Show THE VERTICAL SYSTEM six or seven years ago a number 0 german penmanship professors began making investigations regarding a vertical system of writing and finally ar rived at the conclusion that a round vertical handras hand was more legible and consequently could be read more rapidly than the angular slanting hand in vogue in germany at that time in 1890 a penmanship convention was called the result of which was the adoption of the vertical ay stem in the public schools of germany the excellence cel lence of the system was soon demonstrated in the public schools of that country and fiance england austria and switzerland soon tell into the vertical line in tho united states converts to the system are rapidly increasing in numbers vertical writing is not a new feature in education by any means the crude writings of the early greeks and romans are almost entirely vertical moat of the records extant from colons ial days of our awu country show writing in a round vertical hand as legible as print the health of the pupil is of primary importance and whatever tends to re tain the beautiful form in which god created man should receive our hearty support and on this ground it for no other reason the vertical system of writing should be adopted the vertical system requires a front position at tho desk arms on the desk to the el the paper par albel with the sides of the desk which necessarily brines both eyes on an equal distance from the paper and does away with squinting and consequent injury eves with a front position the shoulders are kept level there being no opportunity for one to drop lower than the other the spine is also kept in its natural position diminishing the dumber of esses of spinal disease which has pro y ailed very extensively in the united states doctors attest that where the vertical system of has been adopted the number of cases of this disease has diminished 50 per cent another fact worthy of mention is anat the vertical system deals with the same form as that used in the beginning of dr awine thereby the time in the one an will be beneficial in the other one of the objections made to the vertical system by its opponents is that it can not be written so rapidly as the slant system but those who have had experience assert that can be written with equal rapidity it was stated by mr mcewan who has bad thirty years experience experienc a as a printer that the rapid writers he had known wrote vertically or nearly so the capitals and what are sometimes known in the system as three space letters do not extend so high in the vertical system and consequently must require lesa time for formation increasing the speed correspondingly the advocates of the slant system claim that it is more beautiful than the vertical but shall beauty take precedence over legibility and speed we think not especially when it is remembered that this beauty Is accompanied with writers cramps near and spinal dia ease vertical is not a fad but has come to stay and the day is not far distant when it will ba universally adopted |