It is common knowledge that I have been writing out the Bible by hand using a dip pen and bottled ink for the past few years. It has even inspired me to produce my own iron gall ink, goose quill pens, and sealing wax. My handwriting style has also changed in the process. However, I have noticed a trend, even in the younger generations than I, that people seem to be interested in alternatives to digital technology, away from its subscriptions, obsolescence, and continual updates. Moreover, without “hard copies” of your items with cloud storage, you do not really own anything anymore. Should you not pay, you are denied access. Thus, analogue technology gives a person greater control, and oftentimes at less cost. Just imagine if Paul, Peter, or James had their letters stored in cloud storage! Well, we might not have copies today, and the Bible would certainly be thinner. Now I have prepared you for a story that occurred recently in my own family.
One evening a few weeks ago, my daughter brought home an old, dusty typewriter that she had rescued from the dumpster during a clean-up of a basement. She had great interest in it, as she works with digital technology all the time at work. Here was something “old school”. Something her father could repair and restore. Her excitement was slightly diminished when I examined the machine and informed her that it had a German language keyboard layout, and that is why it was probably set aside years ago. The top row is “qwertz” instead of the English language “qwerty”. In addition, not only were some new punctuation marks included, but other marks like the semicolon and exclamation mark were missing. She was visibly crestfallen, and offered it to me should I want it for my “analogue” collection. I took it home and started to repair a few problems with it.
Still, it bothered me that she was missing out on this old-time experience before the “word processor” age. I started to do some research, and found that this portable typewriter was a “Smith Primette” manufactured in the USA for the European market in 1940. Then I found out that an identical model, called the “Remington Remette” was produced in Toronto at the same time for the North American and British Commonwealth market. A further search allowed me to locate a woman in rural Nova Scotia, who purchases old typewriters and restores them for sale. I examined her website, and there it was, a Remington Remette from 1940 with a “qwerty” keyboard and all the usual punctuation marks that she had in stock, but not yet restored. I reserved it in order for her to restore it for me, and I ordered an new ribbon for the Smith Primette that I was working on, as they are mechanically the exact same machine. A few weeks later, the Remington Remette arrived at my door, and it even had its original case. It works perfectly! (so does the Smith Primette after the new ribbon and my minor repairs)
So, the next day I dropped the Remington Remette off at my daughter’s home, and she was truly surprised. Now we both have similar typewriters that will allow us to type even when the power goes out! I even came up with a solution for the the missing punctuation marks problem on the Smith version by using two different keys and the backspace key.
I must admit that the “clickity clack” of the typewriter makes my home sound like a newsroom from a 1940s newspaper office compared to the mild scratching of my dip pen upon paper, but despite the noise, the whole exercise was worthwhile. I had even made a new friend in Atlantic Canada. Yes, it reinforces the fact that the grace of God can work in both the analogue and digital world. That is food for thought for rural churches, who presently also have a foot in both worlds.
Rev. Martin Dawson (retired) Cornwall, PEI