All About Pens

Sharp pointed bodkins, made of bronze, of steel or of iron, were the first pens, and they were used for cutüng out let' ters and hieroglyphics in the limestone, sandstone or steatite of eastern countries. Such pens were also used for writing on A.ssyrian tablets. The tablets were made of soft clay, and after receiving inscriptions were dried in the sun or baked in the fire. In the far east and in Egypt the camel's hair pencil soon took the place of the metal bodkin. With the pencil letters were painted on the skins of animáis and the bark of trees, in much the same manner that the Chinese draw them on paper at the present day. In Persia, Greece and Syria wai and leaden tablets carne into use, and the stylus became the popular pen. The stylus was made of bone, ivory or metal, with one end pointed and the other flattened. The flattened end was used to erase errors made in writing. The use of parchment and papyrus, however, called for a more flexible pen than either the bodkin or the stylus, so reed pens were invented. For making these pens a peculiar kind of reed was used, which was sbaped to a point and split, similar to the pens now in use. In A. D. 553 it was discovered that quills made much better pens than reeds. The quills of the goose, theswan and the crow were used principally. Several centuries later, when writing paper was introduced into England, the quill pen was still the f avorite writing instrument. However, the quill pens had been greatly improved, and those from Eussia and Holland were excellent. In the early part of the present century there was a demand f or something better and more durable than quill pens. Accordingly a great many experimenta were made with hom, glass, tortoiso Bhell and finally with steel, silver anJ gold. Itwas soon found that pens made of horn and tortoise shell softened under the action of the ink and were not so good as quill pens. Nor were the silver pens very good. They were too elastic and too easily worn at the points. In 1803 steel was tried in Wise's barrel pens, but being poorly made and ver}' expensive they were not a success. At Birmingham, England, in 1820 the maiufacture of steel pens began in earnest, and they proved to be excellent. The first gross of steel pens sold in ham brought $o6 at wholesale. They were soon manufactured in great '■ numbers and have been getting betier : and cheaper all the time, until now we j can buy for a trifle the best steel pen j made. Europe has always excelled in the manufacture of steel pens, and ' ica is not-ed for the manufacture of gold I