g women as amanuenses has grown very largely of
late years. It is said on good authority that, fifteen years ago,
there were but five females in the city of New York who made their
living by writing short-hand; at the present time there are, as nearly
as can be estimated, between one hundred and fifty and two hundred.

"Which is the best system of short-hand?" is generally the first
question asked by the person desirous of entering this profession. And
that is a very difficult question to answer, and many of the answers
that have been given to it have been very far from honest.

In the first place, it must be stated that there are about a score of
"systems" of short-hand before the public, each of which has its
defenders and advocates. Each is highly recommended in commendatory
letters from this or that distinguished court or newspaper reporter.
Each can show, and does show, first-class notices from prominent daily
and weekly papers, and each has a circle of followers who loudly
proclaim that the particular system they follow is not only the best
in existence, but really the only one worth learning. In the search
after short-hand truth, it is but natural that the would-be learner
gets bewildered, and asks, "What shall I do?"

The system of short-hand practised by the vast majority of writers,
both in this country and in England, is phonography, invented by Isaac
Pitman, of Bath, England, in 1837. That system is based on an alphabet
representing the sounds of the language, instead of the ordinary
alphabet we use in spelling words. Since 1837 there have been many
phonographic text-books written by as many different authors, and each
author has added a hook here or a circle there, lengthened this
stroke, or made that one heavier; and that accounts for the variety of
"systems." The fact is, they are all based on the original phonography
of Isaac Pitman, who himself, by the way, was the first to set the
example of making changes and "improvements." For all _practical_
purposes phonography is no better now than it was thirty years ago. I
dwell upon this point, for I know "the best system" has been a sad
stumbling-block to many young people who were naturally anxious to
start on the right road.

Which system, then, is the best? Answer: any system will answer the
purpose of the woman who desires to become simply a phonographic
amanuensis. And it is only of that branch of work of which I write,
for though there are a few fem