{"id":3774,"date":"2008-12-05T00:20:43","date_gmt":"2008-12-05T00:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2008\/12\/christmas-idea-fountain-pen.html"},"modified":"2008-12-05T00:20:43","modified_gmt":"2008-12-05T00:20:43","slug":"christmas-idea-fountain-pen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2008\/12\/christmas-idea-fountain-pen.html","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Idea: Fountain Pen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not that long ago I
\nheard that Biro, a manufacturer of cheap pens, has now accounted for 100 billion Bic pens. These little pieces of silliness are disposable and are now clogging up pipes, glutting our dump yards, and defying
\nthe world’s nature decomposition. So, let me urge you to stop buying
\nBics, buy a fountain pen, and be a person who uses the same pen for the
\nrest of your life. It is a matter of stewardship. So, here an
\nabbreviated history of fountain pens.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We once wrote with feather quills from real birds dipped (the quills, that
\nis) in ink, then we wrote with crude hand-made quill pens that were
\nalso dipped in ink, then we wrote with fountain pens that had a hidden
\nreservoir that sometimes leaked, and then Mr. Biro invented the
\ndiscardable ball-point pen, and now you and I have colors and shapes
\nand any kind of pen we want. They are cheap and they are easy. Some see
\nthis as clear evidence of progress and improvement.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For reasonable people, Biro is a disaster.<\/p>\n

Some of us prefer a pen that stays with you for life, like a
\nfountain pen. I know that using a ballpoint pen is easy and that it is
\nthe end of a line of technological progress, but there is something
\nspecial and personal about a fountain pen (unless you, for some unknown reason, are hard of
\nheart). A fountain pen becomes your friend after you’ve filled it for years — and
\nI prefer piston fillers rather than the little plastic cartridges that
\nalso clog up the world.<\/p>\n

Go ahead, pick up a fountain pen and feel a work of art but Bics aren’t. They are cheap; the ink is fake; the pen has no balance; it
\nmakes one wonder how humans could do this to themselves. Try on a
\nPelikan<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em> or a Waterman<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em> — I’ve got a number of fountain pens and each is a friend.<\/p>\n

The fountain pen I prefer the most is a pen that was Mark Twain’s
\nfavorite: a Conklin<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em> Crescent Filler. When Twain was writing, in the
\n(good ol’) days when everyone wrote with a fountain pen, the problem
\nwas that one had to dip the pen in a bottle of ink. This was messy,
\ntime consuming and a constantly interrupted one’s thoughts. Conklin
\ndesigned a pen with a crescent-shaped device that made it easy and
\nclean to draw ink into a rubber bladder that was sealed inside the pen. When Midwesterner Mark Twain signed on, it was an instant success. The Conklin
\nfountain pen was a landmark of technological progress and improvement. <\/p>\n

The Bic pen by Biro was a technological marvel that told people that
\none of life’s singular niceties, a fountain pen one purchased and used
\nfor life, was a has-been that could be discarded. As for me and my
\nhouse, we will use the fountain pen whenever possible.<\/p>\n

I tell you the truth, grab a piece of history and pick up a fountain
\npen. Think the Egyptian Nile and the old papyrus — fountain pen; think
\nof Athanasius or Gregory of Nyssa — fountain pen; think of Luther —
\nfountain pen; think of Calvin (if you must) — fountain pen. Think
\nMenno Simons — fountain pen. If it was good enough for the
\nCappadocians and Reformers, it’s good enough for me. Come to think of
\nit, maybe it is the fountain pen that gave them their care for language.<\/p>\n

Nothing discardable, friends. Do I have a witness?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not that long ago I heard that Biro, a manufacturer of cheap pens, has now accounted for 100 billion Bic pens. These little pieces of silliness are disposable and are now clogging up pipes, glutting our dump yards, and defying the world’s nature decomposition. 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