Page:Theory and Practice of Handwriting.djvu/98

80 and greasy water? The ink used in schools should not be chemical, i. e. writing faint and turning dark afterwards, but it should be of an intense blackness, so that the writing is plainly visible, as it is being traced on the paper, without straining the sight. Excellent school inks at very moderate cost and to which no exception can be taken are now manufactured by many makers in all parts of the world.

.–Only a word is necessary with reference to pens and penholders. The market is glutted with an abundance of nibs, many of them utterly unfit for use, being made of poor metal and furthermore badly finished. Good durable pens will always prove the cheapest and best; so-called cheap pens are invariably the dearest and most unsatisfactory, as the constant changing of nibs that is required creates much disorder and loses much valuable time. Nothing disheartens a child more than to write with a “scratchy” or “Bad Pen.” Let teachers see to it that no scholar has such an excuse for the “Bad Writing” that always follows in its train. Fancy and fanciful penholders are undesirable and useless. The plainer and simpler the holder is the better. We have yet to see steel-tipped holders, a contrivance which by preventing nibbling and gnawing of the tops so widely practised in our schools would be as beneficial to the pupils as economical for the management. As to length the penholders should not exceed six inches nor fall below five and a half and they should not be thinner than an ordinary lead pencil, the thickness varying with the size of the hand or writer. To employ a thin holder is considered a dangerous practice, as much writing therewith will induce spasmodic tightening of the grasp and thus favour the habitual contraction of the muscles which causes writer’s cramp.

.–Blotting paper is essential to and a desideratum in every writing class. It is difficult to understand why many teachers forbid its use and discountenance its very presence. For cleanliness, utility, and saving of time, blotting paper is invaluable. When a page is finished much time will perforce be wasted if blotting paper is not forthcoming, and during the waiting (or wasting) time thus entailed temptation to talking and disorder is