Through the years, my penmanship has deteriorated. I have to “write” in the morning before my gnarled-up fingers begin to ache, but we can say good bye to penmanship – not just because of gnarled-up fingers and arthritis.

Penmanship – or cursive writing – is almost history.

Remember the hours spent practicing those curving lines, on the specially lined paper? My generation learned cursive writing about Grade 2 or 3, as I recall. No longer would we print our name – it could be written right out. Good penmanship, like good spelling, was something to admire and be proud of. I think spelling went by the board years ago, and now it looks like cursive writing will disappear.

By the time our grandchildren are our age, examples of penmanship (cursive writing, or longhand) might be framed and placed on the walls of museums, as examples of the way things used to be. Like cross-stitch samplers, our childhood work will the subject of history tours.

When I first heard about this, I didn’t believe it, until I quizzed some parents of young kids presently in school. Check it out for yourself. It’s kind of up to the individual teacher whether to include writing (not printing) in the curriculum, but time spent on teaching it declined from 45 minutes a day to less than 15, just in the 20 years from 1960-1980.

I cannot believe that today’s kids won’t be able to read the Constitution and other documents that define our country. Letters that ancestors wrote from the battlefield – no longer legible and no signatures (in longhand or cursive) on deeds, licenses, agreements and legal paper. No signing checks.

In the “olden” days, many legal documents were signed with an “X” or other mark. Something to think about.

You still have to sign a tax return and I hope you have made one out this year, even if you’ve not filed a tax return for years so you may get the refund/rebate of your property tax (or rent, in the case of renters) that used to be called Circuit Breaker.

One of our readers writes:

“With only about seven weeks left before the tax deadline I believe it would be a good idea to cover this subject again in your weekly column. In order to get this credit you will have to file a State of Maine tax return (form 1040ME) along with an accompanying Schedule PTFC, even if you owe nothing to the State of Maine.”

Can you receive assistance in applying for the credit? Yes, Maine Revenue Services will assist applicants. Call 626-8475 weekdays, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

If you filed for the circuit breaker last year, you will receive the form 1040ME booklet in the mail or the forms can be downloaded from the Maine Revenue Services website at http://www.maine.gov/revenue/forms or by calling 624-7894 to request that a form be mailed.

Kay Soldier welcomes reader ideas for column topics of interest to seniors. She can be reached by email at kso48@aol.com, or write to 114 Tandberg Trail, Windham, ME 04062.