AN ARGUMENT FOR VERTICAL HANDWRITING. 93 



it, and is forced to wield his pen more swiftly than before. Is it 

 to be wondered at that children, struggling against these two dif- 

 ficulties at once, show poorer penmanship, as a rule, the first year 

 after dropping double-lined paper than at the end of the first year 

 of school life ? 



Some educators say that vertical writing is a " fad " that will 

 run its race and die like all fads ; but there is this important fact 



Unhygienic position. 



BACK VIEW. 



Hygienic position. 



to be noticed, that they never have tried it themselves, and, be- 

 cause it is new, therefore it must be fleeting. Grant them that 

 vertical writing is not more legible, more easily taught, and more 

 rapidly written than sloping writing, all false as false can be, the 

 simple fact that it puts the pupil in a perfect position in regard 

 to the spine and the eyes is bound to win its way into popular 

 favor. Vertical writing has come to stay. 



THE porcupine, which was living fifty years ago in Andalusia and Estrema- 

 dura, Spain, has wholly disappeared from these provinces. The ichneumon, Me- 

 loncillo, which was formerly common in many places, has become very rare. The 

 Magot monkey is preserved at Gibraltar with much difficulty by frequent renew- 

 ing of its blood. The Meloncillo ichneumon was a favorite animal with the Span- 

 iards before the domestic cat was introduced, and is still, according to Sefior 

 Regnera, greatly esteemed by the inhabitants of the Sierra Morena. 



