204 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



I overtook two of these girls in an old water- worn lane amid the 

 hills in Antrim, my arrival interrupting an apparently earnest conver- 

 sation, and diverting their attention to my photographic kit. After a 

 nod and a smile in a short walk, we arrived at a broken bridge or cul- 

 vert, the arch of which had tumbled into a deep gully in the hill; and 

 this took my fancy for a view. Their curiosity increased on my open- 

 ing out the case, uncovering the instrument for focusing, and they 

 were delighted when asked to hold the tripod on the rocky ground. 

 Just then a gust of wind carried off one of my numerous papers con- 

 tained in the kit, and off went one of the girls in hot pursuit after it, 

 over the stone fence, across the field, and away into the stream filled 

 with boulders. Finally she "heaved" (brought) it to me a worthless 

 scrap for which I thanked her as if I considered it of real value. On 

 showing them the inverted reflection on the ground-glass, an explana- 

 tion of the inversion was required, and this (not having time for a lec- 

 ture on optics) I satisfied them by saying, "Oh, that's a reflection 

 merely, as you sometimes see the moon in the water." 



"5 1 took two views here, and then made them merry with my propo- 

 sal to photograph the two under their shawl. "I wish it were Sunday, 

 for I then wear a hat, you know," said one. "And I wear boots and 

 stockings when I go to chapel," added the other, swelling with pride. 

 I had to stop their merry chatter somehow, for I had no large dia- 

 phragms for rapid exposure. With a formidable ambition for effect, 

 for contrast, the idea occurred to me to make one of them frown while 

 the other smiled, but for some time I was not successful in provoking 

 a frown, until I suddenly blamed one of them for causing me a loss of 



