Writer 1879: Solitary Journey in France

Chapter 243 The Great Shift
Two days later, on a weekend afternoon, Lionel went out after lunch, walking through the Luxembourg Gardens to the fountain near the Senate building—

He arranged to meet Sophie here so they could go to Rue de la Récher to buy a typewriter.

Sophie arrived early today, wearing a dark blue wool dress, a gray wool coat, and a white silk scarf tied at the neckline, looking graceful and elegant.

Upon seeing Lionel, a warm smile immediately bloomed on her face, her azure eyes like the clear sky above the Seine.

Lionel hugged her: "Have you been waiting long?"

Sophie shook her head: "I just arrived too."

Then she took Lionel's arm and said, "Why did you suddenly decide to buy a typewriter today? Your handwriting speed is already amazing."

Lionel took her arm and walked toward Rue de la Réchell: "Efficiency, when inspiration strikes, quills and ink always seem too cumbersome."

"I'm finishing up Benjamin's 'The Curious Cases of Bouton,' and I have a new long novel in the works, so I need to work faster."

The streets of Rishlu had already awakened.

Lawyers and clerks carrying briefcases hurried about; publishing apprentices carried towering proofs; bookstore owners removed their partitions, revealing shelves overflowing with books...

The air was filled with the smells of paper, ink, and leather.

They quickly found their target—a fairly large store with several typewriters prominently displayed in the window.

It also features an eye-catching advertising slogan: "Remington No.2! A revolution in writing! Swift as lightning, clear as stone!"

The black sign reads "Du Pré Office Art Gallery" in cursive script.

Lionel pushed open the shop door and went inside, the brass bells on the door frame ringing crisply.

A middle-aged man with slicked-back hair was carefully wiping a typewriter with a soft cloth.

Hearing the bell, he looked up and saw two young men. He nodded slightly and then continued to focus on the soft cloth in his hands.

Lionel didn't care and walked straight to the booth, while Sophie looked at the 19th-century high-tech product with great interest.

She looked curiously at the oddly arranged circular buttons and softly read out the letters: "Q, W, E, R, T, Y... This order is so strange."

Unable to tolerate the customer's ignorance of this treasure, the shop owner put down the soft cloth and came over.

Du Pré spoke in a calm and reserved tone: "Good day, sir and madam, I am Du Pré. It seems you two are interested in this 'writing piano'?"

This is the latest Remington No. 2 typewriter, just imported from the United States. I'm the only one in all of Paris, and even all of France, that has it!

Lionel nodded: "Let me introduce it!"

The shopkeeper glanced at Lionel, seemingly judging that the young man didn't have the purchasing power.

He patted the typewriter: "Sir! This is a revolutionary advancement! Look at the casing, all metal, sturdy and durable, unlike those flimsy wooden frames. Most importantly—"

He pressed a key on the left side of the typewriter: "Shift key, shift key! See it?"

Press it, then press the key to type uppercase letters! Release it for lowercase!
One machine is equivalent to two! Just imagine how convenient that is when drafting official documents and contract titles, sir!

As Dupree spoke, he observed Lionel's expression, hoping to see surprise or confusion, but the other man simply listened calmly, which disappointed him somewhat.

He decided to "increase the dosage": "And this keyboard layout, QWERTY arrangement, it's incredibly scientific! Designed personally by Mr. Sholes—"

You must be wondering why the alphabetical order is so unusual, instead of following the ABC order.

The profound principles underlying this are not something that ordinary people can understand..."

Sophie frowned slightly, displeased with her boss's attitude, but just as she was about to speak, Lionel gently patted the back of her hand.

Lionel calmly began, "The QWERTY layout was designed to address the mechanical flaws of typewriters..."

Dupree's arrogant expression froze instantly.

Lionel's tone remained calm: "Typewriters use type rods to strike words onto paper. If the speed is slightly faster, adjacent or frequently used letter type rods can easily collide and jam during the lifting process, which reduces efficiency."

Therefore, the letter bars of the most frequently occurring letter combinations should be distributed in the layout, for example, separating T and H, and placing E and R later in the sequence.

This reduces the probability of typing jams and improves typing speed and reliability. Am I right? The shop fell silent for a moment, with only the faint sound of horse-drawn carriages coming from the street outside the window.

Dupree stared wide-eyed, mouth agape. "You...how could you...this...this is something almost only known within the factory...you're an engineer?"

Lionel smiled slightly, did not answer, but simply tapped the Shift key lightly: "The design of this shift key is indeed ingenious, truly brilliant!"

It would be even better if there was a Ctrl key…

The shop owner, abandoning his previous disdain, called out to the back of the shop, "Mary! Please come out and demonstrate how to type for this distinguished gentleman!"

A young female shop assistant came out in response. She was about twenty years old, with delicate features, wearing a neat white shirt and black long skirt, and looked smart and capable.

The shopkeeper eagerly brought over a stack of typing paper and carbon paper, showing off to Lionel: "Sir, you see, with this carbon paper, you can get two or three identical copies with a single strike."
For documents that need to be archived or distributed to many departments, this is a godsend!

Miss Mary skillfully rolled the paper into the roller, adjusted its position, and then hovered her hands above the keyboard, ready to begin her demonstration.

The shopkeeper asked ingratiatingly, "Sir, what would you like to see her type?"

Lionel smiled gently at Miss Mary: "Thank you, but don't bother. Can I try it myself?"

Miss Mary and her boss were stunned again.

The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment: "Sir, this machine requires some skill to operate, perhaps Mary could..."

Lionel persisted: "Let me try."

The boss had no choice but to gesture for Miss Mary to move aside.

Lionel stood in front of the typewriter, took a deep breath, and hurriedly tried it a few times on Alice's machine a couple of days ago.

Although the key layout of a computer keyboard is almost the same as that of a typewriter keyboard, the feel, pressure, and mechanical structure are completely different.

He habitually placed his ten fingers lightly on the "F" and "J" keys.

Although the keycaps of this era did not have the tactile bumps that later appeared.

The boss and Miss Mary looked at his strange starting stance with suspicion.

Then, Lionel began typing on the keyboard.

His movements were initially a bit clumsy, and he didn't control the force very well. Sometimes he was too light, and the writing was blurry; sometimes he was too heavy, and it made a loud "click" sound.

But soon, he seemed to get the hang of it, and his fingers moved faster and faster across the round keycaps.

"Click-clack click-clack... Ding!"

Lionel flicked the side handle as he changed lines, producing a crisp ringing sound.

The rhythmic tapping echoed through the shop at an astonishing speed!

The boss and Miss Mary stared wide-eyed, as if they had seen a ghost.

Miss Mary is the fastest typist in the shop, but she has to keep looking down at the keyboard, and her speed is far slower than that of the young man in front of her!

He... he almost never looks at the keyboard!
After printing a short section, Lionel pulled the roller handle to eject the paper for inspection.

Typewriters of this era were designed for "blind typing," with the type bar striking the paper from below, so typists could not directly see the characters they were typing.

Only by ejecting the paper can you check for errors.

There were several spelling errors and unclear ink marks due to uneven pressure in the passage he just typed.

The boss leaned closer and, upon seeing the smooth and neat characters, his mouth gaped open in an "O" shape once again.

Lionel pointed to the paper: "The typing speed is indeed very fast, which is a huge improvement. But you can't see the text in real time while typing, and it lacks commonly used French letters such as é, è, à, and ù, so you have to add accents manually..."

With each word he spoke, the boss's forehead broke out in a thicker layer of sweat...

(End of this chapter)