A teacher, by adopting the following plan, succeeded in awakening a
great degree of interest on the subject, and, consequently, of promoting
rapid improvement. The plan was this: he prepared, on a large sheet of
paper, a series of lessons in coarse-hand, beginning with straight
lines, and proceeding to the elementary parts of the various letters,
and finally to the letters themselves. This paper was posted up in a
part of the room accessible to all.
The writing-books were made of three sheets of foolscap paper, folded
into a convenient size, making twenty-four pages in the book. The books
were to be ruled by the pupil, for it was thought important that each
should learn this art. Every pupil in school, then, being furnished with
one of these writing-books, was required to commence this series, and to
practice each lesson until he could write it well; then, and not till
then, he was permitted to pass to the next. A few brief directions were
given under each lesson on the large sheet. For example, under the line
of straight marks, which constituted the first lesson, was written as
follows:
_Straight, equidistant, parallel, smooth, well-terminated._
These directions were to call the attention of the pupil to the
excellences which he must aim at, and when he supposed he had secured
them, his book was to be presented to the teacher for examination. If
approved, the word _Passed_, or, afterward, simply _P_.
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