uill pens were used by many
down to a comparatively recent period, and occasionally a person may now
be seen using one. Steel and silver pens were made by Shakers as early as
1824, and Cushing & Appleton had steel pens as early as 1811, according to
an advertisement in the "Salem Gazette."

=STEEL PENS=

JUST received for sale by

_CUSHING & APPLETON,_
Oct. 6th, 1811.

NON-INTERCOURSE QUILLS.

CUSHING & APPLETON have still on hand a few thousand _English_
QUILLS, which for a short time will be sold at the present low
rate, for specie, or bills of any of the banks in Essex or
Boston.---- --> Persons in want of Quills will please to
recollect, that in about _two or three weeks_ the
NON-INTERCOURSE with _Great Britain_ takes place, which in all
probability will continue during the short time that Nation
may exist, at least. Such another opportunity for purchasing
can therefore never occur. Jan. 14, 1811.

* * * * *

J. Greenleaf sold steel pens in Boston in 1812.

Steel Pens,

[Illustration]

A FURTHER supply of the celebrated STEEL PENS is received by
J. GREENLEAF, No. 49, Cornhill.

march 11 [1812].

SUPERIOR DESK KNIVES,

MANUFACTURED in Paris of Damascus Steel and warranted.

_Also_--an assortment of Steel & Silver Pens, from the Shaker
Village. For sale by

JOHN M. IVES,

Dec. 11 [1824]. _Essex street._

* * * * *

Many young people do not know that in old times blotting-paper of the kind
now in use had not been introduced. Black sand was used altogether for
drying the ink on freshly written letters or ordinary writing, except in
books, when the writers either waited for the ink to dry, or made China
paper, taken from the inside of tea-chests, a blotter. Black sand was in
general use until within thirty years or thereabouts. We have seen the
sand adhering to writing which had been done more than a century. No
writing-desk was complete without a sand-box.

BLACK SAND,