variations as appear and do not interfere seriously with legibility are allowed to persist. In obtaining greater accuracy and speed, the point is soon reached where a large amount of effort is required to make small gains. Further effort seems wasteful. Hence there is the very general tendency for penmanship to disappear as a specific subject about the end of the sixth or the seventh school-year. The rigid insistence upon a certain position of body, arm, hand and fingers which characterized the former teaching of penmanship is no longer found. The child's own comfortable position is allowed to a far greater degree, provided it does not interfere with hygienic considerations. The attempt to make children write by a whole-forearm movement has also been modified. Slight finger-movement is permitted in combination with the whole-arm movement.
Penn, William, founder of Pennsylvania, was the son of Admiral William Penn, and was born at London, Oct. 14, 1644. Penn studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and there became a convert to Quakerism. In 1668 Penn was thrown into London Tower on account of The Sandy Foundations Shaken. While in prison he wrote No Cross, No Crown and Innocency with Her Open Face. He was liberated through the influence of the Duke of York, afterward James II. In 1670 Admiral Penn died, leaving his son $7,500 a year and claims upon the government for $80,000. In 1681, in lieu of his monetary claim, Penn obtained territory comprising the present state of Pennsylvania. He desired to call it Sylvania, but Charles II insisted on the prefix Penn, in honor of his father. In October of 1682 he held his famous interview with the Indian tribes. Penn concluded a peaceful arrangement for the purchase of their lands, and for 50 years his colony remained unmolested by them. Penn planned and named Philadelphia, and for two years managed affairs in the wisest, most benevolent and liberal manner. Not Quakers only but persecuted members of other churches sought refuge in his colony, where religious toleration was fully recognized and respected. In 1684 Penn returned to England to exert his influence in favor of his persecuted brethren at home, in which he was so far successful that soon after James II came to the throne (1685) 1,200 imprisoned Quakers were set at liberty. After the accession of William III, Prince of Orange (1688), Penn was accused of treason and conspiracy, but was acquitted. In 1699 Penn paid a second visit to Pennsylvania, where his colony required his presence. His two years' stay was marked by many useful measures and by efforts to improve the condition, not only of the colonists, but of the Indians and negroes. He returned to England in 1701. When an agent of Penn's died, he left claims which the latter refused to pay, and was committed to Fleet Prison, where he remained until friends procured his release by settling the claims. He died on July 30, 1718.
Pen′nell, Joseph, an American artist and engraver, was born at Philadelphia in 1860. He married Elizabeth Robbins, and he and his wife have been almost continuously traveling, writing and sketching since 1885. In this time they have visited many of the cities of the Old World and sailed down most of its historic rivers. Pennell's works are numerous, all illustrated in that pen-and-ink style for which he is justly famous. His first book was A Canterbury Pilgrimage; the latest, Lithography and Lithographers.
Penn′sylva′nia. Pennsylvania is one of the oldest and richest of the eastern states. Its position in commerce and manufacturing is due largely to its geographical location. Extending from the estuary of the Delaware on the southeast to Lake Erie on the northwest and commanding, also, direct outlet by the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico, Pennsylvania may justly claim advantages for internal and for foreign commerce second to none among the states of the Middle Atlantic group. The richness of its mines, the wealth of its forests, the productiveness of its fertile valleys and the unrivalled scenery of its splendid mountains and broad plateaus make Pennsylvania one of the first states of the Union. Its boundaries are, on the north, Lake Erie and New York; on the east, New York and New Jersey; on the south, Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia, on the west, West Virginia and Ohio. The Delaware River forms the entire eastern boundary. Area: 45,086 square miles. Population 7,665,111.
Surface. All the mountains are parts of the Appalachian system. Yet the state may be studied under four distinct divisions. The first, the Piedmont Belt, includes that part of the state between Delaware River and the Blue or Kittatinny Mountains. The second and third divisions, the Appalachian Mountains and the Great Valley, lie wholly within the main Appalachian system. Throughout this region are found many rugged mountain-walls forming gaps or narrows. The Susquehanna and the Delaware break through this chain. The Delaware, cutting diagonally across the Appalachian system, forms the famous Delaware Water-Gap. In this division is found also the famous Mt. Pocono region, now a summer playground for hundreds of tourists. The fourth division begins a little west of the center of the state, and consists of a series of high, rolling tablelands or plateaus known as the Allegheny Plateau. The entire western section of the state, from 1,000 to 1,500 feet above sea-level, is everywhere broken by short, fertile river-valleys. Blue Knob in Bedford County, with an altitude of about 3,136 feet, is believed to be the highest point in the state.
