2 INTRODUCTORY 
Ba Sedo) elte ho cee Secrest  e 
which I loved so well. And I stole hints, 
too, from a professional photographer, when 
I had the chance, and even got him to allow 
me once or twice to enter the dark room 
with him, when one of us had his portrait 
taken, or I myself had sat before the mystic 
lens, that stamped our features on the plate, 
which in the dim religious light came creep- 
ing out, after the mysterious chemicals had 
been poured on. I remember his stained 
fingers and black nails, inseparable from the 
wet plate process of those days. Nor can I 
forget my feelings when my own ten digits, 
stained to dark copper hue, would not 
respond to all my efforts with hot water, 
lemon, brush and soap. And how I trem- 
bled lest my new found pleasure should 
receive a sudden check, and camera and all 
be taken right away. I knew nothing in 
those days of modern lenses and the like, 
nor of snapshot cameras and shutters of the 
present type. I have got the old box still, 
constructed in two parts, that slide to- 
gether in and out for the rough focussing, 
