Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-01-10

Snap, Shot & Shutter, makers of
cameras, were advertising for a gen.
tleman to fill the position Of chief op-
orator. There was nothing suspicious
about the advertisement, and its
Straightforward, almost pleading tone
prepossessed me-
Required-A capable Photographic
operator to undertake sole charge of
dark room and developing branch of
our business. Liberal salary. Apply
to Snap, Shot & Shutter, etc.
The liberal salary" seemed to
promise well. AS regarded my own
suitability for the post, l had no mis-
givings. Photography held no ~unsolved
mysteries for me, while in algebraic
formulate connected with diaphragms,
angles and foci of lenses / was quite
at home. Further, Messrs. Snap, Shot
& Shutter were an eminent firm, and
their particular make of apparatus
was probably the most terrible with
which the amateur Photographic fend
could arm himself.
It was called a hand camera" i'm
plying that it could be carried in the
hand, and to distinguish it from that
variety which entails the attendance
of a strong porter for locomotion'
You surely know them?
Thousands of persons, who are alb
solutely ignorant of the chemical
Transformation required to produce q
photograph, are now able, through the
fundamentally Of Snap, Shot & Shut
ter, to write themselves amateur pho
tographers."
The firm do the developing and
print as many copies as are ordered
by the photographers" The latter
then have the delight of exhibiting to
their friends with an assumed care
lessnessl the choicest Of their efforts
These are a few little things ]
snapped the other day" n will re
mark, with a modest, deprecating air.
That's Mr.. Brown, the merchant
prince, arguing with a man, and here's
Miss Green, the poetess, eating a sand
wich. I'm told it's quite unique in its
way; my friends ave about it."
/ dropped Messrs. Snap, Shot &
Shutter a line, and begged to be ia
vored with the name and address OF
the operator lately holding the post
BY return the following reached me:
Dear Sir-In answer to your cour'
teous note, we regret to inform you
that the gentleman you alluded to is
dead. Yours truly,
Snap, Shot & Shutter"
"P. S.--We trust to receive shortly
your application for the position"
1t was ~disconcerting to be unable to
ascertain how he had liked the work,
/ tried again, and asked for the ad.
dress of his predecessor in office. To
my surprise I learned that this gen
tleman was at present in charge OF
his medical attendant at a private
asylum. A postscript informed me
that S., S. & S. would await my appli.
cation before coming to a decision.
AS the firm were meeting me more
than half way / did not wish to ap.
pear too exacting, and accordingly &C.
cepted the post.
My arrival created somewhat of a
sensation. The interest excited was
distinctly f1attering to a modest man.
Some of the clerks seemed to regard
me in a strange manner, and ! could
have vowed there was a look almost
akin to pity in the eyes Of the lady
typist.
I began with a batch of a dozen
plates, which the sender, by his letter.
declared to be of exceptional interest
The first six plates were negatives,
but not in the generally accepted sense
of the word. By no stretch of imag.
ination could the eye Of faith detect
the slightest trace of any picture, and
hopping my brow I wondered whether
the photographer had dispatched me a
box of ~uneXposed plates. Number
seven was like its predecessors, and
so was the next and the next. The
mistake was obvious. The man had
sent me a dozen new plates in error
A few minutes would suffice to finish
off the remainder.
A shock awaited me with the last
of all. Gazing darkly into the develop
ing dish, signs of great distress were
quickly manifest in the film. I dashed
1t into clean water. Proceeding eau
tiously with a weak solution a faint
image of a church became apparent
4 considerably obscured by the masts
of ships. Beads Of p~erspiration kept
my forehead cool as further incongrui
ties became evident. A phantom auto
mobile and an indescribable tumble Of
the art museum and Brooklyn bridge
darkened the whole. It was, indeed
an interesting set of pictures, married
by the fact that all had been taken
on one and the same negative. The
operator had diligently pulled the
trigger a dozen times, but had not
thought it necessary to change the
plate.
1t seemed unfortunate that l should
have begun on so many failures, but
! looked for better luck on the NOR.