Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1886 — Birds and Pens. [ARTICLE]

Birds and Pens.

Between forty and fifty years ago quill pens were in general use in the schools, and the pupils who could make or mend a pen were considered quite accomplished. The quills most commonly used for pens are those of the goose. Swan quills are considered better, but they are expensive. Other quills, such as turkey, eagleund others, have also been used more or less, while crow and raven quills have been used for drawing purposes and for making fine lines. Only the five outer wing feathers of the goose are used for quills, the second and third being the best, ■while those of the left wing are preferred to those of the right wing, from the fact of their curving outward from the writer using them. Quills plucked from living birds in the spring are the best, those from dead, and especially fattened birds, being useless. Quills have to be prepared for use by heating in a sand bath (from 130 deg. to 180 deg. F,), and afterward scraping away the outer fatty membrane. After cooling, the qnills are elastic, somewhat brittle, and are then cat to suit