By a careless habit, which many persons allow themselves to fall into,
they omit to attend to the little things in writing. Good penmanship
consists in attention to small details, each letter and word correctly
formed, makes the beautiful page. By inattention to the finish of one
letter, or part of a letter of a word, oftentimes the word is mistaken
for another, and the entire meaning changed. Particular attention
should be devoted to the finish of some of the small letters, such as
the dotting of the i, or crossing of the t. Blending the lines which
form a loop, often causes the letter to become a stem, similar to the
t or d, or an e to become an i. In many of the capital letters, the
want of attention to the finish of the letter converts it into another
or destroys its identity, such, for instance, as the small cross on
the capital F, which, if left off, makes the letter a T. The W often
becomes an M, or _vice versa_, and the I a J. Mistakes in this regard
are more the result of carelessness and inattention than anything
else. By careful practice a person will acquire a settled habit of
giving a perfection to each letter and word, and then it is no longer
a task, but is performed naturally and almost involuntarily, while
the difference in the appearance of the written page, as well as the
exactness and certainty of the meaning conveyed, may be incalculably
great.
While practicing penmanship, or while endeavoring to correct a
careless habit in writing, the mind must be upon the work in hand,
and not be allowed to wander into fields of thought or imagination;
by thus confining the attention, any defect or imperfection in the
formation of letters may be soon mastered or corrected.
[Illustration: Position of the Hand and Pen.]