The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1885-07-25
ANOTHER VIEW.

He ran back to the extreme end or the
carriage, buttei madly against the iron
guard you see in the rear, ran forward
again as far as his fastenings would allow,
and then appended wildly in the air and
stopped Kicked. He fairly tore up the
ground, and scarSl the gunners till they
turned white.
Since that day nobody has teen found
brave enough to load and discharge the old
thing. It's uncertain, YOU know, which
end it will go OFF at. So it remains with
nothing to do but to stand there and look
pretty. They say it is to be taken down
to Sandy Hook and have steel bands
put around it to hold 1t together
Its highest use is that to which you
see it put in Fig. l, to BE- background
against which a group Of ladies aud pretty
children may sit to have their photograph
taken by an artist. That was just what
our artist, Mr.. Knickerbocker did. Pho
Biography has largely done away with out
door sketching The artist no longer sits
hours in the broiling sun drawing, guyei by
the profane herd and bitten by mosquitoes.
He packs up little photographing appara-
tus, such as was described in this column
few weeks ago. goes to the place where he
wants to make q picture and photographs
it all in few minutes. Then he carries his
views home, and copies them with crayon or
pen and ink at his leisure Instead of
sketching them from nature he photographs
them from nature, ana then sketches them
from the photographs comfortably at home.
Instead Of carrying portfolio full OF pen
Gil sketches, he carries portfolio of photo
graphs Tas best AMI most distinguished
artists now uss this process
tho I'M.
made. Mr.. Knickerbocker is an amateur
photographer as well as artist. He drew
from his photographs outline pictures Of the
cannon. The outline picture is the one that
can be most advantageously used in news
paper.
But the photographing il not yet dons.
The outline picture itself is photographed
upon metal plate. 1t is brought to the
right size to 60 into the column by placingit
near to or far from the camera. Tine art
EDITORS directions to the engraver viii fire.
.ouently be written upon the edge OF the
uicture card thus: Reduce one -half'; Re
duce two-thirds" The picture is paoto-
graphed upon metal p. ate the right size to
fit into the column. Then the depressions
and lights are etched or eaten in by strong
acids. 1t is done by coating the whole sur
face with substance that resists acids, and
then carefully removing this substance from
those parts Of the plate which it is
desired the ac.d should take hold of.
After passing through this process the
plate, which went Ill a smooth surface,
comes out all full of ridges and hollows, in
which one uninitiated could never make
out picture. Then the plate
is mounted" as il is callel; that is fastened
upon a metal block. That is put into the
column in the proper place, along with the
type, ready to be printed from. This pro-
cess of making pictures cheaply and rapidly
enables all newspaper readers, even the
poorest to become familiar with the looks
of distinguished persons the world over. 1t
also illustrates for them the latest inventions
and scientific news of interest. The pictures
are not very high art, nor are they intended
to be- But they serve useful purpose in
spreading knowledge, and that is enough.
1t is surprising how rapidly outline pic
lures, such "a those that appear i'll our COL
umns, are sketched. A skilled artist will
sometimes make one In fifteen or twenty
minutes They require any length os time
from that up to an hour on two. 1t depends
both on the subject and the artist So that
even though photographing is so largely
used in newspaper pictures, they dspenl at
last on how well the artist knows how to
draw