Ball point pen
I have never
been proud of my handwriting, indeed there have been times when I have been
unable to decipher notes that I have written.
It really is hard to believe that there was a time before the Ball Point
Pen though.
Going through my desk drawer a day or two ago, I felt the need to have a
tidy up, and maybe a clear out of some of the items that had become pushed
out of sight, and indeed out of mind after a short time.
Well, taking every thing out, stapler, hole punch, pins paper clips, stamps
etc. by far the most numerous were ballpoint pens; some were substantially
barrelled renewable cartridge to barrels of rolled paper with very little
ink capacity, and every type in between. You know what I mean. Half of them
did not function, some are old friends.
It was during this exercise that my memory took me back to an incident at
school. An English lesson was in progress, and our form teacher Mr. Jim Chislett
indicated that a visit was expected from some of the governing body. Sure
enough, before long, into the room came the Headmaster Mr. Jeal accompanied
by the Reverend Miss Irene Robbins (who was the Minister of the Congregational
Church.) There were the usual introductions, then Miss Robbins looked at
some of the work being undertaken, she was kind enough to say how neat our
writing was, and how few ink blots appeared on the work: of course we were
all using “dip in the ink pens” with stiff steel nibs.
Before leaving, the Reverend Robbins held up in front of the class an item
that looked just like a slightly fat pencil, she told us it was a pen that
held a new kind of ink that had been developed, that enables it to be distributed
by means of a tiny ball and socket, at the end of a tube containing it..
Now what sticks in my memory is this: Miss Robbins saying that she felt that
by the very nature of the rolling ball leaving an even line in any direction
in which it is moved, it will form letters, but a varying pressure, and the
making of strokes is required, in the use of a steel nib, to do the same.
The good lady also assured us that if this new item was widely adopted, it
would be the ruination of beautiful handwriting: “but as these pens
are so expensive, they will not become popular in the future, therefore,
spare the degradation of handwriting skills”. So! You be the judge
on both counts.
Artie