The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1907-01-11


cameras, were advertising for a gen
)emAn to fill the position of chief op-
elator. There was nothing suspicious
about the advertisement, and its
straightforward, almost pleading tone
prepossessed ne
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, 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 tiend
could arm himself
II was called a hand camera" i'm.
plying that II could be carried In the
hand. and to distinguish II from that
variety which entails the attendance
OF strong porter for locomotion.
You surely know them?
Thousands OF persons, who are abb
solutely ignorant of the chemical
transformation required to produce a
photograph, are now able, through the
instrumentality OF Snap. Shot G. Shut.
ter, to write themselves amateur pho.
tographers"
The firm do the developing and
print al 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 few little things /
snapped the other day" one 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 rave about It,"
dropped Messrs Snap Shott &
Shutter Il 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 G. Shutter"
Up. S.-Wc trust to receive shortly
your application for the position
1t was disconcertlng to be unable to
ascertain how he had liked the work.
! tried again, and asked for the adj
dress Of his, predecessor In Office. To
my surprise ! learned that this gen
tleman was at present In charge Of
his medical attendant at a private
asylum. A postscript informed mo
that s. 5. & ;. 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 oNacting, and accordingly &C.
ccptcd the post
My arrival created somewhat OF
sensation The interest excited was
distinctly factoring to a modest man
Some Of the CLERKS seemed TO regard
me in n strange manner and ] could
have vowed there was look almost
akin to pity in the eyes Of the lady
typist.
| began with batch OF a dozen
plates, which tho 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, Hy no stretch Of mag.
inaton could the eye Of faith detect
the slightest trace Of any picture, and
mopping my brow / wondered whether
the photographer had dispatched me a
box of uneXposed plates. Number
seven was Ike It's predecessors, and
so was the next and the next. The
mistake was obvious The man had
sent me n 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. | dashed
It into clean water. Proceeding eau.
tiouGly with weak solution a faint
image OF church became apparent, I
considerably obscured by the masts
Of ships Beads of perspiration kept
my forehead cool as further incongrui.
ties became evident. A phantom auto.
mobile and an lndescribable tumble OF
the art museum and Brooklyn bridge
darkened the whole 1t 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.
II seemed unfortunate that should
have begun on so many failures, but |
| looked for better luck on the mar.
row. Alas! 1t was forlorn hope, and !
the second day closed In gloom.