REMINISCENCES OF A SHORTHAND-WRITER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume X, Issue 2906, 22 May 1873, Page 6 (Supplement)

REMINISCENCES OF A SHORT-HAND-WRITER.

IX COMMITTEE. " He33BS. Gubxex will feol obliged by Mr. attending tlio House of Commons Committee on Great Western Railway Uillß, group 5, to-morrow, at 12 o'clock." This was the purport of a letter delivered to me one evening just as my note-book was closed for the day, and I was about to hasten home to take my wife (we had been married just three months) to the opera to hear Jenny Lind. I was suddenly attacked with a mild palpitation of the heart, not at the prospect of hear" ing the Swedish Nightingale, with my young wife by my side, but at tho thought of the professional engagement thus offered me for the next day. It was one which I hud often desired, but w'uioh, nevertheless, I feared to undertake. Tho duties were apparently simple enough : to take notes of the evidence of the witnesses examined before the Parliamentary tribunal, and transcribe them for the me of tbe committee, by tho following morning. I had often, when at Westminster, dropped into the committee-rooms to wulcti the proceedings, and my eyea were almost always directed to a little square table in front of the committee, on one side of which sat tho witness under examination, and on the other the shorthand-writer who wus taking down hi' evidence, and who often, as 1 could easily perceive, had to strain every nerve to keep up witli the speaker. Occasionally there were as many as twenty committees sitting at tho same time, and to each of these a shorthandwriter had to be assigned. The regular staff of Messrs. Gurney, the official shorthandwriters, was not largo enough to meet all emergencies, and when an unusual number of committees were in session the custom was, as it still is, to engage " outsiders " (shorthand-writers carrying on business for themselves), to take notes and transcribe them from day to day as Jong as their services might be required. The remuneration for this work, being liberal, there was ordinarily but little difficulty in obtaining all the extraneous aid required ; and as I was a young hand, and had no claim to any special consideration, I scarcely expected, though, as I have said, I often desired occupation of this kind. I had worked hard at phonography, and I knew that I could write as rapidly as those who wero usually employed in committee, but I was of a nervous temperament and shrunk from anything like a public or official position. Moreover, i did not relish the prospect of being called upon, at a moment's notice, by the chairman of tho committee, to read my notes for the purpose of clearing up some doubt as to what a witness had said. This indeed is the terror of many a shorthand-writor, who would rather forego the advantages of committee work in the way of remuneration than place himself in a position in wbich he might be required to read his hastily-written notes in the presence of perhaps a hundred persons. The reader will now understand my miugled feelings on the receipt of the letter to which I have alluded. I was quite determined to accept the engagement, and was, of course, pleased with the prospect of earning perhaps £50 if the committee shouldsit for some days, aud my services should bo so long needed. But I was uneasy in my mind. Wo went to the opera. Jenny Lind appeared in Norma. My wife was enchanted, aud olten looked at me, her face full of animation, evidently expecting a response. I attempted to smile, but tho effort was as futile as if I had been crossing the Channel. I could hear nothing. The most brilliant passages were utterly lost upon me ; I might as well have been listening to street-singers who " had got no work to do-o-o." My thoughts were otherwhere. I was sitting at a little square table. I was wondering what sort of a chairman there would be—whether he would have a bad memory and often required it to be refreshed by my notes — whether the witnesses would speak slowly and clearly—whether, if they went along too glibly, I should have courage enough to stop them, as I had seen other shorthand-writers do, and ask them to be a little more deliberate— whether there would be any technical terms employed that would stagger me. I devoutly hoped that the railway bill to bo enquired into was not a Welsh one, for I had heard Welsh witnesses oxamined who had spluttered out long lists of unintelligible names, for all the world as if they were taking hot soup. These and many such thoughts occupied my mind. As we wero leaving, my wife said to me, "My lore, are an? you not well ?" I replied that I was never better in my life. " 'l'hen I am sure there is something that distresses you, for I never knew you so indifferent to mueic before." I explained the state of things to her. She was delighted; she had unbounded confidence in my abilities, thought my fortune was made, and, as she has told me, was actually "wicked enough" to speeulate on the probability of my buying for her that beautiful

little brooch that we had both admired so much as we were walking down Regent-street a week before. She was in the highest possible spirits, and X believe that in the course ©f the evening, as we were talking the matter over, I unconsciously caught a little of her hopefulness; though, as she never wrote a line of shorthand in her life, she knew nothing of the pitfallß which may surprise even the most careful stenographer, and was, therefore, unable to appreciate nay fear 3 and anxieties. I passed a restless night; andj as I lay awake, thinking of what was before me, the little confidence with which Marion had inspired me gradually diminished and finally vanished altogether. In the early morning I fell asleep and dreamt that I was seated at the little table with my note-hook before me. -A. railway bill was about to be brought forward. I did not know who were the counsel engaged on one side or the other. I asked their names (which had to be recorded in my report) but no one could tell me. I then stepped forward and asked one of them —a good-natured old gentleman with a very black wig—to be ki'id enough to tell me his name. He replied "Julius Creaar." I knew that he must be joking, and was about to ask him, 11 Who gave you that name ?" when a horrible suspicion came over me that a conspiracy had been formed in the committec-rooin to prevent my obtaining the information I required. I then entered the different barristers' namea in my book, as Mr. A, B, O, D, according to their positions at the table assigned to them, hopin" that I should ascertain their real names before'the proceedings of the day were brought to u close. But no soouer had I made this arrangement than two of them left the room aud returned in a few seconds afterwards to occupy different positions at the table. It was obvious that., if this changing was to go on during the day, my system of lettering would be useless. I then tried to namu the counsel in some way that would recall them to me independently of their position. I was guided in my selection of namea by any peculiarities of feature or costume that I could discover. One I called " new wig," another "spectacles," another " piuiples," and was proceeding with my newly-devised nomenclature when one of them (Juliue Coeaar) rose to address the committee. I had to leave the task on which I was engaged, and, dipping my pen into the iuk, I squared my arms and prepared to take notes of the speech of the learned gentleman who was on his legs. To my inexpressible horror, he began his address in Latin! I now began to think that he really must be Julius Casar. But my early recollections of the " commentaries" did not suffice to enable me to follow his speech. I only caught here aud there a sentence, and was getting wild with mortification and dis» gust. I thought of the floggings I had received in my youth over the doings of the Helvetii and the iEdui, and wondered why this wretched Bomau should be permitted to come and tortura me a second time in mature life. I had not even got the thread of the speech, and at length I resolved to give up the task. I violently tore out of my book the page on which I was writing, and —awoke. "My dear," Baid my wife, "why are you pulling so hard at my night-cap ?" I rose early in the morning in no very cheerful frame of mind, aud, after breakfast, made my way to Westminster, where I arrived at a quarter before twelve. Entering the com-mittee-room, I found no other person there. I was in a Btate of great hesitation as to what course to pursue. As I had been ascending the steps from Westminster Hall, I was strongly tempted to shirk my task, to go straight homo to Marion, and tell her that 1 was not equal to it; and now that I had reached the scene of my labours the temptation was still stronger—so strong, in fact, that X acLu.illy left the committee-room aud was rushing along the lobby when I chanced to catch sight of a policeman vtho was taking up his station for the day. Whether ho noticed me I could not tell, but certain it is that the sight of this functionary inspired me with a degree of terror that I never before experienced. I felt that I was doing a criminal act, and quite expected to be taken into custody forthwith. Moreover, I reprouchod inysolf for a despicable piece of cowardice. Thoroughly ashamed, I t back, went again into the committeewhere soino half-a-dozen persons had i- /led, took my note-book from my pocket, sat down at the little table, with a dogged aetermiuation to do my best, and let late (which I felt was against me) do its worst, boon the " parties" began to arrive—counscl, attornics, parliamentary agents, clerks, witnesses, and others more or less interested in the proceedings. Then came one by one the members of the committee, five in number. The chairman sat iu tho middle. I eagerly scrutiuised his featured, aud tried to Cud some comfort- in the thought, that he appeared to be an eusy-going personage who was not likely to givo me much trouble. My first duty, after taking a note of the name of the bill, the names of the counsel and agents engaged in promoting or opposing, and tho persons for whom they appeared, was to enquire of the agents if they desired a note of the opening speech that was about to bo delivered. The shorthand-writer never takes notes of the speeches without Bpecial instructions from the agents, his official duties for the committee being confined to recording the evidence of the witnesses. I was requested by tho agent for the promoters to take ti note of the speeches as well as the evidence, and 1 accordingly calculated upon u hard day's work. Nor was I decoived iu mv calculation. A well-known parliamentary leader rose to the committee. 1 could not help thinking of my dream, and half expected to hear a Latin exordium. Great was my relief to hear the familiar opening, " I have the honour to appear, Bir, on behalf of the Great Western Railway Company, who are tho promoters of this bill." Kather nervously my pen followed on the track of the speaker, and very jhaky were some of tho characters that it formed. Knowing, however, that I should not be required to read aloud my notes of the speoch, my nervousness soon passed off, and as I warmed with my work I managed to keep pace with tho speaker, so that I scarcely missed a dozen words in the coureo of an speech. But now the more serious business of my office commenced. A witnesß was called on behalf of tho promoters of tho bill, and he took his seat just opposite me. I dipped my pen in the iuKstand, and awaited hie examination. Just as the first question was being asked, I managed to make a terrific blot on my note-book, which I tried to romove with my finger, aud thereby obscured some of the first wordß I had written. This disconcerted me so much that I became terribly nervous, mixed up questions and answers, and got my notes into a decided state of confusion. This lasted only a minuto or two. After writing about a p&go I recovered to some extent my self-possession, and wrote with tolerablo comfort and precision* But the .Fates were no doubt againßt me. Just as X was beginning to feel somewhat at ease, a membor of the committee, who bad been called away for a few minutes, entered the committee-room, and as it was considered desirable that all the members should hear the whole of the evidence, request was made to the chairman that I might read my notes of the examination that had been conducted in his absence. To my infinite disgust the chairman was good-natured enough to accede to the request, and he called upon me to read over the commencement of the witness's examination. My heart leaped to my mouth, land as X turned back to the place from which I required to read (about two rather closely-written pages), I made a vow that if I ever entered a committee-room again why then! But it was no uee to make vows or lamentations. All oyes were directed to ms —I felt them glaring at me with a fiendish malice. All ears were listening; and, in the midst of what seemed to me the most awful silence, I began to read. My voice was utterly unlike anything I had heard before; certainly no one would have recognised it. It was hollow, unearthly, and slightly tremulous. I read, however, well

enough for about two lines, and was then pulled b up by the huge blot and smear that I had b unfortunately made. A moderate degree of b presence of mind would hare carried me over a the difficulty easily enough. X might have " remembered the purport of the witness's f evidence; and, if I did not read the exact t words, probably no one would have no t ticed it. But presence of mind I had 1 none, and I came to a dead stop. That s dreadful silence. It lasted but a few seconds, 1 but it seemed an age. Oh, that some friendly j soul would slam the door, or sneeze, or do a anything that would make a noise. The a stillness was intolerable. The big blot stared 1 me in the face like a monster from beneath ; r and even notes that were not obliterated i became hazy and indistinct. I was beginning to feel faint, and was just about to appeal to j c the chairman to give me live minutes to ex- 1 amine my notes, when a slip of paper was put | j into the hand of the member for whose special t benefit I was reading, end who was leaning over the table that he might the more easily i catch ray words. He a*ked me to stop a t moment while he read it. I thought I had ] stopped a great many moments, but probably j it had not appeared so to him. When he had j read the paper he turned to the chairman, i who sat next to him, and told him, in an i undertone, that he had just received a message ] from his daughter, stuting that his wife had i been taken suddenly ill, and requesting his immediate attendance. He then hurried i out of the room, and the chairman explained the cause of the hon. member's absence. I never could express the gratitude I felt to the excellent lady whose illness had relieved me from an embarrassment which none but those who have experienced it can fully comprehend. She had moßt benevolently gone into a fit at the precise moment that my terrible exigency required. The evidence was then continued, aud I was not again called upon to read my notes. If I had been, Ido not think I should have experienced much difficulty, as my position bec.ime by degrees more familiar to me. Iu tbe case of one witness, however, I had no little trouble. About every two minutes he jumped up from his seat, and, pointing to a map hanging against the wall, described the course of the projected railways in terms, which, however intelligible to those present, would seem very strange on paper. " Down here," and " aloug there," " from here to here," and such like phrases often give a world of trouble to the shorthand-writer who seeks to give an intelligible account of what he records, and if witnesses would only remember that their words are to be reproduced without the accompaniment of maps, they would often be more precise in their langu»ge, and avoid all such declarations as, "I am clearly of opinion that this direction is better than that." However, as I have said, I got through my task with comparative ease, and had the satisfaction of attending the committee for eight days. My notes extended to nearly 400 folios (72 words) each day, and it was generally two o'clock in tbe morning before they were transcribed into long hand—a labour in which I was aided by four assistants, to whom I dictated alternately. I have a most vivid recollection of the satisfaction with which I received a cheque (not far Bhort o £100) iu payment for my labours. Having paid about a fourth of the amount to my ussistantß, I went straight to Kegent-street, aud never laid out a JBS note with so much pleasure as 1 then did iu the purchase of the identical brooch on whicli Marion had set her affections. Sbe has it still, and carefully preserves it as a memento of my first work in committee. —[Transcribed from the Phonoyraphic Reporter, by "Phono."—Parnell, May 21, 1873.]