Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-01-30
ION MIGHTY PENS"
CFrom the Messiah)

On my study table | keep two or three
quill pens for use with red ink for cor
rec..ng blue books. ! was quite taken
aback whom one of our younger profess
sors, happening in. pointed to my pens
and asked what are those" had ha l.
~ recovered from my amazement al this
kiddishness when another professor,
some what older, asked the same dues-
ton. Ind both these professors. as it
happened, were of the Agricultural de-
partment, and one of them had been
brought up on farm, presumably In
daily companionship with the goose.
What I replied to these gentlemen, so
strangely ignorant of literary ORTHODOXY
was, in substance, These, my dear sirs.
are pens, pens proper pens in their own
right. not BY brevet, not borrowed plumes
pens etymologic, the pens which you de-
ciintd in your adolescent first dcclension
the pens which are miChtier than swords
the pens that signed Magma Charta and
the Declaration Of Independence. and
wrote Hamlet and all the great thoughts
and dreams Of mankind quite down to
these very recent times whom Joseph
elliot began to make the metallic stubbs
which YOU miscall pens; pens, which in
clusters become opinions and bear aloft
the Theban eaClc.-or are the mighty
pens of the Oratoro quoted above
These particular pens which you are so
curiously star ing at were once the pro-
perty Of the Bank of England, OF whom,
indirectly ! purchased them. For this
high and mighty institute is so old-tash-
Toned as to use only quill pens in its
business These very pens. for anght I
know, may have been used for signing
some OF those cheques for fabulous
amounts which pass through thi. cosmo-
pol!tan clearing house. And this institu-
ton is so fastidious that it never retains
It's quilts for a second days use-on the
same principle, probably as that on
which 1t never reissues it notes. however
new and crisp they may bottle Same
principle which Richardson carried out In
architccture--namely. that good are abb
hors repetition. But as each quill by
successive mcndings Is good for a full
weeks work elsewhere. the subordnates
OF the bank make honest shillnGs by
selling the discarded pens to bookkeep-
ers and scribblers like myself
But this fastdious taste which clings
to the soose-qull pen fingers elsewhere
than in the Bank OF England. Old-fash
Toned folks clerks in old banking houses
literary men and women who retain the
tastes OF former Keneration--some
| covertly. as cherished distinction
some openly, and with a subtle claim OF
'uperiorty-more probably. In old Eng
land ard the colonies. than In the United
States more In our South than in on,
North-still use the quill pen. Most o.
us, who was for - years and more sec
know OF such people and can guess
others. Without knowing tho fact. II
would be safe for us 10 conjecture that
among the number would have beer
Ruskin-and all the pre- Raphaelites-and
Tennyaon. 1t is inconcevable that tn,
'1dylls of the King" should have beer
written with Brummasem steel pen
To come nearer tome. our own Senator
Morrill,, who in spirit and manner was a
gentleman OF the old school, always
wrote with quill pen. have a largt
number of letters from him, some Of
| them written in his extreme age, every
character betraying the hexibility OF hi:
| quill pen, not a slovenly stroke anywhere
1t was tho duty-and am surc thu
| pleasure-of the ianitor OF the Senate
chamber to see that a newly made per
was on his desk every morning, Tho
rev. nat. ware, anectlOnately remember
| ed and long to be remembered amonr
| US who was for - years and more, sec
rotary OF both the Mary Fletcher hospi-
tai and the Fletcher free library, kept
| the records of both institutions with a
quill pen in quaint and puAzling, but
highly artistic handwriting l can re-
call Mr.. Ware at a session OF the library
| trustees mending his pen preparatory to
making his record and Mr.. Phelps re-
| marking, See how the secretary is get
ting ready to conceal our proceedings. "
Prof Henry Torrey. artist in everything
he dill. during his long term OF ONCE as
secretary Of the faculty. made all his
records with a quill pen. and In very
graceful and scholarly hand II any one
ask why in our day any one should use
an instrument so obsolete that two col.
lege professors had to be told what II
is. the answer would be manifold con
sideraton Of habit, and sentiment AND
association. and perhaps just little o.
scf-valuation on the score OF singular
ny. The art instinct in us prefers thai
which is made with human hands to tina