The record-union., 1897-08-22

apparatus, We're the first TO introduce
the cinematograph in France. They
did not furnish or operate the instru-
ment used at the Charity Bazaar.
Whether they ever made use of the
ether saturator at all is not quite clear,
but it is not unlikely that they both
produced and sold to their customers
this particular device. However this
may be, they now take pains to adver-
tise that their cfnematograph is fur
nished with electric light only, and
therefore is much safer than the APP
paratus marketed by irresponsible i'm
itators. The variety theaters in New
York which have been exhibiting ami
mated pictures by means of biographs
and Yerfscopes have never used any
other light. In fact, the electric-arc
appears TO be a necessity in large halls.
1t is only in small places that the lime
light would be adequate The satur-
ator system was this: A cupful of
liquid ether was poured into a tightly
closed metal receptacle which had first
been loosely filed with cotton WOOL
This device was known as a "satura-
tor" A small spout permitted the va
por to escape in a jet which played on
the lime pencil, and which there met
another jet from the oxygen supply
tank. The saturator would hold enough
ether to last two or three hours, much
longer than lantern show usually
continues. Where, however. frequent
exhibitions are being gwen. as at a
fair, it is necessary to refill the sat
urator ever so often. At the Charity
Bazar the operator in charge neglected
the usual precaution of extinguishing
-31f Ts,~--+
ator. The vapor from an open cup
which he used in performing this task
consequently took fire. A slight ex-
plosion occurred, and some light and
infammable draperies in the booth
were instantly ignited. The rest of the
story the readers of the Tribune" re-
member only too we'll.
The annals Of art and of letters are
filed with stories of heroism on the
part of those seeking to make a name
for themselves and TO compel recogni-
tion of their genius. Not often, how
ever has it fallen to the lot of genius
TO wage heroic war against difficulties
that last throughout a liftime In this
respect the lives of the two American
historians, Prescott and Parkman, fur
lDTIlluQe
and perseverance.
In the sixth of its series of articles on
American Bookmen.' - THE Bookman"
gives US brief biographies of these two
men, so handicapped, by failing eye
sight, for historical research, and yet
so triumphant in overcoming their
physical defects by means of a strong
viii and retentive mind
Rano,Oft AT0+Iaxv
man were all Massachusetts men. edu-
Gated at Harvard, and all living, at one
time or another, within a stones throw
of Boston Common. All had much in
common, therefore. in training, in So
cial atmosphere. and in traditional be-
liefs; but Prescott and Parkman were
in many important respects more close
ly related than the others. What we
read between their pages. says NJ. A.
De Wolfe Howe, who writes the arti-
cles in The Bookman," is a tale of
unfinching courage and successful
struggle, not in spurts of a few months
or years, but for a lifetime against
difficulties so disheartening that a man
might own them too much for him and
yet prove himself no coward"
Cleveland Leader: The critical writ
ers on high art have a fashion. or. more
properly, a fad, Of reverting to the
classical models of sculpture and paint
ing as being of a grade so far above
anything that has been produced in
modern times that the works of our
contemporaries are not worthy to be
mentioned in the same breath. if. in
deed, in the same day. when a compari-
son is instituted between them. saws a
writer in the Globe Democrat" In
really learned art criticism, the names
OF Praxiteles and Phidias, Agesander
and Alcamenes. Apollonius and Tauris-
Gus, and Chares. and Cleomenes. and
hyslppus, and Myron are as famfliarlv
used as though they were the names of
men llVing in the next street: while if
the Talk be Of painting, Zeuxfs and Pau
Slas ana Apeiles and a number of 9th
eTs hgure With equal prominence and
Iafniilal1ty as the writer's descant on
Inc superiority of ancient art to mod
efn ana prove, to their own satjsfae
ton that the painters of our own time
ought to be painting fences instead of
faces, and that the sculptors wo11ld
better be employed in breaking macad-
am than in chiseling marble.
Ideals are well enough in their WOW
in fact, the world, without them. wo1ld
probably not amount to much: bur in
sounding their praises it is well to pa
member that it is quite possible not onlv
Tor every age to have its own, but also
that those of a succeeding age may be a.
decided Improvement on such as have
gone before. Owen Meredith says some
where in Lucille:
A dwarf on a dead giants shoulders sees
more
Than the live giants eyesight avafIed IN
explore.
The saying is just as true now as
when he stole it from George Sands
novel and made it as much his own as
he could by putting it in rhyme and me-
ter. Artistically, the painters of the
present day stand on the shoulders of
those who have gone before them. and
are able to create models of their own.
Particularly is this the case in the
matter of female beauty. Every age
and country has its own standards or
deals in this matter, and what would
be considered a perfect type in one
might be regarded as deficient in an
other, so that a dogmatic ruling on the
subject, while it might be satisfactory
10 some, might also be extremely dis
\ tasteful to others. The belle of Da-
honey would hardly shine in Paris.
while the most beautiful Chinese wo-
man would net come up to European
ideas. yet these ladies are doubtless
very beautiful in the eyes of the gallants
of their respective countries however
II