Edward Livingston Youmans 75 



stuff that acquiesces in defeat. He rose superior 

 to calamity ; he won the means of livelihood, and 

 in darkness entered upon the path to an enviable 

 fame. At first he had to resign himself to spend 

 ing weary weeks over tasks that with sound eye 

 sight could have been dispatched in as many days. 

 He invented some kind of writing machine, which 

 held his paper firmly, and enabled his pen to fol 

 low straight lines at proper distances apart. Long 

 practice of this sort gave his handwriting a pe 

 culiar character which it retained in later years. 

 When I first saw it in 1863 it seemed almost un 

 decipherable ; but that was far from being the 

 case, and after I had grown used to it I found it 

 but little less legible than the most beautiful chiro- 

 graphy. The strokes, gnarled and jagged as they 

 were, had a method in their madness, and every 

 pithy sentence went straight as an arrow to its 

 mark. 



While conquering these physical obstacles Mr. 

 Youmans began writing for the press, and grad 

 ually entered into relations with leading news 

 papers which became more and more important 

 and useful as years went on. He became ac 

 quainted with Horace Greeley, William Henry 

 Channing, and other gentlemen who were inter 

 ested in social reforms. His sympathies were 



