of time or from disinclination, are unwilling to study it. It is to be hoped, however, that by the exertions of phonographers, the entire community will be brought to fully appreciate the advantages of phonetic shorthand; that it will be taught in our schools; and that a knowledge of it will be considered an indispensable part of education. But that some do not, or will not, understand and enjoy the benefits of our favor ite art is not sufficient reason for leaving them to the waste of time and energy consequent upon the use of the unabbreviated longhand. For such we would provide a system of longhand contractions and expedients, believing that we should confer a blessing upon our race just to the extent that we saved it from an unnecessary waste of time and effort. A great time and labor saving invention, like the steam-engine or telegraph, is equal, in the history of the race, to the growth and progress of a century; and all economizers of time and labor should be accepted as blessings, whether they come up to our standard or not; and if the public will not use the best time-saver in writing, they should be allowed to employ the one to which they are inclined by their prejudices, necessities, tastes, or habits." OF THE DIFFERENT STYLES OF BRIEF LONGHAND, AND THEIR SAVING. From a careful estimate, it appears that by the use of the Second Style of abbreviated longhand a saving of more than thirty per cent. is effected. A saving of ten per cent. is secured by the use of ten of the contractions of the First Style. The use of the contractions and principles of contractions, of the Third Style, results in a saving of fifty per cent.; and yet the legibility is so slightly impaired by judicious contractions, that even the Second Style may be read with ease after a very few minutes' study. A manuscript in the Second Style was read at sight by a young lad, a "reader" in the office where this work is stereotyped. The First Style, which makes a saving of more than fifteen per cent., may be used, without endangering legibility, in all ordinary correspondence; and the Second Style may be employed, with as much safety as the unabbreviated style, in all correspondence between persons acquainted with the system; and so legible is it, that printers will ill deserve the vast amount of business they owe the literary world, if they should refuse to authors the privilege of employing this style in their " copy." The Third Style is designed for use in all cases where legibility is secondary to the saving of time and labor; as in copying letters; in making abstracts of, and quotations from, works read; in rough-sketching business and literary papers, and in taking notes of testimony, lectures, sermons, etc. USES OF BRIEF LONGHAND FOR EDITORS AND REPORTERS. If the compositors employed on newspapers were acquainted with the Second Style of brief longhand, a large amount of all the labor now required in the way of editing, and reporting for, a newspaper might be saved; and it is doubted that any serious difficulty will be experienced in availing of this economy. Every intelligent compositor would willingly accede to a request to set from abbreviated " copy;" and little regard should be had for that stupid compositor who would be so unjust as to require that a corps of editors and reporters should be burthened with one third more of mere manual drudgery than is necessary rather than that he should make a slight intellectual effort for the acquisition of the rinciples of abbreviated longhand. Reporters especially should not be content till they are permitted to avail themselves of so reasonable a means of lessening the excessive burthen of their profession as the employment of brief longhand in transcribing their reports. If this privilege should not be conceded at once to them,-perhaps, in due time, compositors will learn how much better it would be to set from plainly written abbreviations than from the illegible writing to which reporters must oftentimes be compelled to resort. USES OF BRIEF LONGHAND WITH RESPECT TO PHONOGRAPHY, It is not intended that this system of contractions shall conflict with, or supplant, phonography. On the other hand it is expected that it will prove valuable to phonographers in saving them, to a considerable extent, from the drudgery of longhand writing in all cases where its use is necessary. Moreover, brief longhand, by accustoming the public to stenographic principles, and showing their value in economizing time and labor, will induce a state of affairs which will powerfully favor the general introduction of phonetic shorthand, which is nearly as legible as print, and whose use will effect a saving of eighty per cent. of the time and labor required with the employment of unabbreviated longhand. For these reasons phonographers are invited to aid in extending a knowledge of brief longhand wherever a reception of phonography can not be secured. Perhaps it will not be inexpedient for phonographic teachers to consider how they may make brief longhand contribute to the success of their efforts in behalf of phonetic writing and printing. BRIEF LONGHAND. FIRST, OR CORRESPONDING, STYLE. § 1. Word-Sign, Sign-Word.-The contractions employed in Brief Longhand are denominated Word-Signs, while the words represented by them are called Sign-Words. FOR is a sign-word, and ƒ, the letter employed for it, is a word-sign. § 2. The Mark of Elision is a light horizontal stroke (-). For the purpose of distinction, the hyphen, in writing, should be made double, thus =. REM. 1. For convenience of speech the mark of omission may be called the Elision, just as we apply the term Apostrophe to the mark (') used to indicate an apostrophe, or the omission of a letter. § 3. In the lists of word-signs, a word is occasionally printed with a hyphen, thus, be-en; with a double letter; thus, has; or, with both a hyphen and double letters; thus no-t; to intimate that the corresponding word-signs represent be and been; has and have; no, not, and nor The context will clearly show which word is intended. § 4. LIST OF WORD-SIGNS OF THE CORRESPONDING STYLE. = § 6. Word-Signs used for Prefixes and Affixes.-A word-sign may be employed either as a prefix or affix, when confusion would not result from such use; thus, bcause because, bf: before, wherev = = wherever, wnev= whenever, whev whichever, wtev whatever, wout without, wi= within, neveless = nevertheless, nwstanding=notwithstanding.' = = for With and for-e when prefixes or affixes should, as a general rule, be elevated; thus, wdraw withdraw, herew herewith, get : get, fg forgive, heret heretofore.' = = In, when a prefix, should usually be written in full. When a portion of a compound word, it may be represented by i joined to the other portion or portions; thus, 'it = into, izmuch = inasmuch, wi= within, herei herein, hereit hereinto.' Greater clearness may occasionally result from disjoining or elevating in; thus, 'w i or w1: = within.' Under, when a prefix, should always be elevated; thus, "stand : understand, "go undergo.' = § 7. Plurals, Possessives, etc.-S may be added to a word-sign to indicate the plural number or possessive case of a noun, or the third person singular of a verb in the present tense; thus, 'bj,' object; 'bjs,' objects; 'g,' give; 'gs,' gives. The syllable -ing may be marked after a word-sign by ng; thus, bng = being, gng=giving. § 8. Cautions.-Write the word-signs clearly distinguish between r, v, and o; c, e, and a; g, y, and q; n and u. The best form for 'z' is z. Avoid flourishes: they are not in good taste, waste time, and endanger legibility. In this style, no words should be contracted, except those given in the preceding list. $9. Use of the Exercises.-The Reading Exercises should be read and re-read till perfect familiarity is acquired with the word-signs occurring in them. The reading exercises of the second and third styles are accompanied by keys, which serve the purpose of writing exercises. The reading exercises having been read several times, the student should copy the keys into brief longhand, correcting his errors by reference to the reading exercises. This process of writing and correction should be continued so long as any errors occur. |