writer to save the time otherwise spent in moving through space. Another valuable expedition is to imply the preposition "to" by writing the word following it in the fourth position. The expedient of implying "of the" by juxtaposition is, I believe, taught in Isaac Pitman's textbooks; if not, it ought to be made use of by writers of that system. Isaac Pitman adheres to very full outlines, and this has led me not only to "mixing" but to "lopping off to a very considerable extent. Such words as follow, fully, always, morning, make, claim, take, people, Bible, habit, ability, about, already, between, return, witness, defendant, plaintiff, etc., etc., have gradually been cut down to one-consonant strokes, not in every case "adopted" from other existing systems; in some cases a short cut has been invented. And this lopping-off and exchanging process should be in the imperfect tense; it should denote continued action, and be employed every time an opportunity presents itself to improve an outline. In this way the writer has cut down the following combinations in the manner described, to wit: "By return mail" bret ml. \; "real estate" rl ste. ; "have all been" vln. ; "this morning" smn. 2; "what's the matter" Isaac Pitman writers can, with perfect safety, adopt Graham's “rel" hook, and also the "ler' hook if they will observe the precaution of shading the "q" hook on "k" and "g", using the enlarged (Graham) "ler" hook initially and the Isaac Pitman "ler" stroke finally, as a rule. For instance: "Clear"; "clerk" "; "control" "`; “apparel” \\1; “barrel" "tailor"; "antler"; "butler"> "chloroform' 2 Isaac Pitman recommends the tick' "he" only when joined to other words finally, and uses the downward "h" stroke when the pronoun is used initially in a phrase. Experience shows that the tick will serve to advantage on all occasions. Examples; "He is"; "he can"; "he will"; "he would" 5. When used in connection with perpendicular strokes it can be made horizontal. Examples; "He did" 1; "he had" ]; "he died" ; "he knows". This will not conflict with the same tick denoting the indefinite article. The lengthening principle, which is a great saver of time and imparts grace to notes, can be employed far more extensively than Mr. Pitman recommends; likewise the halving principle. Many more expedients thus culled from other systems could be mentioned here, but the object of this article is rather to point out to Isaac Pitmanites how to obtain the means for abbreviating outlines and increasing speed, than to lay down minute and detailed directions for so doing. Nearly all the expedients offered in "Dement's Suggestions and Reporting Notes" can be adapted to Isaac Pitman principles with great advantage. The writer has taken great pains, and spent much labor in the attempt to bring her outlines down into a range that will insure the speed necessary for verbatim reporting, and offers these suggestions (all of which are based upon actual experience and practice) in the hope that they will prove helpful to Isaac Pitman writers who desire to increase their speed to a higher rate than a strict adherence to their system would enable them to attain, and in the further hope of inculcating in them a desire for investigating other systems, in order that they may lay hold on the helps they may find in them. ANDREW J. GRAHAM. T BY L. E. GREENE. HE little town of Orange in New Jersey, the home of Andrew J. Graham, may justly be regarded as the Mecca of that very considerable portion of the shorthand profession who write Standard Phonography. I visited New York a few weeks ago, and called at Mr. Graham's office hoping to see him, but learned that he could only be seen at his home in Orange whither he had retired from the busy field in which for so many years he was such a conspicious and active worker. I then decided to make a pilgrimage to Orange. A delightful ride of less than an hour brought me to my destination, and I had the pleasure of grasping the hand of him whose accomplishments, wonderful industry and indomitable purpose, have wrought more towards the perfection of shorthand than those of any other man. I spent two hours with Mr. Graham at his cosy home, and parted from him regretfully. He is the kind of man whom anyone interested in the development of shorthand writing would gladly listen to for hours. A man of broad intelligence, he is at home in many fields of learning, but his magnum opus is shorthand and it is of shorthand that he loves best to speak. I expected to find a good deal of austerity about him. He has been for the last twenty-five years so consistent and so intrepid an advocate of his system or style of shorthand, so vigorous in his denunciation of principles inconsistent with those set forth in his own works, that I naturally supposed him to be a man of some reserve. However, it is not so. I had misjudged him. The cordial greeting he gave me, the affability of his manner, his genial. smile, are in nowise associated with ascerbity. Mr. Graham is much above medium height and before he became a sufferer from disease must have weighed 200 pounds. He wears a full beard. His forehead is high and broad, and his features regular. He is a man of fine appearance, such a man as one will see and remember. For some years he has not been perfectly well, and, suffering as he does from writer's cramp, he has had to give up writing and other business cares and retire to his home for that rest and enjoyment which he so richly deserves. Naturally he has not ceased to love shorthand and to do all he can to promote the interests of the beautiful system, formed by his brain and hand. With an abundant fund of information and reminiscence at his command, it is not surprising that my two hours' chat with him was so brief. I count no other two hours of my life equally well spent. The fact that Mr. Graham was in his day one of the most accomplished (if not the most accomplished), phonographers in the east is in a measure explained by the remarkable amount of practice to which he subjected himself. He patiently wrote through volume after volume, including the Bible, works of history, science philosophy, and indeed everything which could give him shorthand practice and at the same time enlarge that general store of information so essential in professional reporting. I feel sure that back of this rigorous course of discipline, Mr. Graham had fine natural aptitude for fast writing, so that it is not remarkable that even with the imperfections and extended outlines of the eigth and ninth editions of the Old Phonography, he became a reporter of superior ability. No man who has taken the trouble to understand Standard Phonography and who has seen Mr. Graham's reporting notes taken in his own style of shorthand, can well doubt that he became a better reporter, with his own system than under his old one. I was much interested in his account of his early shorthand life, and the circumstances which led up to his construction of a style which would make possible the reporting of the fastest speakers. He had given himself up to consecrated practice and after years of such drill he became satisfied that the style of shorthand he wrote was not equal to the strictest requirements of actual reporting. Though beset by many difficulties, he had constructed a system with a view to the briefest possible outlines consistent with philosophical principles. The system had been tried by many and it had fully vindicated itself in the most difficult works. Some charged that his system was harder to learn than some others. If this were true, the higher degree of skill afforded by the system was more than commensurate with the extra labor required to learn the brief reporting outlines and the principles governing contractions. I regret that I cannot give more in detail Mr. Graham's views upon matters pertaining to shorthand, for I am sure they would be of general interest to the readers of THE NATIONAL STENOGRAPHER. Who could ask for a better monument of his life-work than to leave behind him a set of publications which unfold a beautiful system of shorthand, as logical in arrangement and as nearly invulnerable to criticism as Standard Phonography? |