Show CIRCUS WRITING Simple Characters For Carrying on n Private Correspondence Why Hutold und Alice Used a Cypher BY J C BEARD CoyprightPd 1896 by J C Beard Alice and Harold had been In a state of great perplexity and trouble and I may be truthfully added of exasperation exaspera-tion at the conduct of a young visitor who was spending the autumn with them Miss Pauline Pryor Miss Paul Pry Harold called her This girl who was a little older than Alice was of such a prying and inquisitive disposition disposi-tion that the children found It impossible im-possible to keep their affairs to themselves them-selves even the notes and letters they received from their boy and girl companions com-panions were whenever a opportunity opportun-ity offered in common with all other letters that came to he house opened and read The regular mail Harold protected by repairing the lock on the letter box but their own little notes from their schoolmates delivered irregular ir-regular intervals and placed on the mantle for them was another thing They knew if the matter came t the ears of the older people Miss Pauline would have a very bad quarter of an hour and perhaps be sent back In disgrace to her home in Connecticut The girl was a pleasant companion and her conduct seemed unobjectionable every respect but this The children would have been very sorry to have seen her punished Perhaps they were wrong under the circumstances to hold their tongues but they erred on the right side for it is not without reason that ail wholesome children despise a telltale They hit as they thought on a better plan and I turned out to be no end of fun The young folks had been very much A il 5 r u 4 6 C 0 f G 4 < r 1 m r r I N J ieSJi c i f Q R 5 4T 0 Jtv I 0 V fJ W ff Sri f f r i Y z r j ALPItVKCT AND VOWELS 1 Indians n explained by a lecturer in the town hail and still more interested in a circus performance that took place shortly afterwards Inspired by the suggestions from these two entertainments entertain-ments they Invited a picture writing of their own which might well have puzzled an expert in deciphering cryptographic cryp-tographic or secret writing mainly perhaps per-haps because the alphabet used does not suggest writing at all but looks like a wonderful fanago of childrens sketches Pauline might now inspect their notes and letters l a much as she liked and that she did somay be gtere from the fact that she believed be-lieved the children of the village had gone perfectly insane about circuses and that she shouldnt at all wonder i they rah away and joined one for they were continually sending each other the most absurd sketches of ground and lofty tumbling and impossible impos-sible horsemanship The alphabet that puzzled Miss Pauline Pau-line is here given The horses represent repre-sent the vowels and the performers the consonants following them sometimes two at a time as wh upon i in which and sometimes three as thr in throw When the consonants in a word arenot preceded by vowels they have to go on foot No word can be written or rather sketched that does not present some complete a which of course is infinitely varied as the letters occur indifferent in-different order The horses and per fcirmers consisting as they do of a few simple strokes of the pen or pencil skill In certainly require no greater sldl drawing than all clhildres naturally possess or with the least possible practice prac-tice may acquire and yet they may be full of character and suggest form and action much more eranhically than might be supposed from the rude simplicity sim-plicity of the lines upon which they are constructed Of course the childrens correspondents correspond-ents were each and all furnished with a copy of the alphabet which indeed became s popular in the little town in which Alice and Harold resided that all places available for the purpose in the neighborhood began to exhibit so many of these strange hieroglyphics tat the townspeople began to think some traveling circus had taken this novel mode of advertising its coming Of course it Is easy to form similar alphabets introducing elephants camels cam-els in short all sorts of animals but the advantage of one similar t this is first its simplicity second that it presents no difficulty making the characters char-acters and lastly each word forms an act or complete picture in itself |