marble, of Chicago, studied law and was admitted to the bar before he learned shorthand. Mr. Frederic Irland, Official Reporter U. S. House of Representatives, was stenographer to the attorney for a railroad company before he took up stenography in the courts.
We are indebted for the foregoing information to the symposium "How Long?" already referred to. Scores of other examples might be given, but we think we have quoted enough to show that the legal office is the best training school for the official court reporter.
REPORTING SERMONS.
Nothing affords the ambitious stenographer a better opportunity for acquiring speed and confidence than reporting sermons. The "taking" of sermons generally entails hard work and plenty of practice and perseverance. The first point is to find a clergyman who does not speak too rapidly and who speaks extemporaneously. Take with you a good supply of pencils or a good fountain pen and a note-book with a stiff cover. You will have to do your reporting on your knee and generally in a poor light. Get as close to the rostrum or pulpit as you can, and if possible obtain a seat behind a pillar, away in a corner, or somewhere beyond the "speaker's eye."
The stenographer who expects to engage in sermon reporting should study the Bible and have portions of it dictated to him frequently, so as to become familiar with the texts or quotations which afford the basis for theological discourses. "In quoting texts," says Mr. Alfred Baker, in "Reporting Hints and Practice," "do not write a long string of words, for example, 'second epistles to the Corinthians, third chapter and second verse,' but write II Corinthians, iii, 2.'" In writing well-known texts we have found that the first word or two, and the two last are sufficient to record in shorthand. Reference to the Bible should be made afterwards, when the transcript is being prepared, and the passage given in full. The sermon reporter must have at his finger ends a good stock of phrases applicable to such work. Learn how to turn over the leaves of your note-book noiselessly. If you cannot get all the sermon, get as many complete sentences as possible. If your preacher speaks too rapidly for you at the start, try again, practice the words and phrases over which you have stumbled, and be persistent.
Owing to the fact that sermons are generally delivered without a break of any sort, a sermon is one of a reporter's most difficult tasks. "Sermon reporting verbatim," writes Mr. Baker in "Reporting Hints and Practice," "for its thoroughly successful performance, calls for a high degree of phonographic skill, and for at least fair Biblical and religious knowledge; and to the conscientious reporter the task of fully reporting a preacher who is also a distinguished scholar, is not a task to be lightly undertaken. The reporter has not received the training of a doctor of divinity; the preacher has a manuscript (which is not obtainable); the sermon as delivered is not clearly audible; members of the congregation are troubled with coughs, which drown important passages—and the task assigned to the shorthand writer will put him on his mettle."REPORTING LECTURES.
The expert stenographer is sometimes called upon to report lectures, and this class of work is generally attended with considerable difficulty. Lectures are delivered on such a variety of subjects, and sometimes when given to special bodies they may present such formidable difficulties that a good report cannot be well obtained. As far as possible, it is advisable to get hold of the notes or manuscript of the lecturer, and with the aid of these and the shorthand notes a fairly good report may be prepared. We remember once having to report a lecture on music. It was purely technical, and the lecturer, who had no notes, used numerous musical terms, which he glided over with an abandon that was distressing to the reporter. Luckily the lecturer was perfectly willing to read over the transcript and correct the errors made in the reporting of the musical terms. On another occasion the lecture was illustrated by stereopticon views, and the notes had consequently to be taken in the dark.
Scientific lectures should be prepared for, if possible, by the reporter studying some handbook on the subject, and practicing outlines for the technical terms and phrases. Lectures on philosophy, electricity, medicine, surgery, sociology, music, etc., require special training, and in many cases the cooperation of the lecturer, or the report will suffer. The study and work of the reporter who lays himself open for the reporting of scientific lectures is never done, for new words and phrases are constantly occurring and demand his earnest attention. The work is arduous, but commands and deserves good remuneration.
STOCKHOLDERS' OR DIRECTORS' MEETINGS.
In reporting stockholders' and directors' meetings the first point is to secure, as far as possible, the names of those present. We have found it a good plan to make a rough plan of the room (if of course the room is not too large), jotting down the names. of those present and the places they occupy, and then to number them from right to left or vice versa. When a stockholder speaks, the reporter can glance hurriedly at his plan ard place the speaker's number opposite the shorthand notes. This will save the writing of the names each time and is especially useful at small meetings when the remarks become almost conversational.
At large meetings the name of each speaker is mentioned aloud by the chairman, and this mode of course will dispense with the necessity of a plan. It is a good idea to get a seat close to the secretary or chairman, either of whom are generally well informed as to the names of stockholders. At directors' meetings a considerable part of the report can be made up from figures and statements furnished by the officials, but where the remarks of each individual are to be furnished verbatim it will require some considerable "hustling" on the part of the reporter to get all that is said. The conversations are the most difficult to report, but even these are easier after some practice. In the majority of stockholders' and directors' meetings there arise a large number of technicalities, which should be anticipated as far as possible by reading over the previous reports, etc., if you can possibly obtain access to them, before the meeting.
POLITICAL REPORTING.
Political meetings, if the speakers are important and the newspaper is anxious to get out an immediate report, are generally reported in "takes" or "turns." A "take" may consist of from five to ten minutes reporting of the speech and then the reporter's place taken by another man, who "takes" another five or ten minutes, when he is relieved by a third man. The first man by this time has dictated his "take," or transcribed it on a machine, and is ready for another short "turn." Gradually as the speaker draws his speech to a close the length of the "take" is reduced to two or three minute turns. By the time the speaker is finished the written report is only a few minutes behind, and almost before the applause that hails the conclusion of the speech has abated, the last "take" is transcribed and rushed off to the newspaper office. There the last few words are set up in type, a casting made, rushed to the printing press, run off, and the papers are being sold on the street almost while the people are leaving the building.
This is done hundreds of times during the course of a busy political campaign, and it calls for plenty of skill and nerve on the part of the reporter. He should aim to get as close to the speaker as possible and take his notes in such a shape that he can read them with the utmost fluency, as if he does not do so he will not only upset the whole scheme of "takes," but disorganize the entire plan and delay the issue of the paper. In cases where there is not so much hurry, one reporter may take the whole of the speeches, transcribing his notes and making his report up at leisure. Speeches, though usually taken in the "first person." are generally transcribed in the "third person." This will require some training on the part of the reporter.
NEWSPAPER REPORTING.
Shorthand does not enter so much into the life of the newspaper man as might be imagined. In the main the newspapers call for a word picture of what happens in the court or at the meeting rather than a verbatim report of what was actually said. As a consequence, to the newspaper man it is more important that he should have a lively imagination rather than skill in verbatim reporting.
In interviews we have found a knowledge of shorthand useful, as public men, if their sayings are to be reported at all, desire that what they say shall be quoted exactly as they said it. There are, however, few reporters on the staffs of the daily American papers who can write shorthand, and some reporters we have met allege that when they write shorthand it deadens their imaginations and consequently they do not make such good reports. We do not agree with this statement, for we have found a knowledge of shorthand extremely useful in newspaper work on many occasions.
REPORTING DELIBERATIVE BODIES.
The highest branch of the reporting art is undoubtedly that of congressional reporting. One must be fitted for the position by good education and a complete understanding of parliamentary rules and procedure, together with a complete knowledge of the constitution of deliberative assemblies. In the United States House of Representatives and Senate the reporters have the liberty of the floor, and can pass from speaker to speaker, note-book in hand, in order to get their "turn." Each reporter follows the speaker for five or ten minutes, when his place is taken by another reporter, whose "take" is of like duration, when another relieves him. This permits each reporter to retire to the transcribing room and dictate his "take" either to a phonograph or to a typewriter operator. In the United States Senate phonographs are used largely for transcribing purposes.
In the English Parliament the reporters are not allowed on the floor of the house, but are placed in what is called the "Reporters' Gallery." No special facilities are given them for taking notes; they have to do the best they can. All are, of course, first-class stenographers and men well informed on their particular work. The session is divided into "takes" on the plan already detailed, and gradually, as the session draws to a close, the duration of the "take" is lessened so that by the time the speeches have ended the reports are in the hands of the printer.
In the United States Senate and House of Representatives the reporting is done by a staff of experts employed by the Government. In England the Parliamentary reporting, other than the newspapers, has been in the hands of an outside staff of reporters called "Hansard's," for many years, and the records are printed from the reports furnished by this staff of shorthand writers.
THE PHONOGRAPH FOR THE REPORTER.
Of late years the phonograph has been largely used in the transcribing rooms of Congress by the reporters, as well as by scores of court reporters. On returning from a "take," or "turn," the reporter goes to a phonograph and dictates into it his report as rapidly as he can read his notes. The cylinder is then taken by a typewriter operator and affixed to another phonograph. The ear pieces are adjusted, the record started and in a few minutes the "take" is written out on the typewriter ready for the press and the printer. The use of the phonograph effects great economy of time, and enables the reports to be kept almost up to the minute.
COURT REPORTING.
Under the heading "The Legal Office as a Training School," we gave some advice which should be useful to the would-be court reporter. As therein stated, the majority of court reporters attain their primary experiences in legal offices. Legal testimony requires special training in the way of phrasing, and unless the stenographer has these special outlines for the oft-repeated and rapidly uttered interrogations, he will never attain the requisite speed. In addition to taking verbatim a record of the evidence, it is important that the reporter should take complete notes of all objections and exceptions. He must also take full notes of the counsels' arguments as well as the remarks and rulings of the court. Many hours should be devoted to the practicing of taking down and transcribing testimony before venturing into court. Every legal phrase given in the text-book or phrase-book should be at your instant command. If you do not hear clearly what a witness says, ask the witness to repeat it. This is a privilege the reporter has, as it is absolutely essential that the report should be in effect a complete photograph of the proceedings. If such a complete picture is not obtained the blame lies with the reporter. Never put your own construction on what a witness said, but if he speaks indistinctly and you are not quite sure, have the testimony repeated. Insist, too, upon your seat being in such a position that you can hear clearly each witness. Practice reading every word that you write in shorthand so that when you are asked to read back any portion of the testimony you will be able to do so without the slightest hesitation or difficulty.
Make good sense of your transcript. Don't be like the Irish would-be reporter, who, when requested to read what a witness had said, hesitated a moment and then read "The first beam fell last," instead of the "first beam fell lowest."
HOW LONG?
As has already been stated, the reporter's position demands many years of persistent study and work to reach. There are, of course, exceptions, but some idea of the time occupied may be gleaned from the following extracts from a symposium entitled "How Long?" contributed to by some of the most eminent court and congressional reporters.
Mr. Jerome B. Allen, of Petoskey, Mich., a reporter in the Michigan courts, had five years of preparation. Mr. Charles E. Weller, of St. Louis, studied four years before he could report. Mr. Daniel C. McEwen, of Brooklyn, occupied about five years in preparation. Mr. W. Whitford, of Chicago, wrote and taught shorthand for five years before he was appointed official reporter. Col. E. B. Dickenson, of New York, practiced for five years previous to appointment. Mr. Theodore C. Rose, of Elmira, New York, was an assistant to a reporter for about thirteen years before he was appointed official reporter. Mr. Adelbert P. Little, of Rochester, New York, began law reporting in 1871 and was appointed court reporter in 1893—twenty-two years after. Mr. Frederic Irland, of Washington, D. C., became an official reporter to the court four years after he began to learn shorthand and official reporter to the United States House of Representatives ten years afterwards. Mr. David Wolfe Brown, of Washington, D. C., became assistant note taker, U. S. Corps, six years after commencing to study shorthand and was appointed official reporter to the United States House of Representatives ten years after that. These records speak eloquently of the time and labor necessary to reach the top rank of reporting skill. Nothing can be accomplished in a few months; it requires years of training and preparation, but the reward is worthy of the labor.
"Aim at the highest prize; if there thou fall,
Thou'll haply reach the one not far below."