Western Penman, Vol. 2, No. 9

              VOL. 2.
CHICAGO, DECEMBER, 1885.
No. 9.
A Monthly Journal Devoted to the Interests
of Penmanship.
SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, 6oc. PER YEAR.
A. N. PALMER, Editor.
PALMER & CO., Publishers.
HOW TO LEARN.
BY  PBOF.   E.   K.   ISAACS.
Article III.
" Paralleliness !" I told you in my last
article to observe, among other things,
parallelism in writing. The proof reader
of the Westebn Penman thought he knew
more about penmanship than I did, so he
put it "paralleliness." The new word
made me angry at first sight, but after all,
there may be more chirographic signification in it than in mine; it is certainly easier
on the jaws, and then it has sueh a rippling, soothing quality. To see it, or speak
it, or hear it spoken, has the same effect on
one as does a pleasant moonlight ramble
along some gentle stream, listening to the
liquid murmur of its waters. No doubt the
reason why Webster did not use it was because he was afraid it might put him to
sleep, or make him love-sick.
But I promised to say something in this
article about
MOVEMENT.
You all know that writing is made up of
lines, and a line is usually defined as being
the path of amoving point; hence, how and
where to move that point becomes the absorbing desideratum in learning to write,
In my last article I -spoke about form
and how to learn it. I did so before saying
anything about movement, because I had
to speak of one or the other firsthand although form and movement may in one
sense be considered of equal importance,
yet it is, a fact that movement is subservient to form. You hear so much about
movement from some quarters that it is
possible that some of you have been imbued
with the idea that movement is the Alpha
and Omego of all your practice. You are
told to practice movement exercises to
develop freedom. You are even told by
some not to be so careful about the correct forms, because you lose your freedom
of movement. Well, movement is certainly
of great importance, but, nevertheless, it is
subservient to form. In learning to shoot,
do you waste time and powder in firing at
random into the air, or do you have some
object that you want to hit? Do you. learn
to sing by simply making a noise, independent of tones and tunes ? Do you ever
eat without eating something ? Movement
and movement exercises in learning to
write are of value only as they bear a di-
reot relation to form, and that relation
should be understood and appreciated by
the learner. Form is the basis of improvement, and the learner who acquaints himself thoroughly with form, and concerns
himself about form while practicing, and
then uses the proper movement in his practice, is the one, other things being equal,
who comes out the best writer.
But the proper movement, there is the
rub. I told you in my last to secure all the
back numbers of the' Westebn Penman and
read up   thoroughly   what is said   about
movement. Brother Palmer is administering doses of muscular movement to you
every month, and in the November number
he gave illustrations and directions on how
to acquire it. Now there is no mystery
about the muscular movement. Here is my
definition: The muscular movement is the
combined action of the arm, hand and fingers while writing, the arm-rest being stationary, and the hand-rest moving. It is a
very easy matter to adjust the arm and
hand in the proper position and to set them
going. Any one with but ordinary sense
and ability can learn to do that in less than
half a minute. But to learn to form the
letters well with that movement takes a
little more time. In fact, it is somewhat of
a job, but you can learn it, and to become
good business writers you must learn it.
To learn to write with the muscular movement you must practice with the muscular
movement. I have said that movement is
subservient to form, and that the mechanical part of moving the hand and arm can
be learned in less than half a minute, and
now remember that it is your business as
learner to follow directions: Learn the
form, then practice with the muscular
movement; learn the what, and the
how, then go to work! You say this is
cheap advice; that according to this it
must be a very simple thing to learn penmanship. As to the advice, it is certainly
cheap, for the Westebn Penman costs you
only 60 cents a year, and is worth ten
times that amount. As to learning penmanship, it may be a simple thing, but to
successfully master it require that quality
which in itself is the essence of simplicity,
namely, pebsevebance.
(To be continued.)