PENS

I was in elementary school, about the fourth grade, when they were introducing pens for students at our school.  This was a big deal.   Ball point pens had been developed but were not in common use.  We never had a pen in our home.  No student had his own pen - the school provided them. 

 

The first pen I was given (we couldn't take them home) had real ink in it.  You would suck the ink out of a container by use of a suction lever in the pen; stick the pen point in the ink and pull the lever to fill the pen.  The writing end had a nib like a pen that was dipped into ink.  

In a year or two, the school switched over to ball point pens.  They were straight sticks and often leaked but were much easier to use and write with than the nib ends.  

We have dozens of ball point pens in our home.  I think about this now and again.

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