The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-04-02
BLACK INK.
The Wall Of . Writer who Failed to
Mako His Mark.
Me- -

Make His Mark.
New York Tribune.
1t is painful to watch . person daily per-
jure himself-to see him making his life Q
lie and watch him 60 down to the grave
under false pretsnses. But It is much
more productive of pain in the observer
when he sees whole fraternity-a guild
all the men engaged in . particular branch
OF Misunderstanding the downward path
speaking falsehood constantly and un-
blushingiy - incorporating it into their
misunderstanding untruth the cornerstone
Of their commercial activity and living and
fattening on their unholy gains. But there
Is such Q class Of persons, and they are
the manufacturers of black ink.
As the reader probably knows, there Is
no writing ink which will make black marks
on white paper. The black ink which is
foisted on the public is supposed to do it,
but il viii not. The manufacturers print
glowing accounts Of how black their ink Is
on pieces OF paper and stick these on the
outside OF their bottles, but the ink remains
the same. Sometimes they blow their
6indbad-like tales in the glass, or stamp it
In the hard interchangeable surface Of their
stone jugs; but the ink remains pale and
unsatisfactory. Often 1t appears black in
the bottle. though more frequently It il .
cold sickly green, or . muddy, ominous
blue; but In any case IL il not black when
you write with It. Still, the manufacturers
60 on year after year assuring the public
that their inks are black. and they search
the helpless dictionary for terms to aid
their mendacity. and declare that their ink
is "coal-black, ''raven-black.' '''iet-black, /"
''midnight-black," and so forth.
Alleged black ink may, like the earth We
inhabit in the school geography. be di-
vided into two grand divisions-one which
may be any color. or no color. when first
used. and which leads you on with the
false hope that some time in the future Il
viii turn black; the other which unblush-
ingly takes on all the blackness it ever in
tends to assume Immediately, and, - 1t
were, laughs loud at your discomforturs o.
it flows from your pen. No ne knows which
kind, - you write You may or may not be
able to see what you have written. You
feel back our the sheet-it IL wet-you
have filled it with something-you dash of
another. At the end Of half On hour faint
tfacings begin 70 appear 1t the top Of the
first sheet Gradually they spread down
the sheet and begin at the top OF the
second. Your letter is coming to life. But
it never comes wholly TO life-not to good.
vigorous, active life. Documents written
in this kind Of ink have been stored in
cornerstones and opened . century after.
and stili the writing was only dull. dark.
grayish brown. Il needed moro time.
With the other kind you ct least know the
worst 1t first. You need not feel of the
sheet to see IL II is written on. But this
kind is not usually so nearly black a. the
osher-after It hes had . few hours in
which to make its debut There Is really Q
third kind Of so-called black ink, which
ought to be mentioned. 1t seems to be
composed OF 81 ne, gum-arabic. India
rubber and lamp black. 1t is really. per-
haps, the darkest Of the lot, but II Is not
black, and it lies in ridges on the paper.
Sometimes II is harder to manage than at
Others. Yon jab your pen in the inkstand
and when you pull it out you find that
you have only the holder-the pen
is sticking in the ink like . har-
poon in the back Of whale. clerk in q
William street Law Office was once writing
with this sort OF ink. He had finished q
one-page letter and raised his pen sud-
denly, when (he always ran his words to-
eether) ali he had written on the whole
sheet peeled of and hung before his
startled gaze from the point OF his pen like
the wreck OF a woven-wire bed-matIres He
tied the date-sine TO the gas-hxtures and
took hold of the firm name and stretched
IL out. and found that the writing in his
letter was eight feet long. When he re-
leased his bod it few back into place. He
took some muciiage and stuck the writing
back on the paper. and the man who re-
ceived the letter never knew the difference.
We read sometimes OF prisoners in sub
terranean dungeons making . pen from q
tenpenny nail and writing their memoirs
with their blood. This class of people need
never come to the man Who uses black ink
looking for sympathy.