Tradition has dominated the teaching of hand writing as it has no other school study. It has been the last of the so-called formal subjects to be in?uenced by the newer educational thought. Aside from the notable but temporary contro versy as to vertical or slant writing, the ped agogy of penmanship has scarcely been an im portant concern in educational discussion. Not until quite recently have we really had any im portant professional publications upon the sub ject. The result has been a tardy development of economical and efficient methods of teaching children to write.