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Show CALLED FOR MUCH ATTENTION Users of Quill Pens Had. to Be Endowed En-dowed With a Great Deal of Patience. We have complained of our foun-i foun-i tain pens, but the constant mending ' required by quill pens must have proved a severe trial In the days when no others were available, says the i London Chronicle. Alexander I of j Hussia thought it necessary to employ i a man whose sole duty consisted In : cutting pens. He was required to I have a supply of not less than one hundred quills always ready, j This number was by no means ex-i ex-i cessive, for Alexander would never use I the same pen twice. F.vcn the writ-, writ-, ing of a signature spoiled a pen, In ! his opinion, for subsequent use. The ' quill cutter, who received a salary of .Hn a year, accompanied the czar In 1 all his journeys, including campaigns I against Napoleon. Writing implements changed consid-j consid-j erably for the better during Sir Wal- ter Gilbey's long spell of life. "Though i quill pens are still In use," he remarks I In his "Recollections of Seventy j Years," "I remember the time when i one seldom saw any other kind. Steel ! pens iu their early days were ex i pensive and 111 made, and few people used them. The paper we had 70 i years ago may have been partly to I blame; It had neither the substance ' nor the surface we take as a matter of course nowaday.. I "I remember when envelopes came . Into use. and what a boon they were considered after the old systems of closing letters with wafers or wax. ; Hefore envelopes were Invented letters 'were always written with an eye to ! the position of the wafer or seal, a ', blank space being left to correspond with the space where this would be put on Hie outside, lest the written portion should be torn in opening." |