“lickin’ and larnin’”

Found in the March 1946 issue of Fifteen Western Tales.

Abraham Lincoln
his hand and pen.
he will be good but
god knows When

Historical note: The poem in the ad is a Lincoln original written in his math book when he was in his teens. Would you like to know more?

A bit of Inkograph history can be found here.

(I’m assuming that the “lickin’” has something to do with old-timey writing instruments to get the ink flowing, but I could be wrong. Also, I’m trying to keep things clean.)

Ad copy:

Young Abe larned pen writin’…

In old Kaintuck, the log-cabin “blab school” mentor with faith in “lickin’ and larnin’”… taught young Abe his a-b’s and the rudiments of pen writin’.

With turkey buzzard quills and ink of the wild brier root or home-boiled sumac berries and oakbark, the boy did easy lines from the copy books. A few years later he penned long passages from Plato. As a young man, he served as a scribe for unlettered folk, wrote notes for neighbors to kin back in the mountains or the East.

Called by his country and destiny to the Presidency, his hand wrote documents that still live… the Gettysburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation, the letter to Mrs. Bixby, in which the heart not of a man, but of a nation, consoles a mother for five sons dead.

Abraham Lincoln knew only crude writing aids… sharp quills, iron pens. Today statesman and schoolboy alike have an infinitely finer implement—the Inkograph… built with precision, smooth flowing, fast acting, with its 14kt. solid gold ball-like point that writes with the ease of a soft lead pencil. Costing little, it has the appearance and workmanship associated with pens of higher prices.

At leading dealers. Inkograph on barrel and clip marks the genuine.
. . .

Exclusive features…

Suits any hand or style of writing… Writes smoothly on any quality paper… Withstands child’s roughest usage… Unequalled for clear carbon copies with original in ink. Point won’t bend or spread… Does lettering and ruling without smudge or blot… Gives years of unfailing service… Fully guaranteed.

Ink-O-Graph $2
Inkograph Co., Inc., 200 Hudson St., N. Y. C. 13

Leave a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.