T would seem to the writer that extraordinary apathy is manifested on the part of ministers, doctors and scientific people generally, concerning everything appertaining to stenography, and their duty towards those who practice it. This indifference is as unaccountable as it is inexcusable, and it is humbly suggested that something be done.

To illustrate, many a time and oft does the calm and mild eyed expounder of holy writ endeavor to convince a certain limited class of the error of their ways; frequently do we sit in the house of worship and listen to the terrible denunciations hurled at the saloon-keeper from the pulpit; we wonder to see the feeble and white-haired old pastor deal the Bible such vigorous blows, while, with flashing eye and frame erect, he pictures with distinctness the pleasures and comforts that will be lacking in the place where all rumsellers are sure to go. All the oratory and eloquence for generations past have been brought into requisition to convince the whiskymerchant that his future abode will be worse than this; but what ministerial energy has ever been expended on stenographers as a class? There are just as many of them, their souls are just as valuable, and, in a very few isolated instances, perhaps, just as much in need of spiritual counsel. Mahomet knew how to induce the dwellers in sun-baked, waterless Arabia to flee from the wrath to come. He placed a cool, shady river in the Mohammedan heaven, while in the other place (not to call bad names when it can be avoided) the souls of the dusky sons of the desert writhed in the tortures of eternal thirst. So, our clergymen of the present day, by studying shorthand a few weeks could gain enough of an insight into the profession, so that they might, with the aid of a very little eloquence, depict a stenographers' hell that the stenographic soul would shudder at.

In the humble opinion of the writer, however, it would take less knowledge of the art and a great deal more eloquence to describe heaven as a desirable place for the stenographer to go, if shorthand had anything to

Copyright, 1890. All rights reserved.

do with it. Much more might be said in regard to the listless attitude of the world to the present importance of the devotees of the mystic art, but this article is intended to be merely suggestive, not exhaustive.

Let us for a moment take a glance, cursorily, as it were, and necessarily brief, but as comprehensively as our limited space will permit, into the disastrous effects of this inattention on the part of other professions, if persisted in. There are hundreds, yes, thousands, of young men and young ladies in this country at the present day who spend two-thirds of their waking hours in either making, or earnestly contemplating, characters that are more or less crooked; usually more. The other one-third of the time is, by a large majority of this multitude, occupied in a manner that, to the uninitiated, is not only utterly incomprehensible, but somewhat indicative of complete idiocy; but the uninitiated are mistaken, though perhaps excusable, as the individual's appearance would naturally produce that impression; but when a young lady is seen with lips slightly (or more) parted; vacant countenance; body motionless; unwinking eyes, wide open and stationary, gazing straight ahead at an upward slant of about two-hundred feet to the mile; animation apparently totally suspended, except now and then a spasmodic twitching of the index finger of the right hand; she is, symptoms to the contrary notwithstanding, hard at work making phrase-signs, that is, inventing other and still more crooked characters that will, in all probaibility, require still more earnest contemplation sometime in the near future.

Now, the occupation of the mind so exclusively, constantly and entirely with such a vast amount of crookedness must, of necessity, have a marked and startling effect upon the physical organization of future generations. This principle has been well known since Jacob got rich raising ring-streaked and striped cattle at Laban's expense. Surely, then, the coming stenographer, according to the well established laws of heredity, will be fearfully and wonderfully made; and the writer is apprehensive (perhaps unnecessarily) that the medical fraternity, ignorant of shorthand as they at present undoubtedly are, would be lamentably incompetent to put needed repairs upon such a frame as will, inevitably, belong to the next generation of stenographers.

The phrenologist will freely admit, and even assert, that the merchant will be called upon within the next few years for a hat to fit a head that is slightly out of proportion, by reason of certain bumps being abnormally developed.

But enough has been said, it is thought, to arouse any thinking man or woman into instant action; therefore, these few crude remarks will now come to an abrupt termination after saying just a word to the members of the profession, both male and otherwise, wheresoever dispersed around the globe.

Listen! do not allow this matter to rest here. Your duty to your

children demands that you should talk and write and act on this subject, until you impress somebody with the idea that something must be done. A near relative of yours, in the not distant sometime, may, because unable to secure a position as stenographer, be obliged to act as a hat-rack in a public school.

A LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

BY W. A LALOR.

RECENT experience in an endeavor to secure, at a fair salary, a competent stenographer, who, in addition to nimble fingers, had some capacity of brain, has induced me to address you this letter that you may give the information publicity that young men can secure fairly renumerative positions provided they are willing to devote some little time and careful attention to perfecting themselves in stenography and typewriting; also provided they have ordinary intelligence, i. e., the intelligence of the average clerk, by the side of whom they would be working in an office. From this I would not have it understood for a moment that there is not a large number, a very large number, indeed, of stenographers without positions; but among all the applicants, and we had over fifty, there were not more than two or three who, in addition to being able to write shorthand at a fair speed, could, with anything like rapidity, transcribe their notes on the typewriter, and of those few who could transcribe their notes more rapidly there were but two who wrote a reasonably good hand. Of those two, one already had a position which paid him seventy-five dollars per month; the other one, for personal reasons, was unreliable. To all who had not mastered the shorthand or typewriting, or who were very poor penmen, I called attention to their weak spots, and suggested that they make particular effort to improve in that direction; and even went so far in one case as to give the applicant a ten days trial. This person was of prepossessing appearance and very anxious to please. His hand-writing was passable, his shorthand good, but his speed on the typewriter slow. While he seemed very anxious to please, he did not make any effort to improve his speed on the typewriter, and, of course, I had to let him go.

This is written for the reason that, in conversation with many of these shorthand writers and a very large number of other young men who almost daily apply for clerical positions in the office, I learn what leads me to believe that the average young man is ambitious to succeed, but has not the desire to undertake some specialty, and, by persistent hard study and work, perfect himself in that branch; but that he would rather do what he is compelled to, and idly dream of greatness to be attained in the future, like Micawber's "when something turns up."

A large number of young men in small towns and cities have a great desire to come to a large city and make something of themselves. To such as come, expecting to commence their business career in clerical positions in an office, I would strongly advise that, if they are firmly determined to succeed in that line, they first perfect themselves in shorthand and typewriting, and then apply for any of the numerous positions which are daily advertised in the city papers as being open to competent stenographers. It is a great mistake to suppose that the shorthand market is overrun with good shorthand men; they are the hardest kind of clerks to obtain. A good stenographer, on the contrary, cannot be obtained for anything less than sixty dollars a month, and from that the salaries range upward. Thus, you can say to the average young man in a small town whose ambition is to commence life in a clerical position in a large town, if he will devote a little time to careful, conscientious, hard study to perfecting himself in shorthand and typewriting, he can obtain a position in the city at from ten to twenty-five dollars a month more than his equally talented brother who has not the persistence or inclination to devote his time to the study of shorthand and typewriting. This may be a point which you have brought up before, or about which you have written. If you have, let it drop. If you have not, I can assure you it is a good point. The young men in the country receive ideas from irresponsible and misguided persons that this or that particular line of business is overrun. Now, personal experience has taught me that the particular line of business of which I am speaking, shorthand and typewriting, is decidedly not overrun by competent applicants for positions. Right here I want to explain, also, that it is a mistake to suppose that the fact that a stenographer is a good one, will confine him to that particular line of business for his future. In fact, an employer's attention is more likely to be attracted by the unusual usefulness and the many little ways by which the stenographer can look out for his interests in one direction or another, owing to the intimate acquaintance with his (employer's) business, derived from the close relation which is sustained with his employer in the transaction of that business by correspondence. The stenographer gains the benefit of his employer's ideas which are based on that employer's business experience; and, if he be an observing fellow, he will find that the experience derived from the handling of his employer's correspondence, intelligently, that is, not the mere writing of his letters and messages, but the understanding of the situations which caused those letters and messages to be written, will make him a very valuable man and will place him in the line for promotion; every employer, realizing that, if he has talent in his employ, the most certain way to make a success for himself is to make the utmost possible use of that talent. This, in itself, contradicts a false notion that is prevalent, that if a stenographer be a good man he is kept at his work, and

is thereby deprived of opportunities for promotion which come to clerks in another line in the same office. The stenographer should, if he avails himself of his opportunities, have the best general knowledge of how to handle the business; and, having that knowledge, if he is bright, capable and obliging, and not afraid to work when called upon, even though it does interfere with some private engagement, that stenographer is booked for a success, and you can depend upon it.

I am not a crank on this subject, but I want to give, through you, to the young men, a correct idea of the situation as relates to employment in this particular line, which I think the majority of them do not now have.

TRANSCRIBING.*

BY C. H. MC CULLOUGH.

WOULD liken the shorthand student to the builder of an arch who day by day puts forth his exertions to rear a bow of masonry that shall be at once substantial and beautiful. Stone by stone finds its alloted place until at last there is but one block of polished granite to fit in place, and that block is the keystone. So is it with the student of phonography who labors to gain a knowledge of shorthand-we see the arch he is rearing grow little by little until the time comes to place in position the phonographic keystone and that keystone is the correct transcript.

The whole object of shorthand writing is to save time and to convey to paper that which will have to be transcribed into longhand. The ability to write shorthand is but a side issue in the qualification of the phonographerthe only adequate test of fitness being indicated by their reading and transcribing of what has been written.

Right here I would like to draw our attention to the difference between a shorthand writer pure and simple, and a stenographer, which by the way is the same as that existing between the book-keeper and the accountant. Brevity being the soul of wit, you will, I trust, pardon me for a somewhat abridged definition of these terms. The shorthand writer-much shorthand, little brains. The stenographer-much brains, little shorthand.

The shorthand writer takes down anything and everything, be the mistakes few or many, and turns out his transcript accordingly. The stenographer, while he may take down every word, exercises judgment in rendering an intelligent transcript. The shorthand writer hears the words; the stenographer, in addition to this, grasps the intent of those words. The simple little monosyllables, "oh, no and yes," under a variety of circumstances, convey a far different meaning to the mind of the stenographer than

*Read at Canadian Shorthand Society convention, Toronto, August 30, 1890.