In Lesson I was explained the application of the main principle of the Invisible Alphabet of Haven's Practical Phonography, in indicating the vowel sounds of I, A and U invisibly by writing a consonant, after which one of those vowel sounds occurred, either above, on, through or beneath the line of writing, according to whichever vowel was intended at the time, and such principle has been used throughout the Exercise of each lesson preceding this, but the positions of the consonants were given no technical names. The student now being prepared for further explanation concerning the entire Invisible Alphabet, it becomes necessary to state that those three positions-above, on, through or beneath the line of writing - are known respectively as the first, second and third positions, and the vowels represented by such positions are known as first-place vowels, second-place vowels or third-place vowels, the sound of I, therefore, when represented invisibly, being a first-place vowel; A, a second-place vowel, and U, a third-place vowel.

But those three vowels are not the only ones so represented and so named. On the contrary, the entire eighteen vowel sounds of the English language are divided into those three classes-first-place, second-place, and third-place vowels - and are represented invisibly by those three positions only,in accordance with the table at top of next page:

Read the above table over until well understood, but it is not necessary to memorize it entire. Simply to memorize the main letters E, I, Oi; A, O; U, Oo and Ow; and their positions, is sufficient to impress the positions of the other sounds upon the mind, because the other sounds are merely variations of those eight.

Nor need students fear that the use of only three positions for the representation of eighteen different vowel sounds will serve to perplex them, when reading their own notes, if correctly written. All professional shorthand writers omit those eighteen sounds, representing their omission by three positions only, and to illustrate how comparatively easy it is to read by position, even with such a number of invisible vowel sounds to choose between, let us analyze the first word in our Exercise. The first sign in our Exercise happens to be an F above the line, which position, we are told by above schedule, represents the indication of either of the three sounds E, I or Oi after the letter F; therefore, such sign reads, according to the rule, either f-e, fee; f-i, fie; or f-oi, foi. But, as foi is no word at all, we have but two words to choose between, fee ox fie. In this instance the word intended is fee, because the Key to the Exercise says so. But should there have been no Key it would not have mattered which word the pupil transcribed it as, because the words in this Exercise are in no wise dependent on each other. Indeed, in this and some subsequent lessons, wherein the words of the Exercise are isolated, pupils may frequently, though working according to rule, interpret words differently from the Key, as they might have done with fee, in this Exercise. This must not, however, lead them to suppose that this will always be their experience. On the contrary, should this letter F have occured (in the position it occupies in this instance) within a sentence, no doubt about its meaning would have arisen, because other words preceding or following this particular word in the same sentence would have designated its meaning at once. A person would not be apt to say "A lawyer's fie, or "Fee, fee, for shame!"

In sign 2 in Exercise the position adds either A or O to F, making either fay or foe, but as the Key says foe, read it so, especially as there is no such modern word as fay.

Sign 3 would read as either f-u few; f-oo, foo; or f-ow, fow; but as foo and fow are no words, we read the outline as few; so that, as a general rule, only one word could be made out of such outlines anyway, and where more than one, the context shows which one. Where such would not be the case the visible vowel would be written as in signs 12 to 14 in Exercise. Sometimes a preceding vowel is written, and the final vowel indicated by position, as in signs 15 to 17 - the preceding vowel a in allow being written and the L placed through the line to indicate ow after the L, spelling a-l-ow, allow, etc., etc.