THE BOOK OF THE LANTERN. 



89 



exhibitor must content himself with existing arrangements. 

 But supposing that he has a free will in the matter, he 

 must exercise his judgment with regard to the size of the 

 hall, and the best position for hanging a sheet. For in- 

 stance, in a hall with a pointed roof, the position A (see 

 figure 35) would be preferable to position B. In some 

 halls, again, the walls may be so far apart that the sheet 

 will, when hung in the manner described, drop consider- 

 ably by its own weight, so that, although the screw-eyes 

 may be 20 feet from the ground, the top edge of the sheet 

 will be only 14 or 15 feet above the floor. The best 

 way of obviating this is by the use of two wooden struts, 

 or supports, placed as shown in figure 36. In this dia- 



FIG. 36. 



gram the dotted lines indicate the position which the sheet 

 would occupy without this help. 



The material of which the screen or sheet is made is of 

 far more importance than would be thought by an inexperi- 

 enced worker. A careful artist knows that a good picture 

 cannot be produced on crumpled or dirty paper ; and the 

 lantern exhibitor should be quite as careful to provide for 

 his pictures an unblemished and even surface. Un- 



