228 



THE GUIDE T< ) N \Tl UK 



Yes, Mr. Kellogg, yon are right. 

 The editor should "show his readers 

 their purchasing power," bul only for 

 one purpose, one hope, to become so 

 skilled as to merit the best lenses that 

 arc made. Make you contented with the 

 rectilinear or "cheap John" lens thai 

 you have! Never. It would be sacri- 

 legious. Sell your shirt, pawn your 

 watch, go without actual necessities — 

 hope and keep on hoping, and by and 

 by, if you arc worthy, the fulfillment 

 will come. For long evenings, and oc- 

 casionally during the day, you will gel 

 the Bausch & Lomb catalogue in one 

 hand and the Goerz in the other. You 

 will adore the words, Protar, Dagor, 

 Celor, Tessar; you will study the dol- 

 lars and cents column. You will com- 

 pare apertures, focal lengths, shutters. 

 Then you will figure over many a pad 

 slip, crumple them up and throw them 

 away in despair. But by and by, if 

 you put enough heart, and hard work, 

 and hope, and deprivation, there will 

 come a box — just a little box, too. 

 With trembling hands and eager eye, 

 you burst off the cover — careful now — 

 pull out the excelsior, unwrap the 

 white tissue paper. It is true; it is 

 not a dream ; here is a lens — a great, 

 bewilderingly cheering piece of glass 

 in a shutter. 



"I wonder if they did fit it to the 

 lens board all right." 



They did ! 



The old box has a new eye and heart. 



Then you will go out to see if all 

 they said is true. Will its focus be 

 sharp to the corners — diaphragm wide 

 open ? 



Then along will come a neighbor, 

 and another. Is ever}- dweller on the 

 street out of his house to-day ! Seems 

 so. 



"Hello, Mr. . Going to take a 



picture of your house?" 



Great Scott ! It's true. Mortar on 

 the chimney and in the foundation at 

 the same time. 



"Do a good deal of photography, 

 don't you " 



\nd then with a little adjusting of 

 the lower lever: Whew, who would 

 have believed it? Look at that for 

 depth. Right here, even the gravel is 



sharp, and so arc the twigs on those 

 t re< s a mile away. 



"Say, Mr. , when you cannot 



find anything else to photograph come 

 up and photograph my house, will 



VI >u 



v 



Mow clear everything is — seems like 

 looking out of a bay window on a 

 beautiful day. 



"Well, good day, Mr. , you seem 



to be busy." 



And when he is a block away, you 

 feel that you have been discourteous, 

 so you call him back and. to make 

 amends you talk to him for fifteen min- 

 utes about perpendicular and horizon- 

 tal lines and clear field and cut cor- 

 ners. What does he say? Nothing; 

 but he keeps backing away till two 

 blocks off; then you stop for breath 

 and he calls back : 



"You're full of it I see. Come up 

 and 'take' my dog." 



Dog be dog goned and he with it. 

 That man doesn't know what it is to 

 live. He never waited twenty years 

 for an anastigmat ! 



* * * * 



And then you rush in and call out 

 everybody in the house. The neighbors 

 get to the windows and wonder what 

 has happened. You shout as one on 

 the veranda is so slow "Oh do come 

 quickly and see this definition and flat- 

 ness of field and sharp corners and 

 good light, and — and" 



"Eh, what was it?" you inquire. 



"What did it all figure up?" 



"Including expressage and fitting — 

 only ninety-four dollars and seventy- 

 five cents. Dirt cheap for so fine a 

 one." 



"Rut you won't have to get another, 

 will you? They last a lifetime, don't 

 they, and one so good as that will do 

 all your work?" 



"Oh, yes, yes. They last for some 

 time and will do a lot of work — good 

 PAYING work too." 



And then, walking into the house, 

 slyly take out a bit of crumpled paper, 

 as if it were a part of the packing, and 

 look at the figures. Another make, 

 four inches more in focal length, 

 costs 



