A guy from OCA would say that is due to pen and ink of the era and he might be right. Good ol' Roark, actually he really liked ink and brush if memory serves- our teacher just loved him, I think he used to blush.
I was looking at this drawing and I love not only the font for the word, but the way this drawer communicated the idea of "correspondence section", passing a letter, A Boys Own Magazine circa 1915.
You are always welcome to come to the studio and flip through it yourself, standard fee applies: a coffee from the Jet.