DISCOVERINGYOURSELF AND OTHERS THROUGH HANDWRITING ANALYSIS 46 -

cessive, the strokes unrnodulated in width. The rhythm and form level are poor overall.

Faster than Average or Speedy Writing will have an unadorned, spontaneous and natural look. The pattern will be animated and rhythmic with smooth, unbroken strokes and outward swinging curves. The directional trend will be rightward with the i dots streaklike and placed to the right of the stem or linked to the next letter, and the t bars extended, placed to the right of the stem. Connective forms are garland or threadlike and the letters streamlined and of medium size. Endings of words can become threadlike and there is an overall neglect of detail and flourish.

A naturally speedy writing has a smooth, flowing, and simplified look. The graphologist finds speed vital to understanding the writer's personality; it shows the level of spontaneity in personal response and the practicality of character. A quick legible hand is partly a matter of experience and manual skill, but it always shows mature and intelligent simplification of letter forms. The natural, open individual will write with a timesaving simplicity and with grace. Speed gives impetus to the individualization of letter forms as the writer unconsciously creates his own smooth shortcuts. Such forms can be highly original. Slow writing is almost always suspect of calculation, self-consciousness, even stupidity and dishonesty. Elaboration and exaggeration give so many negative clues to personality; neither is possible in a speedy hand. Nor is there time for touching up, coiling, tangling, breaks, reversed pressure and extraneous leftward motions, all signs of mental disorder. In its role of producing a simple and sophisticated hand, speed is a necessary part of good rhythm and form quality.