A QUESTIONABLE ADVANTAGE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVIII, Issue XVIII, 1 May 1897, Page 543

A QUESTIONABLE ADVANTAGE.

In reading (says the London Daily Mail) the eyes necessarily travels over a great deal of space. Backward and forward from the beginning of a line to its end, and then to the beginning of the next, it all amounts up to a surprisingly long distance in a life time, or even in the course of reading this morning’s copy of the Daily Mail. It does not often occur to a reader, however, that the eye travels jnst twice the distance that it would have to go if the type could be so arranged as not to necessitate going from the end of one line the whole distance back in order to get at the beginning of the next one. It has been suggested, however, that books and papers be printed in such a way that this can be overcome. It could be done by having the alternate lines read backwards, the first line being straightforward, and the following being printed backwards. For example :— ‘ Two ceremonies in Burmah mark when childhood boys The .begins womanhood or manhood and stops have their legs tattooed in brilliant blue and red patterns girls’ the of boring The .bored ears their girls the and ears is commenced with a needle, and the puncture is be can finger the of tip the until increased gradually introduced. This enlarging process is also carried on in a carry can native the where. Islands Polynesian the good-sized knife hanging in the lobe of his ear. The who .Esquimeaux the of that is mutilation ngliest punches a hole in his cheek, and puts a bone stud into .it The chief argument claimed for the plan is that it might save the eyes and possibly facilitate rapid reading if customary. A million letters laid side by side will make hardly more than a mile, yet in a year the average reader covers with his eyes almost too miles, and in a lifetime a great reader covers over 2,000 miles of print. A 300-page novel has a mile of reading, and the fourvolume edition of ‘ Macaulay’s History of England ’ leads the eyes a chase of four miles and a half to get through. In such calculations it can be seen where the possible utility of the proposed change can come in. for in the case of ‘ Macauley’s History,’ for example, the eyes travel not the mere four and a half miles but nine miles, since for every line read they have to travel backward jnst as far to begin the next one. It has also been calculated that it takes a rapid reader five hours’ steady reading to read a mile of print. After several tests we are forced to confess that the new method of reading, which we became acquainted with in the pages of a paper devoted to the interests of the printing trade, consumes considerably more time than the old.

The faces of the women one passes in the street form a curious and, too often, a saddening study. One woman purses up her lips, another screws her eyes into unnaturalness, while a third will wrinkle up her forehead and eyebrows until she looks absolutely ugly. The trick is an unconscious one, but it is none the less a trick, and a bad one. There is no reason why a woman should look forbidding and bad tempered just because she is annoyed about something. Deep-seated trouble has a way of writing itself upon the face whether we will or not. Sickness, too, has its own handwriting, and will not be concealed by art. But the frown caused by superficial troubles should not be entertained by the face for an instant. We should strive to look as pleasant as possible for the sake of others ; a corresponding cheerfulness of temperament will inevitably result, and always to the sweetening of our nature. We cannot afford to go about with gloomy faces.