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THE GUIDE T< I X \Tl iRE 



A Valuable Photographic Appliance. 

 T have read, with much interest, the 

 exploitation in various photographic mag- 

 azines, of lenses of all sorts and sizes 

 and focal lengths. I have learned me 

 joys of this swing hack, of that pull up 

 or of that take down ; I have sympathet- 

 ically revelled in the enthusiasms of the 

 various devotees of focal plane shutters 

 and of other varieties of shutters ; I have 



GUMBOWOO— THE "NEW" PHOTOGRAPHIC 

 APPARATUS. 



(Note — explanatory, etymological, historical and 

 prophetical. — Coined words in photography seems now- 

 adays especially to be in order. The o or oo sounds 

 have the preference. To be in the fashion and to 

 exploit something new and effective, in mysterious 

 name, we propose the above. We make haste to 

 state that there is deep significance in the name 

 gumbowoo, but lest we be misunderstood, the state- 

 ment is hereby plainly made that it is not from 

 gumbo soup, nor woo-ing the fair goddess of photog- 

 raphy. It is of plebian, yes, even "barbarian" origin — 

 gum, boots and woolen socks. — Ed.) 



read formula' for all kinds of strange 

 mixtures of hypo, cycho, lycho, jolo, 

 bulo, relo, turbelo; or did I dream some- 

 where of all these strange chemicals? 

 Any one may dream almost anything 

 after reading the photographic magazines, 

 in his visions including ghosts, fairies, 

 human beings with one eye and that a 

 poor one, noses amusing in their unreal- 

 ity, one ear gone, even from front view, 

 or lost in the hazes and mazes of fuzzy, 

 foggy photography. But I sing of the joys 

 of a more plebian, commonplace appli- 

 ance. The apparatus that I have in mind 

 is, in this formation of mysterious com- 

 pounds, from a distant land, is produced 

 by physical processes unknown to many 

 of us, and the result is unmistakably 

 commonplace and familiar. 



I sing of the joys of rubber boots and I 

 usher them into the realm occupied by 

 valuable, comfortable, enjoyable, photo- 

 graphic apparatus. Wearing them you 

 no longer view from afar the beauties of 

 the brook in winter nor in summer; with 

 them you can easily get into the midst of 

 things. Perhaps you, city man, may 

 think it strange that I should thus sing 

 the joys of rubber boots, but rubber boots 

 lead to many new objects; they may re- 

 veal fair lands rivaling those of Mun- 

 chausen. Every photographer that was 

 born and bred in the country, and in his 

 later years buys a pair of rubber boots 

 and uses them with the camera in winter, 

 or upon the breaking up of the brooks 

 towards spring, has not only an effective 

 method of getting at desirable objects but 

 is perpetually celebrating the memories 

 of boyhood when recesses and noons were 

 winter and summer spent at the brook. 

 The brook not only goes on forever, but 

 is still a joy forever — provided one has 

 rubber boots. The rubber boots are al- 

 most comparable to a new cult. They 

 do, at least, literally procure another 



