PENS AND INK.

Southland Times, Issue 1191, 4 January 1870, Page 3

PENS AND INK.

(Pall Mall Gazette). An ingenious remark was made a snort time since to the effect that until the invention of railroads mankind had made no real advance in locomotion since the days of the Pharaohs. The same thing may be said of the process of writing which is carried on still ia the same clumsy way that it was in the days of the scribe who heard all the words at the mouth of his master and " wrote with ink in a book." Think seriously about it, and what can be more cumbrous or vexatious than our mode of writing ? It involves the making of ink, the making of pens, the procuring of paper, and of blotting paper or pounce, the possession of a sepa- 1 j rate receptacle for the ink, the carrying of the pen over to dip it into the ink, the constant interruption of the flow of thought to replenish the flow of ink, the longer interruption at the end of each page to blot the writing or cover it with pounce. Then observe the varieties of torment that may bo introduced into this already complex operation. The pen may be bad ; the paper may be bad ; jlthe^ ink may be bad — bad in colour, or to| thin or too thick, or may (like copying ink) have a vile smell, or (like copying ink" again) may remain sticky and smeary for hours after it is written with. Each of these possibilities creates some fresh nuisance for the writer, and interferes with his comfort, and therefore with the ease and effect of his composition. His pen leaves a pathway of blots on the table between the inkpot and the paper, or has to be shaken out by his side after each dip to the disadvantage of the carpet. If not, the writing suffers. Every I is surmounted by a round pond, and the tails of all thej's,g's, and other caudate letters form little lakes of ink, to be dissipated into broad lagoons on the pressure of the blotting paper. Then think of hairs in your pen, of black smears up the side of your finger, of pens digging into - the paper, or gliding innocuously over greasy spots ! In a word, the pen and ink are thoroughly antiquated, and fit for a place in the Kensington Museum, near the antiquated Italian coaches. Who will rise | up and give us a pencil wbich shall do all i that the pen and ink do, with none of their drawbacks ?