Spreading the Word

April 13, 2001

Well, what pen aficionado doesn’t like to talk about their pen passion? But to a class of sixth graders? It was with a bit of trepidation that I accepted my wife’s challenge. What should I tell them? Sure, fountain pens are fascinating to me, but could they possibly be of any interest to a group of 12-year olds who are growing up in this dot-com world?

My wife reassured me: "They are at an age when they are beginning to be interested in pens and writing. They are graduating up from pencils to pens for their schoolwork. You should see them showing each other their multicolored gel pens!"

Well OK, I’ll give it a shot, I guess. But where to start? The history of the fountain pen? To tell that, I really should go into the history of writing instruments... and even the history of writing itself. So I consulted my pen library. Alexander Crum Ewing’s The Fountain Pen: A Collector’s Companion had the best section on the history of writing and writing instruments. I also used Paul Erano’s Fountain Pens Past & Present as a supplement. I made some notes, edited them onto note cards, and my wife made some transparencies of some of the illustrations.

The fateful day arrived. It went better than I had expected. The kids were attentive and seemed genuinely interested. I covered the history of writing, starting with cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics; then talked about the innovations of parchment, paper, ink, the quill, the steel nib, and finally recounted the famous L.E. Waterman "spoiled contract" legend. I tried to stick to a theme: to show how technological innovation and development over the centuries --along with the increase in literacy since Gutenberg-- resulted in the development of the fountain pen.

After the Waterman story, I touched briefly on the plethora of filling systems introduced by the various manufacturers in the early decades of the 20th century. But by the time I got to the Parker 51, I could tell it was time to move on to the demo.

We all gathered around a large round table. I had brought a roll of paper towels just in case (but alas, no Amodex!); several pens, and three bottles of ink. I first showed them how a lever filler works --an Esterbrook. Then I demonstrated the aerometric filler of a Parker 21. The OMAS 630 demonstrator was a big hit, as they could see the ink in the barrel. As I filled each pen (no, I didn’t let them try it!), I would pass it to their eagerly waiting hands. Each one would write something with the pen, then pass it along, accompanied by a chorus of ooo’s and ah’s! I showed them a converter filler --a Lamy Safari-- and a cartridge pen --Waterman Phileas-- and then my wife’s Sheaffer calligraphy set, with three nib widths and different color inks. But the biggest hit was the Sheaffer Snorkel-- when that little tube came out below the nib, they all thought that was "really cool"!

I also showed some more expensive pens, but kept them in a glass-top display case: Waterman’s 452-1/2V with hand engraved vine sterling overlay, Parker Duofolds old and new, a Vacumatic, an OMAS 360, a Stipula Etruria, and a few others.

Then to wrap it up, I told them about how I had met a great bunch of fellow pen collectors via the Internet, and how we all wrote each other letters with our pens. I showed them a few letters from some of the Snailers, especially those who have really nice handwriting (obviously, I didn’t show my own!). The class ended on that note. But that’s not the end of the story....

After I left, my wife gave them an assignment: they should each write me a thank-you note! A few days later, she delivered them to me, and I’d like to share some excerpts with you here.

One young man had obviously paid rapt attention, missing only a couple of details:

"Dear Mr. McDonald,

"Thank you for coming to our class to talk about fountain pens. Thank you for telling us the history of fountain pens, and for telling us the people who invented it, such as Waterman. Thank you for letting us use the fountain pens, even though they were every fragile. Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to come to our class and show us how to use the fountain pens.

"My favorite part of the presentation was the history of the fountain pen. The fountain pens originated from ordinary bird feathers. The bird feather was cut at a certain angle, so that the point formed something called a nib. The hollow insides of the feather sucks up the ink when you dip it in. When you push the feather on the papyrus or paper, the ink will come out slowly and you will be able to write. One day Waterman was about to get a lot of money for a contract. He took out his feather pen to give to the customer. The ink blotted all over the contract and the customer was very upset. Waterman swore he would make a better pen. His pen kept advancing and advancing until it turned into the fountain pen as we know it today.

"Mr. McDonald, I hope you can come again and tell us more about the fountain pen."

As I said, the Snorkel was quite a hit: "I liked the snorkel pen the most because it worked the best for me. I am a lefty."

Speaking of lefties, some of the praise may have been left-handed: "I’m pretty sure the whole class liked the presentation. Especially since we got to skip reading and do something fun."

Another boy had similar sentiments: "It was fun to learn something new and totally off our subject in school."

The ladies’ pens were a hit with the girls: "My favorite pens were the ladies’ pens. The sterling silver one was the most beautiful of them all, of course."

Most of the letters were written in pencil, but one young man used one of the Sheaffer calligraphy pens, and he wrote very well with it: "My favorite part of your visit was when we got to look at the magazines because I got to see the prices of some of the pens. I found that the most expensive pen was $25,000.00."

Several expressed wishes for pens:

"In the future I think I will get a fountain pen. I might write to my friend in California with it. I might even go to Pentrace.com to write to other people."

"Thanks to you my mom is trying to get me a calligraphy pen. I hope you can come back soon."

"In the future I want my parents to buy me one and I’ll have a lot of fun with it."

"In the near future I would like to start collecting fountain pens, like you have."

Maybe my lecture wasn’t too boring after all: "My favorite parts of the show was the history of them (the way they changed through time)."

Perhaps this one was the most touching:

"Dear Mr. McDonald,

"I’d like to thank you for coming into our classroom the other day to educate us about fountain pens. I thought it was very interesting. I think that day will have something to do with my future life. All I want to say is thank you.

"I really liked trying different pens out, and seeing how they wrote. That part was very interesting. It was the first time I’ve ever held or written with a fountain pen. My favorite pen was the Ladies’ pen. It was beautiful. You surprised me when you told us it was hand carved. I also liked the pen catalogs, it made me think about buying one.

"In the future, I think that I’d buy some fountain pens and start a collection. Every time I get a new pen, I’ll think of you. Of how you got me interested in fountain pens and how I started collecting them. Just again, thank you Mr. McDonald, thank you for coming into our class."

Wow! That makes it all worthwhile!