Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-08-31
BEFORE TIE CAMERA
Famous Women Who Are Photographic
in London by Electricity.

BEFORE THE CAMERA.
Famous Women Who Are Photogranba,
I in London by Electricity.
One finds SO many world-renowned celeb
rites passing down Regent street on s
pleasant afternoon that he keeps bobbine
from one to another ard often loses ali
There goes Lord Tennyson p "Quick
The Duke of Portland was in that car.
riage. | wonder if that was Miss Dallas.
York with him p There goes carriage
| with royal arms p ''0h, where? | did
not see any of them )" and SO on all the
time. While | was trying to push 10 the
front grand carriage drove Up to the
! sidewalk: then another and another: a red
carpet was laid down to the door: there
was flash of jewels; some bundles of mill
linery quickly sprang out. | glanced to
| the coachmen and footmen; they all had
big posies and satin ribbons in their but
| tonholes. Then | knew the real reason of
| the crowd. 1t was drawing-room dav in
Regent street. After being presented at
court the beauties were coming to be pho
! tographed.
The London photographers usually re-
eelye no other customers on that dav.
Most OF the royalists go to Wander Weyde
now. 1t Is singular fact that Wander
| Weyde, with this old historic Dutch
name, Is really an American, who came to
London penniless after the war. As the
carriages rolled up the crowd increased,
Several ladies in the street tried to 90 IN
but were repulsed by the grim servant in
livery at the door, When the Duchess of
Marlborough swept in the excitement be.
came tremendous and could stand it no
longer, so l found myself following yards
and yards of black brocatelIe, tulle, lace,
passementerie, jets and feathers UP the
wide staircase to the little Moorish wait
ing room.
The American Duchess of Marlborough
Is not pretty, but she has fine presence,
and carries herself with grace and dig
nifty, and little self consciousness or ex.
alted looks, perhaps. She was dressed in
court mourning, with the magnificent
family jewels which were once the Iaurels
OF splendid home. thought her dressed
in the best style of any of the ladies in the
gallery. Many portraits of Lady Randolph
Churchill hang about, from the simple
American girl in white muslin when She
tirst came over to the more mature woman
of the world in her omt dress, with the
star Of India blazing en- her bosom. The
magnificent Duchess of Leinster was there
with her head lifted like great stag on
the alert. Her pictures do not do her ius-
tlce. She must be seen in the flesh to ap-
preciate her color as well as her form.
heard one stout lady of past forty saw
'Oh, you naughty American boy, why
don't you make me look like Adelaide
ha41 i . ?,
two professional beauties that Wander
Weyde has made famous. A good deal is
expected from him sometimes. Most of
his pictures are taken by electric light, and
by the use of colored glass which softens
and subdues the lines of the face and gives
to the skin of each woman its loyeliest
natural color, and makes some plain women
look beautiful.
My hour lengthens to two or three.
then, when all the trains have departed.
/ was taken to the studio, where the
work of the real artist is seen-one might
almost say he is photographer only in
play, an artist in earnest, for while he
often rusheS down to pose some important
person he gets back to his painting as soon
as he can, and sometimes works until after
midnight, forgetting club and society.
We had tea from some dainty cups of
egg she'll porcelain, and | asked him how
he became interested in photography. 1t
was by an aCcident-a terrible accident.
He was a Seventh Regiment boy. In
the war he was captured, and was in the
Libby prison for more than two years. He
was always of an inventive genius, and
could not be idle even amid the horrors
which surrounded him. While there he
conceived some inventions which made
him fortune when he came out.
Then he spent five years in European
travel, and visited many then little ex-
plored countries. A sudden change swept
away his fortune. He was in London and
wondering what to do; chance took him
into photographers. He was told he
could not be taken that day, it was too
foggy. Without thinking he said: Gould
not one be taken by artificial light?"
"There would be fortune for the man
who could invent one" the clerk replied.
That night he went to work His first
idea was to collect the rays of the SUI in
a gigantic burning glass; at great ex-
pense he had one constructed, hollow and
filled with water. The room for expert
ment was in north light; had it been
under the suns rays the monster glass
could have melted a man to grease spot.
One day while he was working there
came terrific explosion, the glass burst,
he was knocked down and deuged with
water, one OF the fragments piercing his
arm, pinned him to the floor and severed
an artery, while the blood spurted to
the ceiling. The inmates of the house,
hearing the noise, rushed to the room to
find him senseless. He was taken to
bed and for months lay in a raging
fever. The room was locked, and when he
was at last allowed to wall, he opened the
door and found the floor scattered with
fragments of glass and the blood stain on
the ceiling-the thought of his DAYS of
wasted labor was too much. He tainted
and had relapse.
When he recovered he heard that new
discovery had been made-the electric
light. This was what he had been search
ing for. He hired poor photographer to
work for him nights, and at last perfected
the invention for which all the court beau
ties thank him when drawing-room day is
a foggy one.
The pictures produced by it are pecul-
iarly soft and suggestive without changing
the likeness of the face, for they need but
little retouching. The great advantage is
that the light is movable, so that when
pose is caught it can be experimental
with from every point.-LondoR Cor.
Philadelphia Press.
A Cat That Goes Swimming.