[Ill.u.s.tration: Banker Wm. W. Quigg thinks this is a pretty good signature. He is a banker at Ontario, Calif.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Michigan bank cashier, E. Newell, writes this signature.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: This is the signature of Common Pa.r.s.e.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: This is the way H.G. Nolton writes his name.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: This was the original freak signature of the country.

It will be recognized by every one as F.E. Spinner.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: F.S. Watts, teller in an Iowa bank, is not afraid to use ink. He says this signature has never been counterfeited.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: This stands for Lloyd Bowers, a well-known Kansas banker.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: R.J.B. Crombie, a Canadian banker, has a signature that is certainly freakish.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tom Randolph, president of a Sherman, Texas, National Bank, thinks he is a good writer.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: W.D. Mussenden, an eastern banker, thinks any man ought to readily read his writing.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: C.W. Bush, president of the Bank of Yolo, Woodland, California, makes these marks and they are good on any check.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: W.O. Cline, editor and publisher of a Chicago paper.

This is one of the most unique signatures in the United States.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A B. Ming might write worse but it is doubtful.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: W.P. Hazen, a Kansas banker, has written this signature so many years he thinks it ought to be legible to any one.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: This is the very complicated signature of Hugh Harbinson, a well-known Connecticut business man.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: John Mohr, Jr., thinks this is a plain signature.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Jas. V.D. Westfall, formerly a well-known New York State banker.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: F.C. Miller, Kansas banker, wants this to pa.s.s current as his name.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Louis Houck, historian, Cape Girardeau, Mo.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tams Bixby, General Manager The Pioneer Press, St.

Paul, Minnesota. This is certainly a unique signature.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: J.W. Dunegan, Cashier First National Bank, Marquette, Mich.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: This is known as the "Turn Around" signature. This was furnished us by the president of one of the largest banks in New York City. It is one of the most curious of signatures. Turn it around. It reads the same both ways.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: P.B. Elder, formerly a Pennsylvania bank president, known as the "upside down" writer. Turn it around.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: John R. Dixon, a well-known Chicago business man.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Peter White, President First National Bank, Marquette, Mich.]

HOW SOME CELEBRATED WOMEN WRITE

[Ill.u.s.tration: In this signature of the "divine Sarah," the flourish peculiar to most actresses, which indicates love of admiration, is very remarkable. We have also, in the return of the curve of the letter "S" the sign typical of egotism; in the peculiar form of the letter "B," we have originality; in the heavy down strokes we have sensuousness; and in the angular forms of all the letters, strong will.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Who has not heard of that eccentric woman in man's garb, Dr. Mary E. Walker. She is egotistical, seeks after notoriety, and her signature is a correct portrayal of a petulant and whimsical nature.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: This signature of Marie Antoinette was taken from a letter written while she was in prison under sentence of death. This is a despondent signature. Misfortune, separation from her husband and children, and humiliation had crushed her pride, and the whole of this signature is descendant, the four last letters remarkably so, which indicates a thoroughly despondent condition.]

THREE OF AMERICA'S BEST-KNOWN MEN

[Ill.u.s.tration: Melville W. Fuller, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, of the United States.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: P.S. Grosscup, Chicago, Judge of the Circuit Court of the United States.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: John Hay, formerly Secretary of State, is a versatile man. The most remarkable point in this autograph is its extreme clearness, indicative of lucidity of ideas. Cultivation is shown in the form of the capital letters in both Christian and surname. No obstinacy is shown in this nature, only sufficient firmness to hold his own when necessary, the signature showing also a strong literary leaning.]

THREE FAMOUS MILITARY MEN

[Ill.u.s.tration: We present a group of signatures of famous military men. The autograph of General Grant is plain and simple in its construction, not an unnecessary movement or mark in it--a signature as bare of superfluity and ostentation as was the silent soldier and hero of Appomattox. In the autograph of R.E. Lee we have the same terse, brief manner of construction as in Grant's. It is more antiquated and formal in its style, more stiff and what might be called aristocratic. Its firm upright strokes, with angular horizontal terminal lines, indicate a determined, positive character. In somewhat marked contrast with the two last-mentioned autographs is that of General Beauregard, in that he indulges in a rather elaborate flourish, which is a national characteristic.]

CHARACTERISTIC WRITING OF A FEW OF THE WORLD'S BEST-KNOWN LITERARY MEN AND AUTHORS

[Ill.u.s.tration: Shakespeare's writing shows a strong, intuitive observation--that quick movement of the mind which seizes character at a glance--is shown by the want of _liason_ between the curiously formed letter "h" and the "a" which follows it. With a poet's disregard of order, Shakespeare puts no dots to either of the small letters "i" in his Christian name, nor is there any full stop at the end of the signature, so suggestive, when seen in an autograph, of caution, and that attention to minutiae which seems almost incompatible with the poetic nature. No flourish of any kind disgraces this thoroughly characteristic signature of England's greatest poet.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: His popularity and fame as a novelist may be attributed to the fascinating style and vivid portrayal of his imaginative rather than realistic creations. The flourish after the signature has its significance also. It is lacking in grace or harmony, and evidently the quick, a.s.sertive stroke from the pen of one who will brook no opposition.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: In this signature of Longfellow we have imagination in the letter "L" in the signature of the surname, lucidity of ideas in the extreme clearness of the writing, ideality in the absence of _liason_ between the "l" and "o," but not as much tenderness as one would have expected in the writing of the author of "Evangeline."]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Edgar Allen Poe was an egotistical and imaginative writer. When the flourish takes any very peculiar abnormal form, it is rather a sign of originality than vanity, though there is, perhaps always a slight admixture of egotistical feeling in all flourishes.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Who has not heard of Emile Zola? This signature has the lightning flourishes in the "Z" and "a," and the entire separation of letters indicate an almost wholly intuitive mind, but lacking in logic, reason and judgment.]

AUTOGRAPHS OF SOME WELL-KNOWN MEN. THEIR WRITING IS AS DIFFERENT AS THEIR CHARACTERS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Uncle Joe Cannon, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has a careless and rapid signature which indicates a determined and arbitrary will.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cecil T. Rhodes, the wealthy South Africa diamond king, has a signature denoting secrecy and thrift. The curve of the "C" and "T" denoting love of publicity. His wonderful endowments gave him fame and publicity.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Signature of John Jacob Astor, the founder of that well-known family.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ingersoll's signature is that of a combative man. This is told by a certain irregularity in writing and at the same time all the signs of ardent courage.]