The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-10-26
MI -
! Lead.P Pencils.

The lesd-pencil, as We have it,swas UNI
known - tho ancients, and even to the
Epoderns befofe the reign of 'sGoSd Queen
BessP as the English love to call their
Queen Elizabeth.
With what delight, then, must the world
of artists and writers of all kinds have
hailed the invention of the black.lead PEN
Gil, as we have it to-day! I said black
lead, but although the metallic part of this
little implements uniYersally called black
lead, there is not a particle of lead in it.
This black, smooth, soft and glossy sub
stance is properly called plunabago, and
is compound of carbon and iron, or, as
the chemists term it, carbu,et of iron.
There are several varieties Of plumbago
found in the rocks in different parts of the
world, some OF which are good for one
use, and others for other uses, and it hap
pens that one of these varieties is fine
grained, soft, nearly free from grit, and
well adapted for writing with, and this
kind has received the name of graphite,
from Greek words which signify aorsting
stone.
Some of my readers doubtless remem-
Der that in the time of Queen Elizabeth
OF England, was born the greatest of En-
glish poets, William Shakespeare. He
NOAAAC 1AVO I1C WI III LII GllC lOOt, dUOuG SIX
years after Elizabeth came to the throne,
and it was in that same year that there
was discovered in the county of Cumber-
land, in the northwest corner of England,
a mine of the best and purest graphite
that had ever been seen. have put these
dates together so that you will be apt to
remember them all, when either of them
IS mentioned. This substance was so solid
and firm and strong, and free from grit or
| sandy particles, that it could be sawed in
. sheets, and these could be sawed again
nto little narrow strips without breaking.
These little strips of graphite being soft,
| and smooth, and black, were inclosed in
round pieces of some soft wood, grooved
out to receive and hold them and that was
the modern lead pencil to all intents and
purposes.
This mine at Borrowdale, in Cumber-
land, at once became very celebrated, and
of course very valuable. Pencils made
of Cumberland graphite were to be found
all over Europe, and were highly priced
everywhere. The manufacture of lead
pencils became very important branch
of business, and in order to keep it wholly
within the borders of their own country,
the English Government passed laws pro-
hibiting the export of graphite to foreign
lands. Its value was such that the aver
age price in London was about ten dollars
pound, and the very finest quality some
times reached forty dollars pound. They
took such good care of it that only a GER
tain quantity, enough to supply the re-
quirements of the pencil makers, was
doled out, on the first Monday in every
month; and moreover, the Government
was obliged to keep military force at the
mines, to protect it from bands of maraud-
ers and robbers, who attempted to get pos.
session of it.
England thus supplied the world with
lead-pencils for nearly 800 years. 1t is
true that pencils were made of an impure
graphite in some other parts of Europe
but they were a very inferior article com
pared with the English, and artists and all
others who required good lead-pencils
were obliged to look TO England for them
But there is an end to almost all good
things, and so it proved at last with the
graphite mine of Cumberland. Its ex
haustion was only a question of time, and
that time has now passed. It was clearly
4 fOreseen that some means must be devised
for making the impure kinds of graphite
available for the needs of the world
or the world must be content to give uI
the use of black-lead pencils, and at last
as usual, patience, perseverance, ingenuity
and experience solved the problem. Pen
ellis are now made better adapted for all
uses, blacker or fainter, harder or softer
than ever could he made.of the best Cum
berland lead by the old method. TIL,
mode of treating the plumbago by which
this result is obtained is French inven
ton. 1t consists simply'in mixing thu
powdered clay, in certain manner ant
certain proportions, moissening and dry
ing and pressing and baking the mass
varying the treatment according to thu
different grades of pencils required.
These different grades are very con
venient, and indeed are required by art
lists; but by the old method of making the
Cumberland lead pencils, these nice shad
| ings of softness and blackness could NJ,
have been obtained. So that human in
i genuity and care may make an inferio
article answer a better purpose than tn
purest natural product, unaided by human
skill.-J. ". Preston, in st. Nicholas fo
Nouember.