PENMANSHIP

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 195, 7 November 1927, Page 13

PENMANSHIP

Famous Bad Writers BRAINS TOO FAST As a rule, authors are extremely bad writers from the point of view of penmanship, and in this respect literary geniuses are said to outdo their more humble brethren of the pen. An American professor has put forward the theory that bad writing is due to the brain working more quickly than the muscles which hold the pen. There is probably some truth in this theory, but it is pointed out in the excellent miscellany column, of the “Manchester Guardian” that the legibility of an author’s handwriting depends to a great extent on whether the author was trained in careful penmanship before he began to write books. For instance, Mr. Arnold Bennett writes a very dainty, legible hand, but Mr. Bennett began to earn his living in a solicitor’s office, where legible handwriting was indispensable. Mr. Thomas Hardy and Mr. K. G. Wells also write very legibly, for Mr. Hardy was an architect before he was an author, and Mr. Wells served in a draper’s shop, where he was compelled to write legibly. Lord Oxford and Lord Birkenhead, who nave been trained in the law, and have recently blossomed forth as authors, both write clearly. “Authors usually get careless because they have no superior to answer to, whereas employees must not only attend to what they write, but also to how they write it,” states the writer of miscellany. Startled “Comp.” Carlyle, Nathaniel Hawthorne, R. L. Stevenson, Sydney Smith, Andrew Lang, and 'President Roosevelt all wrote badly. There is a story about a compositor in a London printing office, who, when he was given some of Carlyle’s M.S. to set up, exclaimed: “Good ! Is this chap down in London? I came away from Edinburgh in order to escape him!” Sydney Smith admitted that his handwriting* looked as if a swarm of ants had escaped from an inkwell and crawled over the paper. It is said that some of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s M.SS. remain unpublished to this day, because nobody can make head or tail of the handwriting. Stevenson used to rewrite his stories laboriously from his original ]VLSS., so that editors would be able to read them. The introduction of the typewriter has probably had the effect of increasing the number of bad writers in the world, because it has made legible penmanship of little account. But the writing machine has been a great boon to people who have to deal with business correspondence, and an even greater boon to the compositor who has to set up M.SS.

Handwriting Puzzles Many good stories have peen told about the mistakes that have arisen through misreading illegible writing. Horace Greely, a famous American journalist, in the days of the Civil War, had a well-earned reputation as the most illegible writer on the American Press. There were many stories told about the illegibility of his handwriting, but one of the best of them j concerns the invitation sent to him ! to address the lowa Press Association. He wrote in reply to the invitation: \ “I have waited till longer waiting would be discourteous, only ‘to find that I cannot attend your Press meeting next June, as I would like to do. I find so many cares and duties pressing on me that, with the weight of years, I feel obliged to decline any invitation that takes me a day’s journey away from .home.” No member of tlie lowa Press Association was able to decipher the letter, but a joint effort on the part of several members produced the following result: “I have wondered all along whether any squirt has denied the scandal about the President meeting Jane in the woods on Saturday. I have hominy, carrots, and R.R ties more than I could move with eight steers. Any insinuation that brick ovens are dangerous to hams gives me the horrors."

America’s Worst Joaquin Miller, the poet t»r the Sierras, who died in 3 913 at the age of 73, after a varied career as a gold miner, soldier, A ntember of Indian tribes on the Pacific Coast, barrister, judge* and iournalist* succeeded Hoi-

ace Greely as America’s worst writer. According to a story that has deservedly survived him, he was invited to take part in a festive celebration, but no one connected with the association which was organising the celebration could make out enough of his fourpage letter to be able to say whether he had accepted the invitation. A reply was sent to him expressing regret that this point had not been cleared up, and adding: “If you will be present on the date mentioned, will you kindly make a cross on the bottom of this letter; if it will be impossible for you to come, will you kindly draw a circle?” .The letter came back with the sign appended according to request. but whether Joaquin Miller intended to be present at the celebration was still uncertain, for opinions among those who inspected the sign were divided as to whether it was intended for a cross or a circle.