256 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



LESSONS IN PENMANSHIP. XXXII. 



LEGAL HANDWRITING. II. 



A.S a useful supplement to our last lesson in Penmanship, in 

 which we gave the student an example of engrossing-hand, with 

 a. few brief hints on the method of holding the pen, and the 

 general principles on which the letters were formed, we now give 

 him a complete set of the capitals and small letters used in 

 German text-hand. These alphabets will prove useful to the 

 young law-writer, or any one who is endeavouring to acquire a 

 style of handwriting suitable for a law stationer's office, since, 

 from these letters as copies, it is possible to write in the proper 

 manner any word occurring in any deed or legal document in 

 German text-hand, such aa the word "Whereas," at the com- 



er all the letters of the alphabet except five, the same form of 

 letter serving for I and J. The third and fourth strokes 

 namely, the thin perpendicular stroke, and the thicker horizontal 

 stroke in the centre of the letter are of little importance. The 

 fifth stroke, at the top of the letter to the right, is merely a 

 repetition of the second stroke on a smaller scale, while the 

 sixth is a modification of the second, entering in this modified 

 form into the composition of the letters A, M, N, and TJ. 



The left-hand portion of the letter B is somewhat similar to 

 the left-hand half of A, except that the first stroke terminates 

 to the right of the second, instead of passing under it to the left 

 and finishing in a full point. The brace to the right of the letter 

 B occurs again, with a little difference in the termination at the 

 bottom, in the letters K and B,, and even in Q. The upper 



I. GERMAN TEXT-HAND CAPITAL LETTERS. 



menoement of the first line of the piece of writing given as a 

 specimen of engrossing-hand in our last lesson. (See page 208.) 

 Let us look first through the capital letters, and note the 

 strokes that occur most frequently in their composition. In our 

 ordinary writing alphabet of capital letters, almost every letter 

 is formed by a succession of strokes that run into one another, 

 up-stroke into down-stroke, and down-stroke into up-stroke, 

 without a break. In the capitals in German text-hand, on the 

 contrary, each letter is formed of three or more strokes, which 

 are connected, it is true, but which are formed separately as a 

 succession of independent strokes, some of which are brought 



part of the brace in each letter is a modification of the second 

 stroke in A, and the lower part in K and B is also a modifi- 

 cation of the same stroke. The lower part of the brace in B is 

 found in the first stroke in A. In C we find that the left-hand 

 part of the letter is a stroke like a crescent, which occupies the 

 same position, with very nearly the same form, in the letters 

 G, O, Q, and T. The long thick stroke that forms the top 

 and front of the letter D may be also traced in O, Q, and X. 

 The horizontal curved stroke, commencing with a hair-stroke, 

 and terminating abruptly in a broad-stroke, which forms the 

 bottom of the letter D, is found again in the letters F, H, I, 



II. GERMAN TEXT-HAND SMALL LETTERS 



into contact in some letters, while in others there is no connect- 

 ing link whatever between the component parts. 



The letter A is formed of six separate strokes, omitting to 

 count as a stroke the fine diagonal line at the bottom of the 

 large curved stroke to the right of the letter, since it may be 

 added without lifting the pen from the paper. The first stroke 

 is a curve almost circular in form, drawn from left to right, 

 commencing with a hair-stroke, widening in the middle into a 

 broad stroke, made by exerting a gradual pressure on the pen, 

 narrowing once again into a hair-stroke, and terminating in a 

 full point. This stroke, with slight modifications, enters into 

 the composition of A, B, H, M, N, P, B, S, TT, V, W, and 

 Y, nearly half the letters of the alphabet. The second stroke, 

 which comes immediately under the first stroke in A, crossing 

 it a little to the right of the full point, is a curved stroke drawn 

 down with a slight inclination from left to right. It is found 

 larger or smaller, according to circumstances, in A, B, C, E, 

 F, GK H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, S, T, TT, V, W, and Y, 



K, B,, S, V, and X. The long serpentine stroke which forms 

 the bbttom of the letter E is also used for the bottom of the 

 letter L. A modification of it is found in the stroke that forms 

 the top of the letter T, and in the top and bottom of the letter 

 Z, which resembles the form ordinarily used in writing to 

 represent this letter. 



By paying attention to this analysis of the strokes used in the 

 formation of the capital letters of German text-hand, the student 

 will soon get into the habit of shaping his letters regularly, and 

 with that degree of uniformity that is so necessary if the writer 

 wishes to make a good display in this kind of writing. He may 

 make for himself, if he will, an analysis of the small letters, 

 noting first of all that the strokes in the small letters commence 

 and terminate, for the most part, in square blunt ends, bending 

 right or left from the perpendicular down-stroke that enters so 

 largely into their composition, and that these square ends are 

 mostly finished with a fine diagonal line trending upwards from 

 left to right. 



