69.  Consonant-Outline Written before Vowels.

—As has been already stated (28), all the consonant-stems of a word are written before writing any of the vowel-signs. The entire outline is first completed by joining the stems, one after another, in proper succession, without any break or lifting of the pen or pencil from the paper. The vowel-signs are then written to the outline, in the order of their occurrence in the word.

70.   In the following illustrations the upper line of characters shows the outlines of the words filch, Alabama, etc., as they appear after being written without lifting the pen, and the lower line shows the same outlines with the vowels inserted. Each outline should be vocalized as soon as it is written, and before proceeding to write the next outline.

71. Ish and Shee, Lee and El. - When the signs for sh and i stand alone, the former is written downward (9) and is called Ish, and the latter is written upward (8) and is called Lee. But when joined to other stems, both of the signs may be written either upward or downward. Now, for the purpose of distinction, when written upward, the sh-sign is called Shee, and when written downward, the 1-sign is called El.

Reading Exercise.

Remark. The reading of this exercise consists in pronouncing the names of the consonant-stems of each combination, one after the other, in quick succession ; thus, Tee-Pee, Bee-El, El-Ing, Ef-Lee, Ish-Dee, Shee-Ith, etc