Year: 1878

The querest fellow without exception in
all Wexford, was Daniel Batter.


He was sixteen years of age, yet he had
the reputation about odd and out-of-the
way things as any ten average lads. He
was believed to have an intimate acqualnt-
ance with every trout in the streams and
every bird in the woods and every rabbit
in the burrow. He had the largest col
lection of birds eggs to be found in the
country; and it was reported and solemnly
believed by all the small boys in the neigh
borhood that he had secret understand
ing with the king and orioles by
which they agreed to surrender an egg of
each litter to him in consideration Of his
promise to let all others alone.


He was always taking up some Few idea
to work out. If he did not know all about
many things, he really seemed to know
little about everything. He knew how to
print, how to bleed horse, how to use a
telegraph instrument, how to cultivate silk
worms, how to make the most outrageous
noise with his hands, how to grow pears,
how to play checkers with his eyes shut,
and, in short, he knew how to do nearly
everything that came in his way to learn.


One day the neighbors opened their eyes
and pricked up their ears at the news that
Dan had taken up photography; not that
they were astonished at anything that Dan
did, but they were interested in his enter
prise, though regarding it simply as an
other freak of his curious genius.


"WeT, well" said they, struggling their
shoulders, "Dan is an odd stick. It's
about time he went into something useful.
Photographs, ell ?"


The report was true, Dan had obtained
camera of good size and was experiment.
ing with it up in his "den, in one end of
his mothers garret.


1t would be hard to imagine more un-
tidy, chaotic-looking place than Dams
"den." 1t was full of bottles, old clothes,
bits of machinery, musical instruments,
carpenters tools, old maps, torn pictures,
pots of paint and chemicals, fragments of
old machines, stuffed birds, etc.; and it
smelcd so fearfully that no one but Dan
could ever stay long enough to make an
inventory of all the contents.


Dan was as odd looking a character as
one would be likely to sec in a years trav-
el. r. was thin and lank in the body and
legs His head was large, and he had
light blue eyes, and long, wbitish hair,
which he rarely combed, and which strag-
gled about all over his head, and as if the
rats had made nests in it the last time he
slept.


Dan was not much Of talker. Hegen-
orally kept silent and stared. Nobody
knew what an amount of thinking he did
meanwhile, and in fact many who had
laughed at his greenness had to confess
afterwards that he not only saw all things
that were going on, but knew more about
What he saw than the smartcst Of them.


Dan went on with his photographing
ior several weeks. He learned to take
Very good pictures, but he was far from
satisfied His fingers we're always stained
black and brown with acids that he could
not wash of, and his clothing always gave
out peculiar scent of collodion.


Dams mother began to be really anxious.
lAe boy was growing up loose Jack-of-
all-'radcs, but without any particular turn
i0r one profitable calling It was necces-
sary that he should choose some single
business and stick to it. She took the boy