News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-04-07

up anu paced the uncaFDoted floor
but still her soft eyes followed me
The house and plantation antedateC
the war; | had searched the title deeC
back almost to the days of the colo
nizatiOn..Of the state, and for all any
one knew to the contrary, this por
trait may have been made in Bloody
Mary's time; or was it of later years
and was she n slave holder? l was
sure she was a kind mistress, and as
| looked at her / Iabjured all abolition
principles and was ready for Union
but stop!-I forgot, as | forget now
in the relling, that | was and am q
married mani After n while / fell
asleep to dream dreams not altogeth.
er Photographic, although visions ot
using two drachms of pyro and a
half-ounce of eikonogen with no re-
strainer; of fixing in acidulated hypo
and washing the plate, when there
was no running water nearer than
the riyer which ran through oar
cOrniield mile away?
At dawn loud humping noise
awOke me, and, although | know
you will not believe it, upon my word
when looked for the portrait it was
gone bodily from the tarnished gold
frame, and in it's place was the worst
daub of n landscape ever cOlOred by
the Great Atlantic tea company.
Alas it was too late now to take the
charming lady, and even her voice
pleading so sadly, "Take me, take
me, take mel sounded in my ears
like the voice one hears in dreams of
| the dead. | drank another cup of
self-made coffee, realizing us | drank
how inferior | was to the poorest
Irish cook, and returned to town to
| tell my wife ahout-the carpenters,
the masOns and the crops. She did
not have to urge me to pass the next
night on the farm, but she sent John
ny with me. Johnny is useful to
carry things, so l gave him my ko-
dak wrapped in an ice-blanket be-
tween two crib mattresses. Light
| Injuries cameras, as every one knows,
and family jars make blurry pictures.
had promised my wife, you remem-
Der, but in case the lovely lady of my
dreams materialized, | meant to be
ready; moreover, it is a clever idea
to have II kodak handy to take a
telling shot at a twO-dollar-a-day
carpenter asleep on the roof to show
later when. the bill comes in for so
many hours of labor.
| did not expect the vision a second
time, and hardly hoped for it with
Johnny by my side, nor did it reap
pear till just at dawn, when a most
prosaic accident occurred. Johnny
fell out of bed and thumped his head,
and when | sleepily administered an
other thump, to heal him homeop-
athically-lo! on STOPPING down,
under the bed or between it and the
wall saw the oil painting on the
floor.
The explanation is a simple one, of
course, as Isuppose it to be the shift
less habit of the southern housekeep-
er to fit one picture behind another
as they accumulate on her hands.
| Believe me, ] lost no time in cOaNine.
my boy to get mp and go out and see
! the sun rise, the hens lay, the cows
MIXED or whatever else is worth the
price of admission at o'clock in the
morning in the real country; and
when he was out of the way / set the
fair one tenderly on an old box and
made ready to obey her behest. She
no longer spoke save with her eyes,
but their light was dazzling enough
to fog Il plate. | had no flash, SO !
set the shutter for time-eXposure
| and turned the film roll one notch !
This was my first exposure on the
roll, and / meant it to be a success /;
but n man was looking i'll at the win
! dow, n carpenter was pounding over
my head, and, worst of all, the shrill
accents of Johnny penetrated the
keyhole.
"Papa, papa, where have you put
my overcOat ct? 1t is right smart
cold and reckon ma would want me
to wear it, called he in the dialect of
the region.
"SOnny," Unanswered sternly, 81
am very sick, and shall die if you
speak to me again before | call you.
Go away, Johnny, and stay away, or
| will whip you when get well, which
| think will be in about n half hour.
Johnny went away and stayed
away, and | set by to watch the in
visible process which goes on in eX-
pOsure. She took, or | supposed she
did, and turned the film roller one
notch farther and opened the door
to the outside world. She was mine
and that must suffice till prosaic af-
fairs and my wife gave me time to
develop her. | was in no hurry, as
wanted her to be mine only, and
not looked at by any careless guest
who might happen to turn over my
prints | replaced the landscape in
the frame and made sure the secret
was hers and mine only l had
taken her, but the mystery of it was
that in the taking she had got pos
session OF me-Of me, Il married man
who had promised his wifel
The lady of my dreams remained
undeveloped so long that | dreaded
to reveal her existence in hard
blackened silver lines, and it is prob
able she would have ended her days
and mine on the film had not my
wife's nephew, Calhoun Dinwiddie
paid us a flying visit before he SAILED
for a summer in England. He was &
charming young southerner, hot
blooded and impulsive and of course
poor. We talked photography, ol
rather | did, and to reward him fol
proving a patient listener | careless
Iy offered to lend him my kodak, al
offer which was so eagerly accepted
that ] could not as host withdraw it
1 Al .
safeguard for my hidden inamorata
"Iet me develop the films, please
Cal, | said at parting; sit will saw
you n pretty penny, as they charg'
like fun in Rochester"
He promised, and | thought moth
ing more of the matter, supposinG
Cal would use the little camera onl!
to pose with on the steamer; but i
seems | was mistaken, for n letter tC
my wife, received a month later, stat
ed among other bits of information
CLEANED from the guide books ant
other sources that he was visiting il
a Devonshire manor house, and tn
host was an enthusiastic amateu
photographer like uncle Rick.
Farther down on the margin it aI
peared that Calhoun had develope,
al his films and found them "a ba
lot" and he reckoned the machin
was out Of order; but he found tn
thing great sport, and Miss Beatrice
the eldest of eight girls, knew how t
work the thing, and he and she ha
no end of jolly times taking thing
and talking about things; and was