THE CHAMPION TYPIST.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14151, 10 March 1910, Page 6

THE CHAMPION TYPIST.

THE 'WORLD'S RECORD. HOW SHE MADE IT. A short time ago Miss Rose L. Fritz performed the astonishing feat of writing 6135 words in an hour 011 a typewriter, which works out at an average of about 102 words per minute. By this feat she won the World's Typing Championship for the sixth time.' The advice she gives in the following article will doubtless be read with very great interest by the hundreds of shorthand writers and typists in this country- " In the first place," says Miss Fritz, "I learned the touch system perfectly —so perfectly, in fact, that my fingers think for me. I see a. word and I don't think how it is spelled ; my fingers are spelling it out for me after my mind has forgotten it and is reading the next word. I never think of looking at the keyboard or at what I am writing. If I make a mistake I know it as I am making it, sometimes before. That is, 1 know lam going to make a mistake, but I haven't'time to stop myself. "I think the first- tiling a young typist should learn is absolute accuracy. Speed will come of itself. Too often a beginner is so anxious to become a fast operator that he forces himself at the expense of accuracy. is a fatal mistake, because once that bad habit- is acquired it is almost impossible to break it. I think it is best t-o practice from all kinds of copy. For my part I make use of newspaper stories more than anything else. Working over set exercises like Aow is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party' has very little value. I have often been asked if pianoplaying is anj*- aid in typewriting. For myself I find that it is reallv a liindnince Of curse, in that "it gives strength to the hands it is a help, but the- theories of piano-plaving and typewriting are different. " I place ' rnv typewnter so that the lower bank of letters is on a level with mv elbows. I always sit erect and move as I find it comfortable. This, I think, 'is merely a matter of comfort, for two of my nearest competitors sit in entiul\ different attitudes, one feet, not moving by an hair's breadth L?'V m ' ; i t;i ' C nt i er is ail '"imped o ,or machine.- Personalis-, I think a woman should always sit- as nearly erect as possible to preserve her Swi engtli and figure. "Strength in the hands and arms is the- most valuable requisite' one can possess. Housework or exercises which employ the muscles of the arms and hands are very valuable, and every typist should stive some attention to the matter. The stroke should be a sharp staccato below the key. The finger must not linger on a letter. T take the letters off my machine and substitute celluloid cans, as being more comfortable for the finger-tins. "In closing I want to "lay stress upon the necessity of having the typewriter absolutely clean. I am astonished when T f|o into business offices to see the condition in which the average operator keens bis machine. It is impossible to work fast on a dirty, sticky typewriter, and a blurred letter is a disgrace to the operator and to the firm for which it is written."