The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-02-29
About Steel Pens.

A worthy old gentleman has Just died
at Birmingham, England, of whom,
while his name is famous to the ends of
the earth, probably as little is generally
known as of the obscurest of New York
newsboys. He, more than any other
man of his generation, had practical
experience of the fact that "the pen is
mightier than the sword"-at least,
mightier as the instrument by which to
achieve a great fortune. His name was
Joseph elliott; what author, book
keeper, clerk, or even writer of friendly
letters-what school-boy, what sailor
laundering over log-book, or country
grocer making out bills, has not read it
on his pen, as he wrote? elliott, from
being Sheffield grinder-and rumor
has it that he was O very charitable
grinder"-became the greatest manufac-
turer of pens in the world and in his
old age was q patron of art, a lover of
rare old books, and hospitable gentle
man, keeping an open house and we'll
stocked cupboard. The pen trade in
England is one of the most sharply-com-
petitive of trades; but the grinder from
Sheffield long ego took the lead, and
has sturdily kept it ever -excelling
in all grades, it appears, from the wee
nibs that make hair-strolses, to the stout
bodied magnum- -bonums," " ostriches,"
and "swans" Indeed, Mr.. Gillott's his
tory is almost the history of the rise and
progress of steel pens; when he began
to make them, quilts were universal, as
they are still aristocratic. 1t is odd to
observe how the aggregate handwriting
has shriveled within the past forty years.
The manuscripts of our grandfathers
were in large, bold Observation-Disclosures
such characters could be made with a
quill, with the expenditure of as little
force as is now used in making the
smaller and lighter characters with steel
nibs. At first the innovation was stout
ly resisted, such as gas, railways, and the
telegraph, were resisted by Tory-colored
souls; but the great advantages of steel
over Lii pens were too apparent not to
make rapid progress in popular favor.
1t is said that, in the private schools of
England, there were, for many years af-
ter Gillott's factory was started, strict
rules forbidding the scholars to use
them and even at this day there are
aristocratic mansions where quills only
llc W D6 lOuI'l uScll
ers seized upon steel pens as most val
liable implement for their art; the cheap
ness of steel pens caused their adoption
among the lower and middle classes
and mankind, ever prone to Incidence,
and so indulgent to inventions, were
not long in finding out that steel pens
were less troublesome than quills, and
that the current of thought might now
flow on, without being checked therein
by the necessity of pen-mending. 1t
would be interesting to inquire how far
the substitution of steel pens for quills
has been responsible for the deteriora-
ton of handwritings; for it is certain
that the general handwriting of our day
is less Ineligible, as well as less pleasing
to the eye, than that of the quill era.
Some of the French public offices COM
pei the clerks to use quilts for this rea-
son. 1t is a common saying that great
men write abominably; but this could
not be said of Washington, Jefferson, OF
Lafayette, of Goethe or Schiller, or OF
the signers of our Declaration of Inde-
pendence-users of quilts, one and all
On the other hand, Byron, Wellington
and Napoleon wrote badly; while among
modern writers many may be found dis,
tinguished for their skill in caligraphy