My favorite story about handwriting does not appear in Kitty Burns Florey’s winsome history. It comes from the annals of American art, though like many of the stories Florey tells in her book, Script and Scribble, it is about presentation. Thomas Eakins is perhaps best known for his paintings of taut-bodied rowers on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. Less known about him is that his father was a master penman who would put the whole family to work during diploma season. Thomas was his able protégé, and the boy’s lessons in script and calligraphy deeply influenced his orderly approach to … Continue reading The Formation of Character