The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1888-04-12
SELLING BY PHOTO.
The CAUSE OF THE DECLINE OF
THE DRUMMER'S GRIP.

!
from his travelling bags, or, to speak more
tersely, the drummer is dropping his grips"
| The only infallible mark of the drummer
! will now be the pockets which bulge with
paper covered novels. The cause of the de-
cline of the gripsack is the colored photo
graph. The bulky samples that the travel
ing man used to bear from place to place,
| and which were, so to speak, his badge of
office, he has replaced with counterfeit pre-
sentiments of the same.
Delicate, true, light and compact, these
pictures, carried about in the pocket, can
represent an immense quantity of goods in
such a manner that there is no installing
| tint, quality, texture or size. They repre-
sent everything from machinery to bric-a-
| brac and from kitchen stoves to ladies' slip
| pers. Those which need no coloring-like
the stoves and machinery-are simply pho
tographed in black and white. But the pho
tographs are the very best of their kind, and
set forth each part with a faithfulness that
is remarkable. In the most intricate ma
chinery every bit of betting, every wheel,
cog, arm and elbow is most UNDERSTANDABLE
produced from every point of view.
But the inviting albums are those which
contain the colored photographs. These are
used in particularly large quantities by the
crockery and the furniture houses The for
mer find use for them because their wares
are so fragile; the latter because they are so
cumbersome. The pictures of the bric-a-brac
and the fine china are wonderfully delicate,
and it is a surprise to learn that the micro
scope is never used in the painting of them.
The work is done entirely by young women.
One photographer keeps eight or ten quite
steadily employed. The work is taken to the
houses of the artists, and done there as
usual thing. 1t requires much more art than
the ordinary painter of photographs uses in
| putting touch of carmine on the cheeks or
q dash of azure on the eyes of portrait. The
painting of texture is several degrees above
this, and this must be thoroughly understood.
The soft satin wear, the Worcester and royal
Dresden, the queen and Bohemian, the clays
and porcelains, all have very different fin
sh, which must be preserved in the photo
graph if it is to be of any value. 1t needs
not only accurate but strong eyes, a steady
and delicate touch, and most painstaking
patience.
Young women are the very ones out Of all
the world in whom all of these qualities are
combined, and that is the reason that this
pretty toll is given them SO universally.
But there is another reason-an old, famil-
lar reason. A man could not make enough
to keep him. The work must be done by
girls who have homes. To be sure, one can
make $3.50 day at the coloring of the photo
graphs of china or bric-a-brac, and now and
then by working over hours and very stead
lily it might be possible to make 81. Such
arduous work could hardly be repeated on
two successive days, however. But, though
this wage is not bad, it has the drawback of
being fiuctuating and unreliable. One week
there may be quantities of work, the next
week none at all.
One of the conditions of successful photo
graph painting of this fine nature is absolute
silence. A positive concentration Of the
faculties is needed, and most of the girls who
do the work have little studios where they
can quietly work by themselves. Here, with
big aprons protecting their dresses, their
photographs set on a little inclined
board before them, and their case of
liquid paints close at hand, they patiently
strain their young eyes over the almost in
finitesimal figures which they are coloring.
1t is very confirming, and no doubt the spas
modic demands are blessings in disguise, for
continued application to it would be apt to
tell seriously upon the nervous system.
The tinting of the photographs Of furni-
ture is simpler on the whole, although many
wholesale houses have their furniture up
holstered in cretonne before it is photo
graphed. Cretonne, Of course, admits OF
coloring, which plush does not
The business is one which is likely to in
crease steadily and to extend to many
branches of commerce which have not yet
Investigated it.
This fact has been recognized by the deaf
mute school on the west side, and the art of
coloring commercial photographs is among
the industries in which the pupils are being
instructed. The abnormal development of
sight and touch which all deaf mutes possess
makes them especially fitted for this work.
A woman who was one of the first to advise
teaching artistic branches in this school said
the other day.: "No one who has moi
watched the development of these chill
dren can imagine what difference the
introduction of the light arts has made in
their lives. They have gained in self-respect,
as well as in enjoyment of life Many OF
them had been regarded as little less than i'm
beetle in their own homes, and some had been
the recipients of all the cuffs and kicks that
that an ill-natured household chose to beStow
upon them, At the very best they were con
! sidered great cross.
, "In the school, after thorough system OF
communication had been established, we in
structed them in the common branches and
then gave theht an industrial course. The
girls were taught dressmaking, the boys car
pentering. But it seemed to us finally thai
we were making mistake in putting then
in competition with suSl great number a
eVercrowd these trades. As an experiment
, we put teacher in modelling in the school
You can imagine nothing more touching thai
the scene the first morning we gave them thu
clay. They took to it as ducks do to water
. There was nothing Of the awkwardness il
handling it which most children show at first
u Why, they began making things of their owl
- accord Immediately, and some of the face
u which had always been as blank as wal
u previously were lit up with sudden vivacity
|: It was the same with drawing, for which W
u engaged teacher from the Art institute
= From these experiments we gathered courage
We perceived that we could make engraver'
u designers, wood carvers architects and deco
+ rators out of our poor unfortunate children
D and in time we shall try to do all that. u
Chicago Times.
The Laws of Nature.
q 1t is singular to contrast the growing splel
~ 49, On