My Paean to the Ballpoint Pen, Part 6

       Oh, yes, I tried my new ballpoint over butter-smeared paper.  Oh, yes, I tried it under water.  Fainter yet it became, but some vestiges of my marks were there sure enough.

       I fiddled with the thing in the bus on the way home from school, writing, opening and closing it, fingering its many ridges, just experiencing the secret pride of ownership.

       I wonder if the ballpoint gave the death knell to the Palmer method of penmanship.  It may have adumbrated the passing of cursive handwriting itself.  It's impossible to imagine Miss Evans functioning at all with ballpoint, though it's hard to imagine anything ruffling her superb aplomb.  Is she teaching the Spencerian hand on high where the ancient and honored yet hold their court?