Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-06-20
CAUSED BY A CAMERA.
The Woes of an Amateur in Search
of the Picturesque.

OF the Picturesque.
There is nothing criminal about be-
ing an amateur photographer. No
civilized country has law against
amateur photography. although in
France and Germany and other semi
barbarous countries they arrest man
if he photographs too near to their
Notifications. Still the general ten
dency OF modern cameras is toward
concealment. There is camera made
and the lens take the place of vest
button. Other cameras are done up
like parcels, or take the form of a
sachel, or some other unobtrusive
shape, so that the general passer-by
may not know that the man he meets
is an amateur photographer. The
trouble with the cameras that have
named is that they are generally too
small to take picture that is at all sat-
isfactory. Some of them have no focus
ing-glass and no arrangement for let
ting a person know what sort of a pict-
ure he is taking. NowI use camera
that takes a picture four by I've
inches, which think is the smallest
size that is of any service to man, al
though some get along with what is
known as the lantern size, a size of
plate that is large enough to take a
picture that will go into a stereOpti-
con.
The other day bought a brand new
valise in which to conceal my pho
tographing apparatus, and instead of
the long alpenstOck tripod which l
have carried heretofore, l bought
what is known as 1.-The daisy tripod"
which folds up into very small COM
pass and can be packed away in q
valise that is about eighteen inches
long.
) The whole outfit goes into very or
binary sized valise and a person
moves through the world like an ordi-
nary traveller who has a few boiled
shirts and clean collars and cuffs with
him.
One very hot day found myself in
Cincinnati with the forenoon to spare.
/ had seen Cincinnati often enough but
had sever had view of the suburbs.
Cincinnati, as every body knows, is
down in a hole and is surrounded by
hills. If you speak to Cincinnatian
reproachfully about the humiliating
swer:
''Oh, yes. but you ought to see the
suburbs; the suburbs in Cincinnati are
the grandest in the world"
Cincinnati suburbs are on the hill
tops, as they are called, and extend
for miles around the city. There are
ways of getting up on the hill-tops:
One is an ordinary incline railway,
the platforms of some OF which are so
large that a street car and couple
of horses drive right on it and is watt
ed to the skies. and when the car gets
up there it goes along for eight or ten
miles out in the country. Another
way of reaching the suburbs is by the
ordinary cable car. which winds up
to the hill-tops by following streets
that zig-zag their way up the eleva-
ton.
/ asked a number of Cincinnati men
which the principal suburb was, and
it seemed to be generally agreed that
Clifton was the best for a stranger to
seen. The particular cable line pat
ronized took me across Clifton ave-
nue., and there got off.
Clifton is an aristocratic suburb that
is conducted as a sort of suburban
club. No person is allowed to get a
lot there who is not acceptable as a
neighbor to the rest of the residen4s,
and when he does get a lot he must
build a house that will cost over a GER
tain amount and comply with a lot of
rules and regulations all tending to
make the place very exclusive. and
all that.
Clifton avenue is wide street, kept
in perfect condition, and is bordered on
each side by fine trees. 1t runs straight
along for bit, then drops down into
q valley. rises on the other side unim-
paired. winds along for long distance
and then seems to come to an abrupt
conclusion at fine house that bars the
way.
On each side are great park-like
lawns Win mere duC In0F0 a pd1dCo
owned by some aristocratic citizen who
has made his money on hogs or beer.
So ungrateful are these aristocrats that
now no beer wagon is allowed along
Clifton avenue and no hog-that is, no
four-legged one-is permitted to walk
on tina: street
opened the valise at one point
where there was a fine view OF grand
mansion away back among noble trees,
and as / set my camera there came
from palace nearer the road trouI
OF merry. well-dressed children who
raced down the lawn and cried:
please. mister. won't you photo
graph us?"
.sYes.' 80
-Are you going to take Mr. Blank
house7n