4. Your T’s Tell On You

SENSITIVENESS, PRIDE, VANITY PURPOSE OR LACK OF IT. THE DREAMER, THE ENTHUSIAS­TIC, THE INDEPENDENT. WHAT T'S MADE BY JULIA MARLOWE, CRUIKSHANK, ROSE PASTOR STOKES, PAUL WELLMAN, DR. FREDERICK COOK, LORD LYTTON SAY ABOUT THEM. COURT OF LAST RESORT CASE OF THE GUILT­LESS WOMAN.

You can get more facts about a writer from the small letter "t" than from any other single letter. For example, you can tell from an "a" or "o" whether a person is frank, deceitful, or given to kidding himself with half truths. A professional grapho analyst will find other values in the two circle letters.

With the small "t" you have a stem. You have a start for that stem, i.e., the stroke that may start from the base line and become part of the stem, but the initial stroke is not necessary. You can have a "t" without a line that starts from the bottom. (See plate 33), A t-stem may be tall or short, and it may be crossed with a bar that is written above the t-stem or just above the small letters in the writing, or again, it may be half way up the stem. The cross bar may be light or heavy, long or short, and finally, there may not be a cross bar at all. The cross bar may not be a bar, but a tied stroke, as in the plate below.

All of these variations provide an opportunity for you to determine the truth about the writer's vanity, pride, sensitiveness, enthusiasm, persis­tence, ambition and many other very important character traits.

For this reason, it is highly important that you give close attention to these plates. In the top line of plate 34, you will find the t's are exceedingly tall in relation to the height of the small letters. Actually, if you undertake to measure them you will find them three or more times taller from the baseline to the upper tip than the small letters of each of the handwritings. The relation of the t-stems to the lower letters is what counts. For example, if you have large writing, and the t-stems are as high in proportion as in this specimen, then vanity would be shown. Or, if the writing were very small, and the t-stems were still as high in proportion, the vanity would still be shown. These exceedingly tall t's show vanity, or pride gone wild.

Plate 33. The small letter "t" is the grapho analyst's most important letter. The "t" tells a lot about the writer.

Plate 34. Showing vanity, or pride gone wild.

• THE SIGN OF VANITY

You may know such a writer, and if so, you will recognize how he acts. He feels he is much better on his job, or in his neighborhood than he actu­ally is. He over-rates his importance in any organization. Summed up, he thinks far better of himself than his accomplishments justify. Such writers are vain, not proud.

You have just the opposite in the second line where the t's are very short. The vain writer will do his best to impress those around him with his exceptional ability of past accomplishments, whereas the short t-stem writer is anything but vain. He will not try to impress you with his im­portance. He will not over-rate what he has accomplished.

There is a very good reason for this. He does not care whether you like what he has done or what he plans to do. He thinks for himself, and will exert himself to sell himself long, either socially or on the job. He is independent. He will think and act for himself, and will take the responsi­bility for his own decisions. The short t-stem writer is not bothered by customs. He will conform to dress, or other requirements if it is absolutely necessary, but he will be just as ready to ignore these social amenities as to follow them, if it seems important to him to do so—or if it does not seem important to him to conform to them.

Independent writers are independent people. Frequently, they are leaders, cutting across red-tape to get a job done. They are not good "yes" men. Never. Nor do they expect others to agree with them. Independence is shown by short-t-stems, not because they are merely short, but because they are short in relation to the body of the writing.

These two rules apply to d-stems as well. Indeed, all rules that apply to t-stems also apply to d-stems.

Plate 35. The loops re­veal a sensitive writer.

In plate 35 something has been added to the t-stems, as well as the d-stems. This change makes a difference in the story told by the stems. Instead of a stem standing straight and stiff, you have a looped stem. In the top line the loops are large. In the second line the writing is smaller, and the loops are also smaller—but each is large in proportion to the body of the line of writing. Those loops mean that the writer is very sensitive. Such writers are easily hurt. They are slighted when no slight has been meant. They are snubbed when no one has thought of snubbing them. They may not look for chances to be hurt, but as far as their friends and neighbors are concerned, there isn't any reason for them to be hurt.

Where the t's arc very tall, showing the writer is vain, the sensitiveness is certain to be more active. In the first place, the writer has put himself into a vulnerable position. He expects others to look up to him, and accept him at his own value. Therefore, when they do not, he is hurt.

On the other hand, the short-stemmed writer, regardless of whether it is a d-stem or t-stem, is not going to be bothered. He may be sensitive, but he casts the sensitiveness to one side, just as he disregards the expectation that he wear a stiff collar when he wants to wear a sport shirt.

•ARE YOU OVER-SENSITIVE?

You will find a great many writers who are sensitive, but very few of them are vain. In fact, more arc independent. Most of the people whose writing you will examine as you study these rules will be just men and women who are doing their best to get along in the world, conforming as nearly as they can to common standards of conduct. Few of them will be leaders, andsome of those who are independent will lack other qualities of character to make them capable of spearheading a business or other activity. As far as sensitiveness is concerned, it is neither "good" or "bad", although it is a liability. You may find, for instance, sensitiveness in your own writing. If so, why not stop and ask yourself whether you gain any­thing by being easily hurt. Does it make you any happier to feel that some­one has intended to hurt or slight you?

You will not be able to say "yes" to this question and as long as you cannot, why bother to continue being sensitive. You would not actually undertake to carry a fifty pound bag on your shoulders all the rest of your life. You will admit to yourself that it would cramp your style of living, and hurt your personal appearance, yet going through life ready to be hurt or imagining slights is just as silly and useless. The next time you feel that someone has hurt you, slighted you, passed you by, laugh about it, or at least ignore it. Before you know it, the sensitiveness will grow less and you will be happier.

•STORY OF A SUPER-SENSITIVE WOMAN

This matter of useless sensitiveness was brought out by two neighbors of mine. Betty was a remarkable woman. She never gossiped. She never talked about the neighbors. When some inquisitive man or woman in the neighborhood asked her about another neighbor, Betty just did not know. It was an exceedingly admirable trait, just one of many that she had. But she was sensitive. So, when her friend Jo had company, she knew that Betty would not pay the slightest attention to the huge lady who had on a vivid dress. Jo knew this and felt perfectly safe in remarking to Betty "that she might have peeked out of her kitchen and seen the woman." It was an idle remark based on Betty's remarkable record for never spying. It was meant as a joke, nothing more, but Betty rushed madly home and that evening she was all for having her husband put up a dividing fence between her lot and Jo's home.

Of course the fence did not go up. When Jo found out what was going on, she inquired why and was promptly told by Betty that she "had not peeked, and that is was a nasty thing to have said." Possibly it was, but Betty's sensitiveness did not make her any happier, and it did show a weak­ness in getting along with people that would not be an asset to her, no matter where she lived. First of all, Betty knew her own reputation for not prying. She knew that Jo was not accusing her of prying, but to other neighbors, it left a doubt. It was bound to do so. Was Betty so absolutely free from curiosity about the neighbors or had the joking remark struck home? They were bound to ask it, and Betty's standing as a neighbor would never be the same again, just because she was so uselessly sensitive about something she had not done, and was not accused of doing.

This illustrates the point that sensitive people do not need a reason for being hurt. They are hurt, and that ends it. If you are one of them, and you can get the truth from your handwriting, just remember that other people are too wrapped up in their affairs most of the time to bother to hurt anyone else, and so your hurts are just dead wood.

Plate 36. The writer of this handwriting was so sensitive he was always being hurt and offended. A grapho analysis helped him correct this fault.

In plate 36 you will not find vanity, but you will find sensitiveness that is exaggerated. This is the writing of a one-time famous movie performer, and later a TV star. His life had been unhappy, because he had been in an almost constant state of being hurt, or getting over a hurt. You will notice that all of the t's and d's are not looped, but half of them are, and four out of this number are huge loops, showing super sensitiveness. His handwriting was analyzed during the early part of his career, and he says that it helped. It did.

He caught the suggestion to get over his sensitiveness and he fought it earnestly with the result that many of his difficulties were ironed out. You never gain anything by being easily hurt, and when this man, who is still famous in the entertainment field, realized that his sensitiveness was a handi­cap he had the good sense to try to rid himself of it. It worked for him, and it will be worth your while if your t's and d's are looped, especially with such huge loops, to stop whenever your feelings are hurt and see how silly it is.

• WHAT THE IMPORTANT T-BAR REVEALS

When you have covered these rules and made them your own, your consideration of the small d is done, and you are ready to consider the effect of t-bars on the facts revealed by this one small letter. T-bars can be above the stem, or they may be in between, high, or fairly low, between the top and the stroke just above the level of the small letters. The location is important.

The t-bar may be long, short or medium in length. They may be heavy, exceedingly heavy, or very light. It may be written ahead of the stem or following it, which affects the value as well. Your start, however, is with the location of the t-bar on the t-stem. In plate 37 there are four t-bars on the first stem in trait. These bars are much heavier than the ones that cross the second t, and the value is much different. A relatively heavy t-bar shows purpose, or expresses what so many think of as will power. A light cross-bar shows a purpose that has less force back of it. The purpose may exist all right, but the force of the purpose is lighter, and the writer will be less likely to carry out the purpose that he may have. The light t-bar does not reveal a clearly defined or strong purpose.

In this plate the bars are all short. They merely represent bars, fulfilling a technical purpose as taught in penmanship classes. They cross the stem. They show conformity, exactness, precision. The writer was taught to make them that way, and he complies with what he was taught. How­ever, in the next illustration, plate 38, both t-bars are much longer. They represent carrying power, action. They not only cross the stem but they carry on, they are no longer merely precise t-bars that were made because the copybook showed that it should be crossed. They move. They have carrying power, and in the language of grapho analysis, they represent enthusiasm.

Plate 37. What the cross-bar on the small "f tells you.

Plate 38. Cross-bars representing carrying power, action.

You have undoubtedly known a great many highly enthusiastic men and women. You may be one of them, and you may be sure you are if you find that you make your t-bars long, sweeping. Such writers not only have purpose, but that purpose has life, it is activated, it moves forward with verve, and the quality of influencing others. All of this is increased as the t-bar is made heavier.

However, you must return to plate 37 with its numerous cross-bars in order to understand how the purpose that is shown affects the conduct of the writer. In order to simplify this, you will find the cross-bars numbered 1 to 4. When you find a t-bar written down level or almost level with the tops of small letters you have evidence that the writer undersells himself to himself.

He is not necessarily self-conscious, but he lacks faith in his own ability to make a distant goal. If he were an athlete, going in for high jumping he would never attempt to make as high a jump as he would be capable of doing. He would actually attempt less than half of what he might do if he would exert himself. This is not necessarily a sign of laziness. Instead, it is evidence of lack of faith in his own ability. If the writer were a frog he might have the muscles in his legs permitting him to make a ten foot leap, but instead he would shake his frog-head, and decide that a four foot leap would be safer. And he would make the four foot leap with confidence that he would land safely.

Cross-bar 2 is a normal, healthy condition, but it does not represent that the writer is a long distance planner, i.e., he does not set his purpose far enough ahead so that he will need to exert himself* to the limit. On the other hand, the man or woman who puts the cross-bar up near the top of the stem is shooting at a distant goal. He is looking ahead, striving for a more distant purpose. When the cross-bar is heavy, he knows exactly where he is going. When it is light he does not have as clearly defined a purpose, but he still has the distant purpose. The height of the cross-bar determines this, and the heaviness or weight of the stroke identifies how clearly his purpose is defined in his thinking.

The cross-bar written above the t-stem shows a writer who sets his goal, or purpose a very long way ahead. Frequently it is not practical. This is true when the line is light. In such cases the writer is a dreamer, one who sees a distant goal, dreams about it, but does not have a definite purpose to achieve it. He is much like the high school boy who reads the track records earnestly, and dreams of someday equalling them, but does not put in enough time practicing on the track to make his dream come true.

You cannot find a better study of a clearly defined, long distance purpose, combined with enthusiasm than to examine this specimen of Julia Marlowe's writing. Her cross-bars are almost all long. They are heavy, and they are either above the t-stems or just at the upper tip. She was one of the greatest names in American entertainment world for a long, long time, and these three traits so clearly shown in this page of writing un­doubtedly were largely responsible for her success. She had a definite goal. She knew where she intended to go. She was enthusiastic about what she was doing, and even though the goal was a long, long way ahead, she in­tended to achieve it, and did.

Every sales manager is constantly looking for men and women with this combination of traits. Every level of society has room for them. Even if there were no place ready and waiting, such writers will make a place for themselves, so if you have this combination you can consider yourself rich in ability. If you do not have them, you need not lay this book aside and consider yourself hopeless, for in a later chapter you will be given some idea how to develop these qualities.

In many handwritings you will find t-bars at different levels or heights.

Plate 39. Julia Marlowe's long cross-bars denote en­thusiasm.

You do not, however, have any reason to be confused in making your find­ings. If you were seated at a table, with five adults and four children, you would merely recognize the fact that you had the five adults and the four children at the table. They would not puzzle nor confuse you. In exactly the same way, when you have t-bars at different levels on the t-stems, you have evidence that the writer sets his goal close part of the time and farther away at another.

The writing of George Cruikshank, the famous illustrator as shown in plate 40, has this variation. It shows that in some things he had a distant goal, and in others he was satisfied to make little effort. This is simple enough to understand. His purpose was to be a great illustrator. He did not propose to be a jockey, or a master gardener. He had a goal, and he worked toward that, but in matters outside of his goal he would not make any great effort. However, the weight or thickness of his t-bars show that he always knew where he was going. He had a definite purpose, even when it did not call for any great effort. A man can have a very definite purpose. that is easily achieved, and he may be satisfied with his accomplishment.

Qn the other hand, the writer who has heavy t-bars placed low can accomplish more if he will demand it of himself. Cruikshank's writing is that of a man who was very good in his work, he did not feel it necessary to make an additional effort, and he had no other interests in which he wishes to show accomplishment. Therefore his strong t-bars revealed not only a definite purpose, but contentment with his own fulfillment of that purpose.

Rose Pastor Stokes, the woman who pioneered for birth control, made two distinctly different kinds of t-bars. In this page you find them long, and light, and very, very short. These short ones are especially revealing, particularly in the words, "sketch", "but", "haven't", "got", "regret" and "to". These all show irritability, and in "haven't" and "got" they are slanted downward and have a new value. These two short strokes slanted downward, and made like little arrows reveal that when she wanted some­thing, she wanted it. She expected people to step. She demanded. How­ever, when you consider the whole page, the trait was not a dominant one. She was not going around and demanding all of the time. Instead it was a trait that existed, and, like cash in the bank, could be drawn on and used when she wanted someone to do what she felt should be done.

You have a very similar stroke in the handwriting of John Masefield, the great poet. Almost all of the t-bars in his page of writing are made to the right of the stem, and are sharper arrows in most cases, than in the Rose Pastor Stokes plate. John Masefield revealed by his writing that he de­manded.

There is another value in this arrow-like stroke placed to the right of the t-stem. It also means temper, particularly when it is not joined to the stem, and is written alone. Explosive temper, in proportion as the the arrow is heavy or light. Consider the Emma Jo Wengert plate. Emma Jo was suspected of killing a woman. She was arrested. The local authorities felt they had enough evidence to put her on trial for murder. She was tried, and convicted and given a sentence to the penitentiary.

After a period of time the famous "Court of Last Resort" became interested in the Emma Jo case. However, before we go ahead with the details of her case it may be better to discuss the "Court" which was set up by Earl Stanley Gardner, the greatest seller in whodunit fiction in America, and Harry Steeger, a New York publisher. As a young man Gardner was a practicing attorney. He defended the underdog. He did not takes cases merely for money, but, like the famous Clarence Darrow, he took cases where he felt justice might not otherwise be done. There is no evidence that he made much of a living until he began writing fiction, and this has undoubtedly made him a wealthy man.

Plate 40. Handwriting of the great illustrator, George Cruikshank, indicates determination.

Mr. Steeger was one of the early users of articles on grapho analysis in his early publishing days. I have known Gardner for years solely from his handwriting. He once wrote me that the analysis made from his writing was perfect, which did not allow much for human error. My own acquaint­ance with Steeger taught me he was absolutely honest, so when the "Court" was established it was natural for me to follow their cases. Emrna Jo was one of the early ones. The "Court" which had attracted some of the most famous and able criminologists in America, became interested in the possi­bility that it was entirely possible that she had not killed the woman at all.

According to the facts, Emma Jo had occupied a room in the woman's home. There had been minor unpleasantness and friction, and Emma Jo had changed her living quarters, but she had not had all of her mail changed. Because of this she visited her first landlady occasionally and picked up mail that had accumulated. It was one of these rare visits when Emma Jo was there to pick up her mail that the woman with whom she had made her home, died. Emma Jo was accused of killing her.

• IS THIS THE HANDWRITING OF A MURDERESS?

Plate 42. John Masefield's handwriting reveals a demanding personality.

The experts on the "Court" staff made an extensive study of the case. They found that the woman had died of a sudden heart attack and not because Emma Jo had struck her. The evidence was so strong that Emma Jo had not committed a crime that she was freed, and then married her sweetheart who had stood by her all during her trouble. Emma Jo became Emma Jo Wengert, and a free woman.

Ft.ate 43. Notice that some of the t-bars are slanted down in this specimen of Emma Jo Wengert's handwriting.

All of this has a direct bearing on this specimen of writing and what it tells. Look at the t-bars. Some of them are slanted down, but they are light. Emma Jo might, if pushed, demand that you get out of her way. She might stamp her foot mildly, but she would never strike anyone. She was not a demanding woman with force enough back of her demands to ever hurt another.

Compare this set of cross-bars with their downward slant with the plate that follows, and which was made especially for this book. If Emma Jo's cross-bars had been slanted as these are and had been as heavy, the whole picture of the woman's nature would have been changed. These heavy arrows slanted downward as they are, show a demanding disposition, one that does not stand for any delay. Further, as some of them are sepa­rated from the stem and on the right side, they mean a nasty, explosive temper. Such a writer might commit a crime on impulse if the writing was slanted well to the right, and the temper and domineering evidence were all three strong.

This brings us down to a very important point in the truths revealed about a writer by his handwriting. A trait is nothing more than a trait. It is not necessarily good or necessarily bad. Deceit may be a good thing, depending on how it is used. Some of the most successful salesmen in the country show a high development of the ability to domineer. They benefit financially, although they may not make the most friends. Whether the salesman benefits by being domineering depends on the class of people to whom he sells. If they are not highly intelligent people, they will follow his instructions to sign an application blank. On the other hand, if he sells to people who think for themselves, domineering in dealing with such prospects is a very real handicap. The first salesman, selling to people who are easily influenced, will make sales because his domineering qualities provide the push to get the customer to buy.

•A PICTURE OF HIGH-PRESSURE SALESMANSHIP

In the first part of the century hundreds of salesmen made large in­comes soliciting for enlarged photographs. They worked the villages and the farming country and they played on the sentimental feelings of the family for grandma or grandpa, who was gone. They would paint a glow­ing picture of how the pictures belong on the walls of the home, and then they closed by telling the man or woman with whom they were talking, to "sign right here." The prospect almost always signed, not an order that had been read and given consideration, but a form that was provided. As a re­sult they usually found that the promises made by the salesman were vastly different from the actual agreement, and they paid exorbitant prices for the enlargements. However you may look at that kind of selling, it was done, and in that field the domineering salesmen ^as the one who rolled up the bank account.

The enlarged picture man and his selling is, of course, merely an ex­aggerated illustration of how a domineering streak in the salesman may help him close orders. Take for example the customer who wants to make a purchase, but is one of those uncertain individuals who keep on wanting, but also hesitating. In such cases the salesman who has some ability to domineer, may be actually doing his customers a favor. He makes up their minds for them.

•WHAT DOES SELF-CONTROL IN HANDWRITING LOOK LIKE?

You may have read some of Paul Wellman's highly successful novels. He is an able writer and shows his ability in his writing, but the cross-bars of his t's are the reason for including this specimen now. Study these cross­bars. They are not all alike but a majority of them look very much like an inverted basin. They are curved. In the case of Wellman, the bars are very short, but the length has nothing to do with this rule. When you find the t-bar made like a plate or basin that is upside down, you may be sure that the writer has learned self-control. The curved bars do not show what he has learned to control. It may have been temper or appetite, or some other trait. A professional grapho analyst can pinpoint what has been controlled, but the point you should remember is that the up-curved cross-bar means that the writer has made a conscious effort to gain self-control.

Plate 45. Paul Wellman, novelist. T-bars made to look like an upside down plate indicate self-control.

There is nothing of self-control in this writing of Frederick A. Cook, plate 46, the man who claimed to have found the North Pore. Dr. Cook was an explorer, and later was active in ^business. He made a name for himself and then was generally condemned for making false claims. His business ventures were just as questionable, but no matter what history may say about the man, he left some interesting history of himself and his dis­position in his writing. A man with contradictions, according to his writing. In the second line he has two t-bars, both of which are written downward, the second sharp like a knife blade. This sharp point means sarcasm, while the first in the "the" is equal in length, and shows both strength and the ability to dominate. The difference between domineering and dominating is the difference in the weight of the stroke. When a t-bar is made and slanted downward, and is as heavy at the finish as at the start, you have a. writer who commands attention. He does not demand it. He does not drive people, but he gets their attention by his positiveness, his general ability, and his ability to take a strong stand on any or every problem. In case the stroke starts heavy, and grows lighter to a sharp point, and is still slanted downward, he is demanding, or domineering. To make this point very clear and avoid misunderstanding, please study plate 46 carefully. In the top line the writing shows a writer who is capable of domination, a writer who has strength of purpose that commands attention, although it does not mean that it commands respect. The writer may be a "bad" man but he has at least one strong trait of character.

The second line shows how the domineering t-bars are made. As you study the difference you will understand the different qualities . The writer who dominates carries through, he does not lose the strength of purpose, while the one who domineers may start with a strong purpose, but it grows weaker, and lacks the carrying power, or the influence of the strong bar that reveals the ability to dominate. The writer who domineers advertises his own weakness to accomplish, and this is the reason that he demand that others jump when he speaks.

Plate 46. The handwriting of Frederick A. Cook, explorer, reveals a strong-willed man given to fits of temper.

In the word "too" in the third line, the stroke is made after the t, and is long enough to cover the width of three ordinary letters. This combi­nation shows both strong purpose, and enthusiasm, but its location after the t-stem reveals temper. In the word "trouble" in the same line the bar is written well after the t-stem, and again it represents temper.

So long after Dr. Cook's name has been forgotten by many, his picture stands out clearly as a man who was given to fits of temper, a strong willed man, who could grow enthusiastic, but who had rare periods of self-control. You will find this in the last word in the body of the note. In this case the t-bar is long, strong, or heavy, and it is slightly bowed or curved up­ward, and then downward as it should to reveal self-control.

• PROCRASTINATION ILLUSTRATED

You will frequently find two or three different types of t-bars in a single page. Let us say that you find four long, sweeping t-bars that are made heavy, and that run the length of four or five of the small letters.

 Plate 47. Showing the enthusiasm, sarcasm and strong purpose of Owen Meredith (Lord Lytton).

These bars mean strong purpose and enthusiasm. Then you find four arrow-like t-bars to the right of the t-stem. These mean sarcasm and temper. The sarcasm is shown by the arrow-like strokes, and the location gives the temper. If, on the other hand, the arrow-like t-bars were written back of the t-stem, you would have* an entirely different meaning.

T-bars made back of the stem show procrastination. They are behind, they put off, they lay aside work, promising themselves they will get to it some day, but they are always putting off until another time. In case you found this combination of three different kinds of strokes in a single page of one person's writing your conclusions would be that the writer is occasion­ally very enthusiastic, and when he is interested in a certain plan or purpose will grow enthusiastic about it. At other times he puts off, delays, or pro­crastinates and when pushed his temper is aroused, and he becomes sarcastic. It is true that the sarcasm is there when he is procrastinating, putting off, but it is only when he has been forced to do something that he has been putting off that the sarcasm is an expression of temper.

Before you leave this chapter, let us examine one more specimen of handwriting and consider how the writer will act. This is the writing of "Owen Meredith", (Lord Lytton) of literary fame. There are only three t-bars on this page. The first, which occurs in the first line, is not heavy in proportion to the body of the writing, hence it does not show strong purpose. It is long, which reveals enthusiasm and it is written ahead of the t-stem, indicating irritability, or temper. However, the bar does not come to a sharp point, but is uniformly heavy, so there is no sarcasm.

The second occurs in the sixth line from the top, and is short, sharp-pointed like an arrow, and is slanted downward. This shows temper, sar­casm, and a domineering streak. The last t-bar occurs in the bottom line and it is long. It grows lighter toward the finish, and is very long. This combination gives you enthusiasm, sarcasm, and a writer whose purpose is strong but grows less until it fades into the sharp sarcasm point.

It may easily be that when you have read and studied this chapter you will have become somewhat confused. If you are not absolutely sure that you know the value of each stroke as it is illustrated, it will be better to go back and re-examine the various illustrations, and study the rules again. There is nothing more embarrassing than looking at a handwriting, and finding something that is not there, simply because you have forgotten whether a long t-bar means enthusiasm or temper. And if you attempt to analyze a specimen for a friend, you can make some very ridiculous mistakes unless you can recognize the strokes without a great deal of trouble.

• IS HE IMPULSIVE?

Take this plate you have just examined. Possibly you have over­looked the important influence that is shown by the slant of the writing. You know facts shown by the t-bars, but you must now consider the in­fluence of the slant of the writing. Take your Emotional Expression Chart, and determine the impulsiveness, the capacity the writer has for showing how he feels. Will he do so? If so, to what degree? You can make this determination for yourself, and then you tie the emotional response or reactions to the traits shown by the t-bars and you will get a new and clearer understanding of the writer.

(^This is important for when a writer is sarcastic, and at the same time cool, unexpressive, you can be sure that the sarcasm, or temper is a matter of planned action. It is not an impulsive gesture. Instead, the temper or irritability arc the result of a cool, even cold approach, and it is intended.

EXAMINATION FOR CHAPTER 4

(Correct answers for this examination will be found in the back of the book.)

After you have determined the emotional response or lack of it, your next step was to determine how the writer's mind worked, i.e., how quickly he grasped ideas. Or was he a slow, cumulative thinker,—an analytical thinker?

A groat many professional analysts look next for the t-bars, because this one letter has such a wide variation of possible values. First it has height or lack of it, both of which are exceedingly important. Then you have the cross-bars which vary in their location on the stem, while some are heavy, some are middle weight, and some exceedingly light. Length is equally important because a long sweeping t-bar has a much different value than a short one. Sometimes you will find two or three different types of t-bars in a single handwriting. This does not complicate the evi­dence, but it does alter it. Each of the bars has its own value and each contributes to the writer's mental habits and the resulting conduct.

In examining the t-bars the same rule applies as to all other phases of the handwriting strokes. Do not guess. When you start guessing you will make mistakes and mistakes can be costly both to you and the person analyzed.

SPECIMEN 1

Remember, when you analyze a handwriting, you are actually looking into the mind of the writer and what you say may change a life.

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