By Alan B. Combs

Most of you are too young to remember the elegant Palmer Method of Handwriting with its countless repetitions and exercises. I do remember it, but all my students, assuming they would even know what the method is about, would assure you that I must have flunked.

I have a dear aunt who passed her lessons. Flowery, ornate, and highly readable, her handwriting is a source of pride. Recently, she entered a handwriting contest. She returned from the event spitting and sputtering in great outrage. She said they told her that because she applied late, they couldn’t read her handwriting. Her handwriting, the best there was! What a fiasco.

I made a gentle inquiry with the sponsors, and they told me that they tried to tell her that because she was too late, she was ill-eligible. She was not mollified.