AN APPLICANT FOR A JOB—THE CHANGES AN EAST INDIAN MADE BY COMING TO AMERICA—THE WOMAN WHO LOST RESENTMENT. WHAT BEAUTIFUL PENMANSHIP SHOWS.

You have learned enough to start analyzing handwriting. It is true that you will not be able to tell everything about a writer, but you can get a definite and specific benefit from what you have learned. Furthermore, until you start using what you have learned, you are getting nothing but theory, and grapho analysis is not merely theory. There is no room for guesswork: no maybe this, or maybe that. You have rules, and when you look at a handwriting for the first time you examine it for the emotional response. The reason for this is that your writer's emotional expression or lack of it, his capacity for absorbing emotional experiences and being in­fluenced by unexpressed feelings, or lack of this capacity, affects everything else you will find.

Let us examine plate 48 just as though you were going to marry the writer, or going to hire him or her for ah important job. When you look at the handwriting you do not try to determine-the sex of the writer, be­cause you cannot. There was a time when our grandparents talked about a "ladylike" hand, or a "masculine" hand, but it was just a way of saying that the "ladylike" writer made the letters so they could be read, and the "masculine" writer sprawled the letters out across the page. If you will turn back to the page of Ella Wheeler Wilcox's writing (plate 5) you can see what they called a "masculine" hand in the old days, yet Miss Wilcox was a womanly woman, as well as a great artist.

• IS SUBJECT EMOTIONALLY RESPONSIVE?

So you do not know the sex of this writer. However, for convenience let us use the pronoun he, to make the matter simple. The writing slants far to the right. Use your Emotional Expression Chart, following Glenn Wallace's explanation of just how to get the exact results. Determine the emotional slant, which you will find shows a high degree of emotional response. He is affected by emotional circumstances, and shows how he feels. He shows it when he is downcast or blue and reacts just as promptly to something that pleases him. This is your basis for the character traits that will be rooted in this foundation and affected by it.

Plate 48. How can you tell that the writer of this handwriting is steady, dependable and thorough?

The next step is to study the writing to establish how permanently he is affected by emotional situations. These lines are not exceedingly light, neither are they heavy. Therefore, you know that though he reacts prompt­ly, he will not carry any great or lasting effects of emotional storms. He is expressive enough and has enough depth of feeling to be friendly and warm­hearted, but he will not hate or love with the seething force of a volcano aboutto erupt.

• HOW TO RECOGNIZE A SENSITIVE PERSONALITY

Your next step is to consider how he thinks. Many of the n's and m's are more wedge-shaped at the top, than rounded*. Take the third line for example. In the word "handwriting" both sections of the first "n" are more nearly wedges than rounded tops. The last part of the "n" in the last syllable is clearly a wedge. The same wedge shape occurs in the word "When". In all cases the "n" and "m" are more nearly pointed than well rounded. Here and there you have definite sharp points of well shaped wedges. None of the points, however, are comprehension strokes. They are not needle pointed, but exploratory, inquiring into, expressing an interest in learning. This interest is not highly developed. If it were, the wedges would be more clearly defined; they would be sharper. However, you have enough evidence to know that the writer is not one to understand immediately be­cause of keen comprehension, and is not a slow thinker for whom you will have to draw pictures, and repeat explanations.

Up to this point you have established that the writer is quick to feel and show how he feels, and that he will be ready to learn. In case you employ either men or women or both, or are active socially you will recog­nize the importance of establishing both of these facts.

Next, the t-bars are generally short. There is no enthusiasm, and any­thing that the writer does or says that seems to be enthusiasm is the result of the emotional reaction. The bars are usually at the top, or very close to it. The writer sets his goal a long way ahead. He is not underselling him­self to himself. He is shooting at a point in life where he will have to strive hard to make his goal. This is important not only for this fact in itself, but because when a man is working toward a distant goal, and shows the ability to learn, it will be natural for him to try that much harder to learn. The distant goal, about which he does not grow enthusiastic, will be a spur to push him to learn. Some of these t-bars are relatively heavy, so that his purpose in life is clear in his own mind. He knows where he is going.

• HOW TO SEE DIGNITY AND PRECISION IN HANDWRITING

Now you are ready for a new principle that affects the small "d". As you examine this specimen you will find that the d-stems are retraced, in­stead of being looped. A retraced d-stem shows dignity. The writer will do the precise thing, he will dress carefully, learn what customs and conven­tions require, and will act accordingly. He is not a stuffed shirt, he is not pompous but he is dignified in the way that compels him to do the right thing at the right time as far as possible.

These "d's" are not short and they are not tall. Instead, they are well balanced, therefore, you can be sure the writer is neither exceedingly inde­pendent, nor vain. If his "d's" were much taller he would be vain, and then his dignity would become a pompous trait, and he might easily be unbearable as an employee or associate.

The short t-bar indicates precision. There is no waste. Instead the bar is just as long as necessary to make a well balanced t-bar, or in some cases even shorter. So you have evidence of precision, and you can sub­stantiate it by the way he dots his "i's". This a new rule and you should jot it down. The i-dots are well rounded and they are not dashes, nor splotches of ink. These i-dots add, by the way they are made, to the evi­dence of carefulness, precision. Here is the rule to remember: The closer the i-dots are to the i-stem, the more careful the writer will be about details., He will not do his work in a slap-happy fashion. Because he is ready to learn, he will pay attention when given instructions, he will pay attention to what he is told, and then be careful in performing whatever he has been assigned.

Plate 49. This fellow plays his cards close to his chest. His characteristics are plainly spelled out in this handwriting sample.

This writer will not be a whirlwind of accomplishment. But he will be steady, dependable, thorough. He will grow on a job that he likes because when he sets a goal in life he has basic intelligence and desire to learn to think, learn and grow.

He does not hide his head and say "I can't", because his t-bars are high enough to show that he is not going to be easily satisfied with his own accomplishments regardless of where he is or what he is doing.

In plate 49 you have a very much different individual. After you have determined the slant and its value from the emotional expression angle, you will be ready to consider the writer's ability to think, form conclusions, and learn. These "n" and "m" tops are well rounded. Some of them are almost flat. One or two exploratory points occur, but the majority of the strokes reveal a thinker who learns only by accumulating impressions, just as a bricklayer uses bricks to build a wall. He arrives at conclusions slowly, and when he knows something, he is sure of it because he has not hurried in forming his decisions. You will find it worth while to compare this page with the signature of Thomas A. Edison for there is striking similarity.

The story is told that Edison's school teachers considered him too "dumb" to learn. Legend has it that he lost his hearing because an irate teacher boxed his ears so sharply that the lad's eardrums gave way, and if fou are a teacher you may feel the same way if you have a boy or girl in your classes who makes these broad or well rounded "m's" and "n's". Take heart. They are not stupid, but they do not learn as readily as the mental explorer or the youngster with exceptional comprehension, who does not seem to be spending any time studying.

These t-bars are even shorter than in the preceding plate. They are precise but there is even more significance to their contribution to the picture of this man. (Notice how they are right down level with the tops of the lower case or small letters. He is not taking any chances on himself. He has too many of these low t-bars, which mean lack of faith to accom­plish a distant goal. He will be careful but, like a frog that could leap ten feet and is satisfied to leap only two because he is not sure of how he will land, this fellow plays his cards close to his chest. He will be thorough but you cannot expect him to do any dreaming, or make much if any effort to achieve a goal in life where he must struggle and work.)

• RETRACED "N'S" AND "M'S" SHOW THRIFT AND CAREFULNESS

Do not confuse this lack of faith in himself with lack of self-reliance. You will learn a great deal more about self reliance, and how you can build your own, if you lack it, in a later chapter. You will learn also what you can do about changing your own thinking habits, if you are one of these low-bar writers.

This handwriting shows rare ability in some trades and professions, but no matter how much ability he has, he will not use it until he learns that he must believe in himself, that he must raise his sights, and start aiming at a point where he will use all of his ability.

You will recognize the dignity, the conventionality that is shown by the d-stems which are so much like those you have just examined in the preceding plate. Both writers are conformists, they will conduct themselves according to custom, and each is proud, but not vain.

At this point you have another new rule. When "n's" and "m's" are carefully retraced as they are in this specimen, the writer is thrifty, as well as careful. The two traits are great supports for one another, because a man who is careful may be exceedingly generous, but he is going to be thrifty as well. This writer is reasonably generous, as shown by the fre­quency with which he adds a long stroke after the last letter. He is not extravagant, but he is generous. However, he will not be a waster, and he will accumulate before he gives away.

• ABILITY BUT NOT MUCH DRIVE

His t-bars are weak, which means that his purposes are not strong. He is not going any particular place in life, unless someone else starts him on the road, and even then he will not have faith enough in himself to accom­plish anywhere near what he might. Talent? His handwriting shows a strong basic natural ability but, after all, ability is not worth much unless the man who has it believes in himself enough to use it.

Throughout the years more than a million people have written me and the organization I have headed. A high percentage of them have been like this chap. They had a good deal of genuine ability, but they lacked faith in themselves, and so did nothing about it. Even after a vocational analysis, they would ask someone else to furnish the push and drive. It is not a pleasant thing to recognize but most people who fail just do not make enough effort to avoid failure, or they misuse good traits because they fail to learn how to use them.

Your next illustration, plate 50, was written by a young lady, who applied for a position in an accounting department. This is a broad term, because almost every community has men and women who handle money, and records for clubs, sororities, fraternities, and church groups. So you can consider that she might have applied to handle such work for you, your club, or if she did not apply, she may have been nominated or suggested. From what you already know and what you will learn in this chapter, you can determine many, if not all, of her qualifications for such a place.

Your Emotional Expression Chart shows that she is cool, self-possessed, and does not get excited. She is not a young woman to act, and then think. Just the opposite. Her writing is quite small and this gives you a new rule. Small writing shows concentration, the ability to do one thing at a time, and ignore intrusions. If she were working in your office or your home and could work in a room with others, there could be traffic all the day long, and she would ignore it, giving her attention to the job in hand.

As you check the "m's" and "n's", and the last half of many of the "h's", you find those inverted v's that reveal an exploratory mind. As an accountant she must want to learn facts, and she must know how to keep still about what she knows. You have not had any rule concerning the ability to keep a secret, but as you study this page of writing you will find that a high percentage of the "a's" and "o's" are closed with little loops. They are tied shut, just as you might tie a twine about the mouth of a bag. She will not talk, and talk, and she will not betray confidences. Her t-bars vary in height. Some of them are right down on the top of the small letters but enough are written well up on the stem, to be an indication that she will work to do a better job. Some of them are quite heavy too. She will intend to do a good job. She is thrifty, and yet the finals are quite long. She will save money, save time, and then give freely when there is reason.

• CONCENTRATION REVEALED

The facts you have learned so far indicate a dependable young woman, who is careful. However, look at your i-dots. They are carefully placed, some of them quite close to the i-stem. She not only concentrates, she pays attention to details. You can give her a heavy load of work in an office and depend on her to do it. Or you can give her charge of your church or club books, and go home quite content that she will handle the job without a cent missing, and without any gaps in her records.

Grapho analysis does not foretell the future, any more than it reveals your past, or the past of your neighbor next door. But, looking at this page from what you have learned, you can be quite sure that when and if the young lady marries, she will be a good housekeeper. She will be a good and conscientious mother, and a good neighbor because she has the qualities of character that fit her for it. If she were a teacher and the school building took fire, she would not rush madly down the hall screaming fire, but would march her youngsters to safety, keeping a calm, level head every minute of the time.

A few of her t-stem, and d-stems are looped, but the loop is very small. She will not be sensitive to a point of moody discouragement. Instead, the combination of her poise, emotional balance, and concentration will cause her to pass off the hurts very quickly.

Would you say that the writer of plate 50 has the qualities to make a good bookkeeper and accountant? You need not smile. In the years business firms have been sending me specimens for examination, asking about why an employee has not made good or why he cannot do so, a great many have been submitted that had no more fitness for an accounting job than this page shows. If you concluded on quick examination that he is not adapted to it, you were right.

This is the writing of a young man who was a salesman. Then he became an editor while in the army, and today he is a successful editor because he has found his proper niche in life. One of his greatest assets is shown by the frequent breaks between letters of a word. You had the same characteristic in the handwriting of one of your earlier specimens, a writer who gained international fame. You should go back and check each speci­men because you will not have any difficulty locating the right one, and the things you do for yourself in studying handwriting plates and comparing them will increase your facility in usmg what you learn.

• HERE IS A SHARP THINKER

These breaks identify a sixth sense, a writer's ability to feel situations without being told. It is sometimes called psychic sense, and it is a quality that is found in the handwriting of great interpretative musicians. Notice that the word interpretative is used. A musician who is able to do more than mechanical execution.

Check through on the "m's" and "n's". A great many reveal the exploratory, or learner type of thinking. Also, there are very few keen com­prehension strokes. This young man will succeed because he never stops learning. He is constantly looking for new knowledge, and he explores and digs all of the time. You will possibly find it easier to think of the inverted v-stroke that indentifies the mental explorer if you think of an axe that is resting on its heels, with the blade pointing up.

Thus your editor likes his job because he makes a good many of the cross-bars as enthusiastic strokes. When a man gets on a job that he does not like and about which he is not enthusiastic, he almost always leaves it or loses the length of his cross-bars. There is another interesting stroke or letter formation here. The letter "d" does not have any down-stroke to the stem. This formation is an indication of literary ability, not yet brought to its full development. As this young editor goes along he will change his small "d" so that the form resembles a Greek letter called delta. This is just one of the letter formations that reveals literary talent and about which you will learn in a later chapter.

Plate 51. Handwriting of a professional grapho analyst.

In plate 51 you have a specimen of writing done by a professional grapho analyst, whose ability to analyze handwriting is very highly de­veloped. When you compare this plate with the writing of the young lady who applied for the accounting job you will find many striking resem­blances. Both writings are smaller than ordinary and as you already know, the small writer concentrates.

The exploratory strokes are prominent, and run all the way through the specimen. It is entirely possible that his study and use of grapho analysis has helped him strengthen his desire to find out the answers. All through the years, since the first students in grapho analysis began more than thirty years ago, there has been a ceaseless flow of records from men and women of all ages who have actually changed their ways of thinking as a result of studying how to analyze handwriting.

• COMPACT WRITING REVEALS A SAVER

The writing shows close attention to details, by the way the "i's" are dotted. He is thrifty. The letters are close together, just as the parts of the "m's" and "n's" which you have already studied are close together and reveal thrift. Writing that is compact always reveals a natural inclination to save, to not waste.

There is a very pronounced example of the explorer who wants to get the answers about everything in the handwriting in your next illustration, plate 52. Here the wedge-shaped letters are very prominent, and there is no sign of thrift, for each letter stands out clearly, well separated from those on each side. The i-dots are very near the point of the i-stem, and you have a unique cross-bar for many of the "t's". They are long, which reveals enthusiasm, they are slanted sharply downward and to the right, and most of them are made with a little flourish.

Plate 52. These cross-bars show enthusiasm and the flourishes reveal show­manship tendencies.

The sum of such cross-bars is enthusiasm, a very mild inclination to dominate, not strong enough to alienate friends, and the flourish reveals showmanship.

As you examine and compare these handwritings, you may ask yourself the same question that many thousands of others have asked from the floor when I have been teaching. "Does beautiful handwriting reflect a beautiful disposition, and does handwriting that is difficult to read mean that the writer is a difficult person to understand, or to get along with?" Certainly not. The most expert professional writers have revealed their principal character traits in their handwriting in spite of years of endless hours of practice, and when they were relaxed their handwriting did not look the same as it did when they were preparing their copybook specimens.

Plate 53. The straight, inflexible stroke at the start of the word is a resentment stroke.

This is emphasized by an experience I once had with one of the prin­cipal penmen in America, whose name was a household word in the heyday of copy book practice in school. As I mentioned one trait after another he nodded his head, until when I finally said, "You're an ultra conservative and thrifty man." Then he allowed his face to relax into a grin.

"You mean I'm tight?" he said.

He was tight as the bark on a beech". He had accumulated a great deal of money, but both professional and personal friends admitted that he did not spend any whenever he could avoid it.

He had asked the question, and he got an affirmative answer. There was no sense in lying about it, for he knew he was not a spender and if I had tried to explain it away and put it in softer words than I had already used, he would have known that I was not telling the truth. When you analyze a handwriting for a friend or stranger, tell the truth. It is not necessary to say, "You're tight" to a man who does not spend money or time on others, but if you squirm and fidget he will think a lot less of you. It is worthwhile to develop a vocabulary so that you can say unnice things diplomatically. But even though you are a neophyte, tell the truth. It will mean that you gain the respect of the person whose writing you are ana­lyzing.

You may be interested in the fact that the writer of plate 52 was born and educated in India. He was indeed the first teacher of grapho analysis in that country, where he was very successful in analyzing the handwriting of school and college students. Eventually he came to America and this writing is the result of a voluntary change which he made in becoming adapted to American ways. While he was growing into adulthood in his native land, his writing was pinched, and very heavy, expressing his deep emotions, and incidentally, his love for color. Keep this in mind.

When the writing is very heavy it reveals strong appetites for rich foods, brilliant colors, fine odors, and tones. In the case of the Indian whose writing was so compact and heavy, he now writes with a lighter line and with the letters well separated because he is not compelled to be so thrifty. Further, immediately on landing in America he broke out in a rash of brilliant shirts and all of the pent up desire that had accumulated during half a life time in India was satisfied, and his writing showed the change in his character habits.

Your writing will show changes as you make them. You may not do it consciously, for a sfvere shock, that affects your emotional nature, will cause your writing to change. Intense emotional pressures may be lifted and your writing will change. As I explained earlier, I don't like to talk about myself, but this incident illustrates the point for you. At one time I had a vast amount of problems, serious problems forced on me. A very close friend said to me, "Just look at your writing. Every line shows that you resent imposition. You are just as different as you can be from what you were when I first knew you."

My handwriting showed it. Problems that poured in on me from every side had become so great that I anticipated being faced with another one, and my writing developed the stroke that showed resentment. It took a true friend to point it out, but that friend could not do anything about it, and it took time for me to do something. As I write this book there is not one atom of resentment in my writing. The strokes that show it are all gone, because the cause has been removed.

This can occur in your case, or in the handwriting of anyone else. It is a temporary thing, but strokes change as you change, they come and go, depending on circumstances, but your handwriting in its entirety remains the same. This fact is the reason that you have a later chapter that tells you how you can actually change and strengthen your own ability by changing your writing.

In plate 53 you have an illustration of the resentment stroke. Notice that there is a straight or inflexible stroke at the start of almost every word. You cannot miss these strokes for they are there. This is a warning of every word. She resented. She expected to be criticized, and she fought back by resenting what she felt was an imposition.

Plate 54. This writer is both proud and sensitive.

For several years she worked with a woman whose writing was vertical, and very light. Also she was critical, because she felt that everything had to be done precisely the same. She was not an easy person to work with, even for others of equal rank, and this writer was under the older woman's supervision. There was no doubt that she became emotionally upset many, many times. Her sensitiveness was overworked, and before long she was starting to put in resentment strokes that were strong, and occurred before

Then there was a change of department heads, and the reasons for the resentment no longer existed, her sensitiveness was no longer stirred every day, and she began losing the initial resentment strokes.

• YOUR HANDWRITING WARNS YOU OF PERSONALITY DEFECTS

If you find them in your own handwriting, make every effort to remove the cause—if there is a cause—because resentment grows, and multiplies like weeds in a garden. There is no single trait that can do more to wreck your happiness than feeling that you are imposed upon, and resenting that imposition. It is so easy to start resenting just a little, and the feeling grows, and multiplies and very soon you resent not only the imposition, but you resent what others do, and what they say. In case you are sarcastic you will grow more so, because sarcasm becomes a defense mechanism used to ward off that which you hate so badly.

EXAMINATION FOR CHAPTER 5

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

Specimen M

You have already found that you are not asked to answer questions on every principle given in a single chapter. The reason is simple : If you have learned the rules covered by the questions so that you can answer them correctly, it is reasonable to assume that you have been honest in studying all of the rules.

Never lose track of the basic fact when you guess because you do not know, you can make some very damaging conclusions. No book could be compiled that gave you every variation of letters, so it is essential that you learn to observe. Master these basic rules, and then exercise caution and common sense in applying them.

Many years ago when grapho analysis was first offered to home and resident students there were some who would check the questions and then look for the answers. Months later when they found a handwriting that was a little more difficult than the average they would be confused and made some rather horrible mistakes. It is expected that you are going to study the chapter before looking at the questions.

EXAMINATION

The above specimen is the writing of a very famous woman whose name for many years made headlines in great newspapers and magazines. She made many enemies and possibly just as many friends.

It is included here for you to use in making your first attempt at actually analyzing handwriting; not merely hunting for the use of strokes that reveal individual characteristics.

1. . Each of these remarks can be answered easily with a "Yes" or

"No*9 if you have studied and given attention to each illustration used to illustrate a principle.

a._______________________________ Highly responsive to emotional situations

b._______ Objective, showing very little if any response to emotional SITUATIONS

c._____________________ Keen, comprehending thinker

d.________ Slow thinker

e. Exploratory thinki

f. Superficial thinkei

g._________ Strong purpose

h. Weak purpose

i. Average purpose

j. Enthusiastic

k. No ENTHUSIASM

1. Domineering

m. Thrifty

n. Capable of keeping secrets

2. .Would you expect to find this woman becoming hysterical in an
emergency?

Yes___________ No

YOU START ANALYZING HANDWRITING 97

3 . . In your opinion, based on what you know, how do you rate this writers ability?

a. Average. b. Better than average. c. High.

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