actory instrument.
Of course one may use several sizes of pens in the same drawing,
and it is often necessary to do so.

Before leaving the steel pens, the "double-line pen" may be mentioned,
though it has only a limited sphere. It is a two-pointed arrangement,
practically two pens in one, by means of which parallel lines may
be made with one stroke. Rather interesting effects can be obtained
with it, but on the whole it is most valuable as a curiosity. Though
somewhat out of fashion for general use, the quill of our fathers is
favored by many illustrators. It is splendidly adapted for broad,
vigorous rendering of foreground effects, and is almost dangerously
easy to handle. Reed pens, which have somewhat similar virtues,
are now little employed, and cannot be bought. They have to be
cut from the natural reed, and used while fresh. For many uses
in decorative drawing one of the most satisfactory instruments is
the glass pen, which gives an absolutely uniform line. The point
being really the end of a thin tube, the stroke may be made in any
direction, a most unique characteristic in a pen. It has, however,
the disadvantages of being friable and expensive; and, as it needs
to be kept clean, the patent water-proof ink should not be used with
it unless absolutely necessary. A flat piece of cork or rubber should
be placed inside the ink-bottle when this pen is used, otherwise it
is liable to be smashed by striking the bottom of the bottle. The
faculty possessed by the Japanese brush of retaining its point
renders it also available for use as a pen, and it is often so
employed.

[Side note: _Inks_]

In drawing for reproduction, the best ink is that which is blackest
and least shiny. Until a few years ago it was the custom of penmen
to grind their India ink themselves; but, besides the difficulty of
always ensuring the proper consistency, it was a cumbersome method,
and is now little resorted to, especially as numerous excellent
prepared inks are ready to hand. The better known of these prepared
inks are, "Higgins' American" (general and waterproof), Bourgeois'
"Encre de Chine Liquide," "Carter's," "Winsor & Newton's," and
"Rowney's." Higgins' and Carter's have the extrinsic advantages
of being put up in bottles which do not tip over on the slightest
provocation, and of being furnished with stoppers which can be
handled without smearing the fingers. Otherwise, they cannot be
said to possess superiority over the others, ce