An introduction to American history, European beginnings . ecause it is so different from anything we use in ourdaily life. When a Roman wished to write anythingdown he did not take paper and pen, as we do. He used,instead, a tablet or thin square of woodwhich had been covered with a coatingof black wax, and wrote on it with hisstylus. The stylus was made of metal,one end pointed and the other flat, andwas about the size of a small wrote with the pointed end, usingthe flat end for erasing and for smooth-ing out the wax again. When he wishedto write a letter, he took several tablet
An introduction to American history, European beginnings . ecause it is so different from anything we use in ourdaily life. When a Roman wished to write anythingdown he did not take paper and pen, as we do. He used,instead, a tablet or thin square of woodwhich had been covered with a coatingof black wax, and wrote on it with hisstylus. The stylus was made of metal,one end pointed and the other flat, andwas about the size of a small wrote with the pointed end, usingthe flat end for erasing and for smooth-ing out the wax again. When he wishedto write a letter, he took several tablets,wrote his letter on them, tied them to-gether with a strong cord, and sentthem off by a messenger. The person who received theletter, after reading it, erased it with his stylus, wrotehis answer on the same tablets, and sent them backagain. Many of these Roman pens have been found inEngland, and occasionally one of the wooden frames ofthe wax tablets. The books of the Romans, too, were different fromanything we see to-day. Instead of being made up of a. Old Roman Book THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN 75 number of sheets of printed paper, fastened together andinclosed within stiff covers, they consisted of sheets ofpapyrus, pasted together mto one long strip, which wasrolled up when not in use. The writing — for all bookswere written by hand with a reed or quill pen in thosedays and for many hundred years afterwards — was incolumns. A roll of papyrus several yards long was neces-sary for even a short book, and some books covered sev-eral rolls. The reader held the roll in both hands, slowlyunrolling it with one hand as he read, and rolling it upwith the other. Usually only one side of the long strip waswritten on. Sometimes the other side of old books wasused for schoolboys exercises or for scribbling paper. Theroll was kept in a parchment cover colored red or yellow. The papyrus sheets were made in Egypt from a reed-like plant, growing along the Nile. The pithy inner partof the plan
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