The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-06-08
IN INAPHOTOGRAPHGALLERY
AS WELL STOCKED WITH SCENERY AS
A THEATRE STAGE.
Sets to Please the whims of All Sorts of
People-some of the Queer and A musing
Incidents of a Long Career as Photog-
rnpher.

rapher.
A photograph gallery contains great deal of
human nature within its frescoed walls. A
first-class gallery in its property-room is per
feet curiosity shop, as full of quaint relics as
the one which Dickens made famous in his in
imitabe story. 1t was noon the other day
when HERALD reporter called at Merritts
gallery. That is the best time for getting in
stantaneous views Of the little folks, and the
sky parlors were well filled with waiting NAM
mas, nursery maids, and their precious little
charges There were all known varieties of
babies waiting to have their photos taken from
the baby in delicate lawn and lace to the more
plainly dressed little mite of poor parents. The
operator understood babies and their mammas
to perfection. He knew how to pose them for
the best effects, and while the babies sat in high
chairs on dais and peered wistfully into the
camera for ''kitte" the deed was done.
ooh, yes, have little scenery up here, )" the
lady photographer said; ''some three thousand
pieces or so. 1have been gathering 1t togetherfor
nearly half century. When we begun the bust
ness my husband only took daguerreotypes, and
everybody wanted to pose leaning one elbow on
a table and with the chin or cheek resting on the
hand. Lovers wanted to be perpetuated in the
attitude of bliss on that cold night when they
went sleighing and popped the question, SO
and she'll and be done in character; the ball
player with his bat; the minister in his pulpit;
my fine lady in her boudoir, and the romantic
young lady in q moonlight scene or on bal
| cony. Our devices to please the many whms of
| humanity are endless
| ''Some funny things take place in gallery.
| Once in the early days good German came to
| have his frau taken full length to send home,
that his old neighbors might see for themselves
| how handsome she had grown. He had spared
| no expense to buy her handsome new gown
| for the occasion, and it was made up in the lat
est style when she cameto have her daguerreotype
| taken. We posed her and propped up her head
with the nppers, and there she was, the stiffest,
most unlovely specimen of a woman that ever
was seen. You know, it took some time to
burn in daguerreotype, and she began to look
tagged before the process was completed. The
operator clapped on the cap at last and ran into
the darkroom with the negative, leaving her
standing. Presently he heard an awful crash,
| as though the house was tumbling down. Run
ming out, he found the husband hopping around
wringing his hands and distractedly crying:
She too tight She too tightr His frau had
fallen over backward, through the background,
in a dead faint The operator took in the situa-
ton at glance, and opening her dress ripped
her corset strings with one thrust of his knife,
when he VOWS he will never forget to his dying
day how woman he took to be slender seemed
suddenlyto bulge out into immense proportions.
She had veritably laced within an inch of her
life to have picture for home folks taken.
sit is astonishing how much vanity there is in
JDe WOrlu. Every man anu woman wants TO De
fattered in their photographs. Ifthey are not
if every wrinkle and blemish is not finished
out-they will have none of u.s. We seldom fail
to give entire satisfaction in this direction. My
husband, it is safe to say, has posed million
subjects, and they all behaved beautifully but
one, and he was dead man. The way of it was
this. We had a call of that kind, and it is one
that no matter how good the workmanship is it
operator Well, the operator could not get the
subject in a good light, so as last resort he
stood the coffin on end against the wall and
went to work. When he came to look at his
plate it almost made his hair white. The sub
ject had moved Yes, actually settled down an
inch or two in his coffin rs the process was GO
ing on. have omitted the emphatic manner in
which the operator expressed his digust that no
subject, living or dead, could keep still long
enough to have good picture the first sitting.
''The brides get us. Oneonce wanted us to be
sure and get the expression she wore when she
stood before the minister The theatrical sitters
are among the very best, for they know how to
pose for effect and which side of the face is
handsomest. | suppose you never observed
that most people have two sides to their faces,
two lines of beauty or otherwise on their noses,
be they Roman or pug. 1t is fine art to know
how to pose. Nearly all amateur art is purely
mechanical, and the difference between one
photographers pictures and another's lies in the
posing, arranging lights and shades, snd lastly,
. finish. Some artists are like blind pig, who
only occasionally and 10y accident get an acorn.
They blunder on good pictures, but are not to
be relied upon. The art comes from the artistic
instinct and training of the operator. One need
not get into rut of mannerisms, but must in
this, us other business, keep pace with the times
Once when we We're travelling through the West
when we first set up for ourselves, we run across
I an old lady from the country who wanted heI
pictures took, and my husband posed her be
| fore the camera. While he had his head under the
| cloth, and Just as he was taking the cap off, she
jumped up and ran forward and peered curl
! ! ously in to see how it was done. On another
, occasion young man and woman came to hav
, two single three-quarter photos taken facins
: each other. My husband posed the young maj
t and the young lady assisted at the seance. A
the word ready from the operator she stooC
i still instead of stepping away, and was taken
) in attitude not set down in the order that wa
. apparently too tender for public exhibition
Even photography will misrepresent facts, yol
see. We travelled for year when we wer
young through Indiana Kentucky, and Illinois
9 and rural Hoosier would always say, 'Cal
: you strike me off to-day as though we wer
/ | eXecutioners, while the Kentuck rustic would
5 say, want my picture taken standing on q
e piece of pasteboard.' We have a gallery Will
4. sixty thousand negatives on file, representing
all the most prominent people during the wa
e and since-generals, Presidents, Cabinet officers
diplomats, and the world generally Yes, ther
f is lots of fun and good deal of human natur
5 in our business" E. l.. ).
m, m.