The Theory and Practice of Handwriting/Chapter 3

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The Theory and Practice of Handwriting
by John Jackson

Writing in Relation to Hygiene

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2676620The Theory and Practice of Handwriting — Writing in Relation to HygieneJohn Jackson

CHAPTER III

UPRIGHT OR SLOPING WRITING—WHICH?

If the question of Verticality or Obliquity in writing were to be decided by the considerations of Hygiene only there would be no further need of discussion. But there are various other matters which should obviously receive examination and be definitely settled ere we finally determine the kind of writing which we have to teach. In approaching this investigation it is necessary that we divest ourselves of all preconceived ideas and all personal prejudice. It is not a question of what style of writing we like best–though to hear the objections generally raised by teachers we might suppose preference and prejudice to be the only basis of judgment and decision—or even what we think best which opinions are possibly or probably based on no independent research but are rather the natural evolution of our environment.

The sole question about which we have to concern ourselves is "Which is the best? What or which is the better or best System and Style of writing? Are the down strokes to be Upright or Sloping? Shall we have Vertical or Oblique writing? If the latter what degree of slope is the best, what shall be the standard angle?"

We have already seen in Chapter I. that at present there is no agreement amongst slopers as to the preferential angle, not even a preponderance of opinion as to any one angle of obliquity, the angles in Headline Copy Books varying from 10° to 65° or even 70° from the perpendicular.

The tendency of modern thought can nevertheless be seen in the fact that the latest series of Copies slope less and less, or more nearly approach the vertical, whilst the publishers or authors base their strongest claims to public favour on this close approximation to the upright. And this is illustrated still further in the decrees of the Belgian and German Educational Cabinets which prescribe that no writing taught in the Government schools shall have a slope of more than 10° and 20° from the Vertical respectively. In order then to decide authoritatively and finally which (if either) is superior and which (if either) possesses such an excess of merit as to warrant its adoption and the ultimate condemnation and abandonment of its rival, an enquiry must be made into the very essentials or fundamentals of Good Writing.

What are the distinguishing qualities or the prime factors so to speak of a really good handwriting? In the first place it must be legible or easily read. Then it should be rapid and easily written. Moreover it must be easy to learn and easy to teach. Having already disposed of the Hygienic element we need not refer to it in this connexion at any length. The best system or style of Caligraphy then will be that which is at once the Most Legible, Most Rapid, Most Economical, and Most easy to learn, teach and produce. Of course it is taken for granted that the letters are well formed and in strict accord with the accepted principles of construction. Assuming that this definition of Good, or the Best, Writing is, if not critically the most perfect, at least generally correct and comprehensive, it is proposed to examine the two Systems on these lines and to test their individual merits by these four several standards.

First as to

Legibility:

which is the more legible, Sloping or Slanting writing? Which the more easily read? A very simple illustration will be sufficient to answer the question. In Fig. 10 there are five rows of right lines, eleven lines in each row. Now what is the optical effect produced in the observer, and what is the actual fact as regards these lines? The impression produced upon any one looking carefully at these rows is that the lines in the lowest rank are shorter than the others and that they are drawn closer together, that as we proceed upwards the lines become longer and are drawn wider apart, i.e. to base points at greater distances.

These optical effects are however delusions or deceptions

Fig. 10.

caused by the sloping nature of the strokes. For the actual fact is that the lines in all the rows are equal in length and that they are all drawn to base points equi-distant from each other as can be ascertained by verifying measurement. The impression that the sloping lines are nearer to each other than the vertical strokes is nevertheless true, but this nearness is caused not by the base points being nearer together but from the geometrical principles

Fig. 11

that govern all parallel right lines drawn vertically and obliquely to any horizontal from points equi-distant from each other, all lines approaching more nearly to one another as the slope increases until coincidence is reached at 90° from the upright. Since then it is a demonstrated law that lines are clear distinct and legible in proportion as they are separate from each other, that all lines but the vertical are more or less delusive in their effects and

Fig. 12.

that the upright lines possess a maximum of isolation or width apart, it follows both logically and geometrically that vertical writing must be the clearest and the most legible. Figs. 11 and 12 in which the words "men" and "nun" are written vertically and at ordinary slopes exhibit a fair comparison of the relative legibility of the two styles.

There can be no doubt as to the superior boldness and legibility of the Upright penmanship. The down strokes are of the same length and weight in each column but the effect is wonderfully different. It will be seen that the vertical affords much more scope for a bold and perfect outline than the oblique style can possibly admit of, and that the greater the slope, the more attenuated, the closer and more imperfect the outline. Now as enthusiasts on both sides claim superiority in Legibility one might consequently imagine that it was a matter of opinion. The foregoing remarks prove that this is not so. Our books, pamphlets, newspapers–in short literature of all kinds–are printed not in italics or sloping type but in plain, and plain because vertical, Roman upright characters. Italics and sloping script are not as legible as upright type and writing. This superior readableness of Vertical handwriting is everywhere recognised (notwithstanding the feeble protests of a small minority of too enthusiastic slopers) by the Government and Civil Service in which latter the system is becoming increasingly popular and general in every department. The instructions on Government Examination papers or in the Blue Books run as follow: "Let your writing be as bold and upright as possible." "Writing should as far as possible imitate broad printing." There can be no doubt as to the inferior plainness of sloping writing and as to the fact that Upright Penmanship has justified its claim to the maximum of Legibility.

Speed or Rate of Pen-travelling

The most rapid writers in the Western Union Telegraph Co. use the Vertical Writing because it is the most rapid and because it can be written with less fatigue than the sloping. The style is that taught by the author.

At the first glance it might be thought that sloping writing would certainly have the advantage with respect to rapidity or speed. The slanting strokes seem to be so much freer as they certainly are so much longer than the vertical, that one is inclined to think the oblique style more expeditious than the upright. When we come however to enquire into the conditions and laws which regulate and fix the rate of pen-travelling we find several considerations must enter into the discussion and that each is adverse to sloping penmanship. The conclusions of Chapter II. are both pertinent and vital to the discussion. Position or the posture of the writer is of the highest moment. A free easy and normal attitude must be more favourable to and will also secure a higher speed than a stiff, constrained and painful position could possibly permit.

If, as it has been abundantly proved, the posture in Vertical writing be free and natural whilst in Slanting writing it is twisted and awkward the question of relative speed is conclusively settled. The advantage which a natural posture offers and secures to the vertical writer must guarantee a higher rate of pen-travelling. The slanting writer is heavily handicapped and comes in a very bad second. (See pp. 23, 121, &c.)

Furthermore it is found that the strokes which a vertical writer makes in his movements with the pen are quite as easy as those made in the sloping style and far shorter, for careful calculations show that the ordinary oblique writing necessitates the pen moving over 20 to 25 per cent. more length of outline than Vertical writing of the same size, that is between the same parallels, and that it accordingly occupies that amount of extra time. A reference to Fig. 13 will make this apparent. Approximately the lengths of the continuous letters in the five lines are as 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Now unless it can be shown that ten units of work require no more time to execute or perform than six units of the same work it is obvious that Upright Penmanship must be more rapid than oblique. It is not needful to say that six miles can be much more speedily covered than ten miles, and six inches than ten inches.

This being so, the amount of waste–waste of time (of labour and material also as will be presently proved)–that is going on in the caligraphic world is a very grave consideration.

Gratifying corroboration of this proposition has reached us from the continent where extensive experiments have been made (in Vienna and elsewhere) to thoroughly test this question, a remarkable coincidence in the figures being the outcome. Dr.

Fig. 13.

Scharff conducted several contests between the two classes of writers, and states that vertical writers—the best—took 24 minutes to copy out a poem which the best sloping writers finished in 30 minutes. This ratio is about the same as that shown in the figure namely 3 or 4 to 5.

From the printed Report of the Vienna Commission the figures were slightly different, "the best verticals were 1/5 sooner or quicker than the best slopers." These experiments in Vienna were conducted by Drs. Schubert, Bayr and others.

Such a slight variance in the ratios may be and probably is owing to the short time the verticals have been writing that style. It is hardly just to institute a comparison between boys say of 15 on the one hand who have written sloping all their lives and those who of the same age have written vertically only one or two years of that period. When classes in the upper standards (the 5th or 6th year of school life) that have written vertically from the first are available, then and only then can an impartial and fair test be prescribed. Nevertheless, when under the conditions, which to Vertical writers are so unusually severe, Upright Penmanship is able to establish its superiority as to speed by a ratio of 4 to 5 or 5 to 6, the ultimate advantage to be gained by adopting the vertical system cannot be for a moment called in question.

Economy In Space, &c.

Vertical writing speaks for itself so palpably and so emphatically in this respect that it is unnecessary to linger long on the question. The sprawling, straggling scribble so common in the oblique style becomes compact and characteristic—full of individuality—in the upright. Let anyone try the experiment for himself. After repeated and various comparisons of Copy Book headlines it is ascertained that for the same or similar sized writing the vertical will yield from 30 to 60 per cent, more matter in the same space-length. Several books being tested page by page the surprising disclosure was made that where the sloping gave 20 to 25 the upright supplied 35 to 40 letters. A glance at the reduced facsimile (Fig. 14) of an ordinary page in the Upright Penmanship Copy Books will convince anyone of the advantage to be secured in space and compactness by the adoption of that system of writing. Then as to economy in ordinary correspondence and manuscript what clergyman, lawyer, merchant, student, clerk, has

Fig. 14

not resorted to the Vertical Style again and again when wishing to compress his writing into the smallest possible space?

The truth is that sloping induces and begets sprawling whilst the upright demands contraction. Take as an independent test a batch of letters brought any morning by post, counting the letters and words in an equal number of lines of about equal-sized writing in each style. Two results will ensue. The Vertically written letters will be more legible, and secondly they will contain about 40 per cent, more matter in the same space. In a word there is no question on this point of economy, as its strongest opponents have conceded the claim and advantage of Vertical Writing without an exception. Finally it must be remembered that such an economy in time and space carries with it a corresponding saving in both labour and material so that the advantage thus gained is one of great value to the community at large.

Ease in Learning, Teaching and Producing

The last quality or standard of comparison we have to examine is one of the most interesting—first to juveniles, next to teachers and thirdly to the general public. How do the several styles affect the pupil or learner, the instructor and the ordinary writer? We take the first two together. In all schools and educational establishments where any profession of teaching writing is made, the one great complaint is the insuperable difficulty in securing the right slope and in obtaining a uniform parallelism of slope. Hut there is an equal difficulty with the writers or pupils themselves, for not one teacher in a hundred is successful in obtaining satisfactory results. First there is the unnatural position of the body, sideways to the desk; next there is the awkward position of the arms, pressed close in to the side; then the hand must be twisted outwards, the pen must point inwards or over the shoulder of the writer and when all this is posed fixed and obtained (we would ask when is it obtained) then the worst trouble of all has to be faced, viz., to arrange the writing, determine its angle of obliquity, write at that angle, and maintain the angle uniformly throughout the page.

But it is a notorious fact that children naturally do and certainly will write vertically whether their teachers sanction it or not. Is it not true that pupils almost uniformly tilt up their books to an angle sufficient to give verticality (optically considered) to the down strokes, and will hold the pen as vertical writers hold it in spite of the repeated commands of their teachers to the contrary?

A pupil is restless and changes his posture or inclination to the desk and his Copy Book faithfully records the incident by a painfully apparent break in the parallelism of the writing, or he tilts his book or straightens it and the same undesirable phenomenon is presented.

In Vertical Writing none of these difficulties and anomalies distress the teacher, none of these absurdities vex the bodies and souls of our pupils.

There is no artificial or abnormal positions of head, trunk, arm, hand and pen to teach and secure, for every child will naturally assume the right posture; the book lies evenly on the desk and the writing follows the one direction of the vertical instead of the legion of angles of direction peculiar to and inseparable from the oblique. The difficulties of both teacher and pupil are reduced to the lowest and so far as they can be, writing and the teaching of writing are pleasant factors in the daily routine.

Of equal value is the consideration that this greater ease is carried outside and beyond the mere teaching and learning of the art. To the Vertical Writer no weariness or "writers' cramp" will ensue from any ordinary or even extraordinary exercise of his art. The task of writing is proceeded with under the best conditions possible and thus it comes to pass that Upright Penmanship is not only taught in about half the time that the oblique style needs, but that it makes a much smaller demand upon the energy or working power of the ordinary writer to produce.

Another element in Vertical Writing bearing on the same point is that pupils can approximate very closely to the perfection of an engraved Headline, whereas this is impossible with the Oblique Style, unless to boys and girls of exceptional imitative and mechanical ability. The effect of this possibility upon the minds of children is simply incalculable. It is stimulative to an astonishing degree as the young aspirants for caligraphic fame write with a Consciousness of Power that carries them on to certain victory but that is entirely absent when writing in the sloping style. The outcome of such a stimulus is as surprising to the scholars themselves as it is gratifying to their teachers.

A few photographed specimens of such work by pupils from 8 to 15 years of age, and having had from one to three years instruction in elementary and secondary schools, are here reproduced (see Figs. 15 to 22). It will be observed that the same wonderful uniformity, and imitation are exhibited by the youngest and the oldest alike, and also that the parallelism throughout is equally perfect, the vertical being maintained without the slightest deviation therefrom being apparent.

Reviewing the respective points in our argument we have found it demonstrated that Upright Penmanship is far more easily Read, Taught, Acquired, and Written; that it can be rapidly traced; that it is far superior in all Hygienic principles; and that in all the essential qualities which distinguish the best style or System of Handwriting it is undoubtedly superior to the Slanting method and to all forms of oblique caligraphy.

So far then, as to the direction of the writing that shall be taught, it is undeniably proved and unanimously conceded that it must be Upright and not slanting or oblique.

The advantages of Vertical Writing may be conveniently tabulated in the following form which we think covers most of the ground in the discussion. They are classified under four general heads.

(A.) Hygienic

1. The Chest: Requiring an erect posture and therefore no compression of the Chest-walls.

2. The Eyes: Exercising both eyes equally, entailing a minimum of effort thus avoiding both weak and short sight.

3. The Hand: No Writers' Cramp from twisted wrist as in Sloping Writing.

4. The Spine: Demanding a natural posture, entirely avoiding the painful distortions so productive of Spinal Curvature in Sloping Writers.

(B) Caligraphic

1. Maximum Legibility: Proved both geometrically and optically.

2. Maximum Excellence: Proved by universal experience of teachers.

3. Maximum Individuality: The greatest scope for variety being afforded.

4. Maximum Uniformity: The vertical downstroke requiring the minimum amount of imitative ability.

(C.) Economical

1. In Time: From 30 to 40 per cent, saving, Vertical Writing being more quickly written, read and taught than any slanting style.

2. In Labour: Vertical Writing is the easiest to- write and easiest to read.

3. In space: From 30 to 40 per cent, saved, as Vertical Writing is the most Compact that can be produced.

4. In Expense: Involving not only less Time Labour and Space but requiring about half to two-thirds the amount of Material used in other systems.

(D.) Educational

1. Organisation: The writers are arranged in a more orderly and systematic manner.

2. Discipline: The tendency to nudge or jolt is removed; sprawling is avoided; much disorder is thus prevented. Talking is more difficult, more easily detected and more easily suppressed