The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-10-29
rn0r0eRAPss.


D ones Look Go sha Modern Eycs.
Forty years ago y .,e dim likeness of a
human face, mysf eriously fixed upon a
pla.e Oh purnts' ed silver by process Of
wnlcn tne w .akers themselves under
$1,000 vesIF title. and which was simi-
lar Wonoe .lnent 10 the world nj large
s wss X sed from hand to hand as a
scienS nc curiosity. One Of the early
aW~ Ipts at constructing an apparatus
w t would yield picture by the effect
. sunlight was n cunning worker in sill,
yer named Woodwork, who was EN-
ployed in the old Amcs mandatory at
Chicopee, Mass, and his own face was
one of those upon which some OF the
earliest experiments were made at that
place. 1t did not take long for the
camera to assume substantially its pres
| emit shape, and soon the " dogatype man"
appeared with the marvellous invention
of the Frenchman, whose name 1t bore.
In every country village. He took a
room in the tavern at first, and hung his
samples in veneered mahogany frame at
the street door. Then followed the
daguerreotype car, y for the artist was
still peripatetic one, who made his
rounds OF half dozen towns in the
course of year. But the process was
somewhat expensive-a single picture in
plain case usually cost about three dol
lars and 30 somebody invented the
T" ambrotype," which cost less than half
as much and was not nearly half as
good. The impression was taken upon
prepared plate of glass instead of sill
yer. This led the way to taking the i'm
preston upon glass so prepared as to be
transparent, which could be used as q
negative" through which the sunlight
could produce no end of copies by fall
ing on prepared surface OF paper or
other material, thus making the modern
photograph" The great invention
was fully accomplished when the secret
of indefinite production was once found
out.
1t does not take long for any sun pic
ture TO grow quaint and old-fashioned.
With what horrible truthfulness it pre-
serves the oddities of dress and orna-
menti What woman does not "look
like fright" in her antiquated habili-
mentsp How strange her face looks in
all this odd IdisguiseP What man can
not find now, laid away in some old
drawer of table or bureau, daguerreo-
type of himself taken in the days OF
his YOUTH How distinctly he remem-
bers how the little ova table stood be-
side him with its ornamental cover, and
how he held the book in his hand, and
how the 2" tongs" were pushed against
the back of his head, and how he
was afraid to breathe or blink lest the
picture might be spoiled! How, when
he went away from home. his mother
coveted that little embossed case, with
its lid held down by a tiny brass hook,
wherein she could behold her own girl
ish eyes grown bright again, ana his
own fathers mouth as it looked when
tbo cvS,;1oo IF vo,Itb had NOT vaf
hardened into wrinkles, and where the
lineaments OF all her boys ancestors
were somehow transformed into lines
of beauty in that one image which she
could worship without charge ol
dolatry! Distinctly enough he remem.
bers how he showed the wondrvus pro
} duction to his sisters, and listened tC
, their comments on the looks of his hail
vnd collar and necktie, and how be
wished to hear, through them, of tht
verdict which that vast and Influential
body of mankind known as the girls
would pass upon it.; and yet, as the old
fellow with grizzled beard and bald
q pate now looks through his glasses a
the beardless face which once belonged
, to him, how inexpressibly immature
Is ashamed of it, and declares Il &C h,
: never looked that way at all.
People who are ACCUSE med to see tn,
photograph album" in every hous'
hardly realize what a change is in
, dictated by that thick-le aved volume
In the old time few wealthy familie
had pictures in oil on canvas, and wan
dering artists sometimes went through
the country and made dubious portraits
on Eastwood boards for such as wer
: willing to pay slight advance on th
COST OF the lumber, and OCCASIONAL.
some extravagant gentleman had
} miniature or two printed on ivory ant
i set in gold vine under glass, and tn
| silhouette sometimes preserved an &C
curate profile; but of not one person il
: a thousand was there any vestige O
: likeness to show how he looked in life
, A mans child needed 70 be, indeed, tn
Every picture of its father" tor il wa
!, the only one he ever had. The result
of Photographic portraiture are not we
old enough to possess any great histori
interest, but it opens a curious field Q
speculation to wonder what the pecpl
: in the year 1880 will think of US, as the
look at our queer effigies which hav
J been preserved in the closets of som
antiquarian collection Chicago Int
Ocean.