Central Park to 110th Street, thence out Seventh Avenue to 116th Street.
Here, turning left into St. Nicholas Avenue, it continues to Tenth
Avenue, thence crossing the cable and running to Kingsbridge Road. In
time we shall be able to run out direct to Kingsbridge over the new
bridge, down the long hill beyond 181st Street, but for some time this
road has been in a state of construction and repair that was enough to
give bicyclers nervous prostration. It has been advisable, therefore, to
cross at 181st Street on Washington Bridge, thence following Featherbed
Lane to Macomb's Dam Road, to Fordham Landing Road, to Sedgwick Avenue,
to Bailey Avenue, to Kingsbridge, and thence out of the city along the
Hudson to Yonkers. This is the main road up the Hudson on all routes,
long or short. It is the best road from the start, and for many reasons
the wheelman is advised to take it even when he is bound southward and
eastward. A mile or more on a bicycle is nothing compared to the
difficulties of getting over a bad road, and any rider will prefer five
good miles to one very bad one. A map of this route is published in
HARPER'S ROUND TABLE, No. 810.
This is what renders the other two routes out of New York undesirable as
compared with what the Kingsbridge will be when it is completed. The
second in order of importance as good road is that which leaves 59th
Street and runs through the Park to Seventh Avenue, thence proceeds to
the new 155th Street bridge. Cross this and run out Jerome Avenue,
through Morrisania to Jerome Park, along the old aqueduct for a bit,
thence through South Yonkers, Bronxville, Tuckahoe, to White Plains. The
road here is not good in any part. The Avenue is badly macadamized, and
here, as elsewhere in this part of New York, the road-bed is torn up
with repairs, and new plans and works for the system of roads which some
day, when we are all dead and wheeling has gone out of fashion, will
make the northern exits of New York the finest in the world. However,
this is the road to take if you are bound up the valley or series of
valleys lying between the Hudson River ridges and the western ridges of
Westchester. Certain routes out this way are rideable. The others are
not to be thought of under any circumstances if pleasure is the object
in view.
The third exit is further to the east, and runs from 59th Street, as
follows: Leave Central Park and run into Fifth Avenue from the Park at
the exit where the asphalt begins on the avenue; thence run out to 120th
Street, turning west to Morris Avenue, to 124th Street; then, turning
back, eastward to Fifth Avenue, to 135th Street, and thence to Madison
Avenue, crossing the bridge. After crossing, turn left to Mott Avenue.
From this point the run to White Plains is pretty bad work, being over
hilly, rough roads, with nothing of interest at hand for the eye to rest
on. The route is to 162d Street; thence east and south to 161st Street,
turning left into Washington Avenue, to Third Avenue, to Fordham
Railroad station, at the left a few blocks on. Crossing the bridge here,
turn right into Webster Avenue and run direct to Williamsbridge.
BUILDING A STATUE.
Modelling the clay for a statue is one of the most fascinating,
interesting, and, at the same time, instructive sights. From the moment
the preliminary frame-work is constructed to the final delicate
finishing-touches of the sculptor, the work progresses through many
stages. It is seldom that we think of the time and labor spent on such
works of art.
The sculptor who undertakes a commission to model, let us say, an
equestrian statue of colossal size, to be erected in commemoration of
some great General, finds a long task before him. In the first place, he
reads up the General's life, obtains all the information possible of his
characteristics, habits, etc. Then he procures all the photographs of
him that he can, and after careful study of them he works up a number of
pencil sketches, until he strikes a typical pose that he hopes will be
satisfactory. Then comes the production of the miniature model. This he
deftly works into shape with clay or wax. Oftentimes these small models
are carried to a nearly perfected stage, and it is in these that the
genius of the sculptor asserts itself.
From the lump of clay which his fingers have flattened, trimmed, rounded
off, the little model issues forth as a nucleus, from which its gigantic
brother is to come. With the proportions laid out in the small one, the
sculptor sketches his iron frame-work for the full-size model. On a
platform of heavy beams he constructs this frame-work, which, when
complete, has an anatomical look about it; but it would be a difficult
matter to find in the seemingly crazy arrangement of twisted iron and
the wire ropes, with blocks of wood tied on them, anything resembling
anatomy.
The skeleton frame has to be exceedingly strong; for should any part
give way later with the weight of the damp clay, it would doubtless
involve the beginning of the work all over again. With the frame
complete and tested as to its strength, the clay is built up around it,
careful attention being given to each minute detail, especially to the
anatomical ones. From the beginning, in the use of the clay, it is
essential to keep it damp, and all through the construction water is
applied through a hose-pipe with a sprinkler attached. This wetting-down
is extremely important, for should the clay get dry, it would crumble
like dirt, or crack, thus ruining the work.
The figure of the General is modelled nude, and brought to a high
finish. A live model is employed for the purpose, and he poses astride a
dummy horse in the position the sketch and miniature model call for.
After the figure is finished, even to the curve of each muscle,
equipments are put on the dummy horse, and the model dresses himself in
the General's costume and again takes the pose. The sculptor then
proceeds to dress the General and his horse. With his many different
tools he slowly shapes the clothing in the new clay that he has
ruthlessly slapped on the exquisite modelling underneath. Bit by bit the
various garments assume form and develop under the ready hand of the
master, every little fold or crease being carefully worked up. The
likeness is the most important part, however, and great attention is
paid to the face. In this it is necessary to combine so many things
besides likeness that the task is at times almost discouraging.
Months have been required to accomplish the work, and all through it the
sculptor has been studying the history of his subject, reviewing his
results, altering them to suit his tastes, until finally he lays down
his tools and calls his work finished. Plaster casts are then taken of
the model, and from these the bronze casting is made.
If a marble statue is ordered, the sculptor sometimes prefers to model
on a small scale and then to put his model in the hands of skilful
cutters in marble, who carry the work as far as they can judiciously,
when it is again taken up by the sculptor, who finishes it, putting in
the lines that proclaim his genius and commend it to the world as a work
of art. When this is done, the small original model must be finished up
to the highest point of the sculptor's ability. Usually, the first
modelling is done in the clay, life size, as this allows of alterations
that may suggest themselves during the advancement of the work.
HUBERT EARL.
[Illustration: THE CAMERA CLUB]
Any questions in regard to photograph matters will be willingly
answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to
hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions.
HOW TO MAKE "DOUBLES."
A photographic operation which gives a great deal of amusement is the
making of "doubles." A double photograph is one in which the same person
is represented twice, both portraits being taken on the same plate.
Doubles are made in the ordinary camera, the only apparatus needed being
some device by which either part of the lens or part of the plate-holder
is covered. This being done, the person to be photographed takes his
position before the camera, half the plate is exposed, and the shutter
closed. The subject then changes his position to the opposite side, and
the other half of the plate is exposed. When the picture is developed it
will look as if made by one exposure.
One way of making doubles is to have a box which will fit the front of
the camera so that it will project about three inches beyond the front
of the lens. A double door opening exactly in the middle of the box
should be fitted to the front of the box. The doors should meet in a
close straight line, so that when closed there will not be any danger of
light getting into the camera before the plate is exposed. Care must be
taken that the doors meet on a line exactly in the middle of the lens,
so that when either door is opened only half the lens will be in
operation.
Another and simpler way is to cut a plate-holder slide exactly in half,
arrange the camera, close the shutter, put in the plate-holder, take out
the slide, and slip the half-slide in its place. Make the exposure, take
out the half-slide and put in the plate slide, pose the subject for the
other half of the picture, and take out the slide and put the half-slide
in the holder over the part which has already been exposed.
In arranging for the picture it is more convenient to fix on some line
or small object which shall come in the centre of the plate when the
exposure is made. The subject to be photographed should stand at least
nine or ten inches one side of this central point, for if the drapery of
the dress overlaps, the picture will show a blur.
In making the exposure great care must be taken not to move the camera,
as if it is moved even the very least bit, a blurred line will appear in
the picture showing just where the two exposures join. The focus must
not be changed unless a plain background is used. In making the
exposures for the two pictures the time of both must be equal. This is
more necessary for an exposure made out-of-doors than for one made in
the house. If the exposures are unequal in time the negative will be
unequal in development, and, as a consequence, half of it will be
lighter than the other.
Many interesting and amusing pictures may be made by the means of double
photographing. A person may be taken playing checkers or chess with
himself, reading to himself, taking his own picture, offering himself
something to eat, etc. An amusing picture might be made of a person
begging of himself, the first picture being taken in his ordinary
walking dress, and the second dressed in ragged clothes and holding out
his hat for alms.
[Illustration: AT WAR WITH HIMSELF.]
In the accompanying picture the subject is fighting a duel with himself.
SIR KNIGHT FREDERICK CLAPP sends a print, and asks the reason of
the spots on the negative from which it is made, and when the next
photographic competition is to be conducted. The spots on the
negatives which make the print imperfect are caused either by bits
of film or dirt in the developer settling on the film, or by
air-bubbles forming on the surface of the plate when it is covered
with the developer. In either case the developer is prevented from
acting on the film, and causes spots which have the effect of
halation. Small round holes in the negatives are caused by dust on
the plate. The time of the photographic contest has not yet been
decided. It will be announced in this column as soon as
arrangements are completed.
SIR KNIGHT CALVIN FARRAR sends a print of the interior of the log
cabin built for the recent celebration in Cleveland. Please accept
thanks for same.
SIR KNIGHT RICHARD C. LORD asks for a formula for developer for
snap-shots and for time exposures. See answer to Sir Charles
Lusenkamp for formula in No. 886. The J. C. tabloids make a fine
developer for instantaneous exposures.
"QUAD," Pittsburg, Pa., sends a print from a film, and asks what
gives it its mottled appearance. As far as one can judge from the
blue print, the mottling is due to imperfect fixing, or the film
was left too long in the developer without rocking. There is no
remedy for the film.
SIR KNIGHT E. D. BALL, Spartansburg, S. C., sends a print, and
wishes to know what is the reason of the yellowish-brown color. The
trouble is in the toning-bath. Test it with blue litmus-paper. If
it turns the litmus-paper red, add enough bicarbonate of soda, a
little at a time, until it turns the red color back to blue. Use
the bicarbonate of soda in solution.
EDWARD BRAGTON, 87 West Thirty-second Street, Bayonne, N. J.;
RACHEL KELSEY, Baraboo, Wis.; WILLIAM T. KELSEY, Baraboo, Wis.;
J. L. GOODMAN, 807 Broderick Street, San Francisco, Cal.; H. T.
COOPER, 2416 Harriet Avenue, Minneapolis, Minn.; E. LESTER CROCKER,
Tarrytown-on-Hudson, N. Y.; JOHN H. CHAMBERLAIN, 6 Franklin Avenue,
Dayton, O.; ARTHUR P. LAZARUS, 756 South Hope Street, Los Angeles,
Cal.; FRED. W. LONG, 416 West Adams Street, Muncie, Ind.; FRED. D.
ROSE, 405 South High Street, Muncie, Ind.; HARRY R. PATTY, 2533
Michigan Avenue, Los Angeles, Cal.; WM. H. WHITE, JUN., Pembroke
Avenue, Norfolk, Va.; GEORGE E. HOLT, Moline, Ill., wish to become
members of the Camera Club.
LADY LESLEY ASHBURNER, Media, Pa., would like to correspond with
members of the Camera Club. Lady Lesley asks for directions for
making enlargements, as she did not find it in No. 801, as
directed; also how to make ferro-prussiate paper. Look again at No.
801. The article is entitled "Bromide Enlargements." Directions for
making ferro-prussiate paper may be found in Nos. 797, 823, and
828.
Arnold
Constable & Co
* * * * *
Paris Lingerie.
_Peignors, Matinées, Jupons,_
_Chemise du Nuit._
SILK PETTICOATS,
CORSETS.
* * * * *
CHILDREN'S WEAR.
_School Frocks, Jackets,_
_Reefers, Long Coats._
* * * * *
Broadway & 19th st.
NEW YORK.
Postage Stamps, &c.
[Illustration]
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EARN A GOLD WATCH!
We wish to introduce our =Teas and Baking Powder=. Sell 50 lbs. to earn a
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PISO'S CURE FOR CONSUMPTION
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Big Grape and Apple Harvests.
I live in the centre of the great grape belt of the south shore of
Lake Erie. Some years ago one saw nothing but wheat and barley in
this region, with corn and grass on the hills to the south, but
within ten years all has been changed. Now the whole country,
hill-side and all, is one vast vineyard. Few raise anything else in
their fields. I know one vineyard, twenty miles west of here,
containing 300 acres. The vines stretch away almost as far as one
can see.
At this season grape-pickers come here in vast crowds. They are
from the cities, and are a picturesque lot of folk. They dress in
every fashion, and represent almost every nationality. They board
themselves and live cheaply. Our fields are just now full of these
pickers--thousands of men, women, boys, girls--and our streets are
full of wagons carting the grapes to the railway stations for
shipment. Although your maps show us bordering on Lake Erie, water
transportation is impracticable from here. The banks of the lake
here are high and rocky, and speed on water is too slow for
perishable fruit. Besides, one could go only to Buffalo or
Cleveland by lake, and the great grape markets are Philadelphia,
New York, and Chicago.
This year there is so much fruit other than grapes that the latter
bring very low prices, and growers are despondent. Apples--"New
York apples" are famous, you know--are so plentiful that people are
not picking them at all. The trees are breaking with the load of
them. They rot on the ground. One cannot even give them away.
Thousands of bushels are useless, and every one says: "Oh, if some
people in the cities only had them! We would rather see them do
somebody good." Do you who live in the cities have to pay anything
for apples now? If you do, it seems strange to us, for we can get
nothing for them. They do not fetch enough to pay railway freights,
not to mention picking and packing. The same is true of grapes
almost. Activity reigns, but so do "the blues." I think almost any
business is better than grape-growing.
ERNEST SPENCER.
BROCTON, N. Y.
* * * * *
Mounting Bird-feather Collections.
In your issue of September 22 last Sir Knight Jay F. Hammond asked
how to mount his bird-feather collections. I send a copy of the way
Mrs. Brightwen describes her method, taken from her "More About
Wild Nature."
RAYMOND A. BEARDSLEE, R.T.K.
HARTFORD, CONN.
"The feathers should be mounted in a blank album of about fifty
pages, eleven inches wide by sixteen, so as to make an upright page
which will take in long tail feathers. Cartridge-paper of various
pale tints is best, as one can choose the ground that will best set
off the colors of the feathers. Every other page may be white, and
about three black sheets will be useful for swan, albatross, and
other white-plumaged birds.
"The only working-tools required are sharp scissors and a razor,
some very thick strong gum arabic, a little water, and a duster in
case of fingers becoming sticky.
"Each page is to receive the feathers of only one bird. A common
wood-pigeon is an easy bird to begin with, and readily obtained at
any poulterers. Draw out the tail feathers and place them quite
flat in some paper until required; do the same with the right wing
and the left, keeping each separate, and putting a mark on each
that you may know which they contain; the back, the breast, the
fluffy feathers beneath--all should be neatly folded in paper and
marked, and this can be done in the evening or at odd times; but
placing the feathers on the pages ought to be daylight work, that
the colors may be studied. Now open the tail-feather packet, and
with the razor carefully pare away the quill at the back of each
feather, leaving only the soft web, which will be perfectly flat
when gummed upon the page. When all the packets are thus prepared
(it is only the quill feathers that require the razor), then we may
begin.
"I will describe a specimen page. Towards the top of the page place
a thin streak of gum, lay upon it a tail feather (the quill end
downwards), and put one on each side. The best feathers of one wing
may be put down, one after the other, till one has sufficiently
covered the page, then the other wing feathers may be placed down
the other side; the centre may be filled in with the fluffy
feathers, and the bottom can be finished off with some breast
feathers neatly placed so as to cover all quill ends."
* * * * *
Kinks.
No. 46.--CHARADE.
My first has been a friend of man
Forever since the world began;
It rules by day, and well it might,
And is not lost in depths of night.
My second is a bank of sand--
'Tis got from birds of sea and land.
My last a pronoun has been made.
When letter H has been mislaid.
My whole the squatter's heart doth tease,
And doth his pocket often squeeze.
Whole comes by day and stays by night,
In spite of many a scornful slight.
* * * * *
No. 47.--FOR MATHEMATICIANS.
A merchant receives $3 of every $5 owing him on book debts amounting to
$15,000 (which debts are five per cent. more than his liabilities), and
$3.75 of every $5 on $6000 of running debts his due. Find his
liabilities if he pays dollar for dollar.
* * * * *
No. 48.--WORD SQUARE.
1.
Three musketeers of art, and this is one.
You'll spot him if you've seen "Trilby" done.
2.
If you are this, how many ills you'll shun
If you in youth your ways have well begun.
3.
If wounded in this by bite or shot of gun,
There is no hope, and now your course is run.
4.
The fourth is here, the Christian name of son
Which indicates a free or candid one.
5.
I'm lost now for a terminal "un,"
And hampered thus is certainly no fun.
So take this as it is, dear "Kink"y folks,
A synonym you'll find for yellow yolks.
* * * * *
No. 49.--EASY RIDDLE IN PROSE.
We lived in a brook, and were five in number. We were taken out, once on
a time, and we never got back again. Four of us were lost--hopelessly
lost--and nobody knows what became of us. But the fifth took a rapid
journey in the midst of much excitement, brought up at the end of the
journey in the queerest place any of our family has ever been before or
since, I think, and if I were able to come to you now I would be worth
thousands and thousands of dollars. What am I, who were my brothers, and
why can't I realize some of these thousands?
* * * * *
Answers to Kinks.
No. 41.--A PROSE CHARADE.
A potato gun, made from a goose-quill, a wooden piston, and had "wads"
of sliced potato.
* * * * *
No. 42.--POLITICAL QUESTIONS.
1. Isle of Man. 2. Captain John Smith. 3. Secretary Thompson. 4. Edward
Everett.
* * * * *
No. 43.--A STAR.
Caul. Clap. Balm. Pulp. Mall.
* * * * *
No. 44.--SINGLE ACROSTIC.
Assay. Nerve. Death. Reply. Ensue. Worth. Japan. Acute. Caper. Knack.
Slave. Order. Niche.--Andrew Jackson.
* * * * *
No. 45.--Oliver Wendell Holmes.
* * * * *
Questions and answers.
"H. E."--For want of space we cannot publish stamp-exchange notices.
"J. H. K." writes: "Will you please inform me how to obtain autographs,
and give me hints in the art of collecting autographs from such people
as Governors?" Autograph-collecting is not an "art." The ways to get
autographs are three: Ask the people whose autographs you want for them;
trade with other collectors; buy them. Many persons are fond of
cataloguing autograph-collectors as "fiends," but they do not mean all
they say. Nine out of every ten famous persons are rather gratified at
receiving requests for autographs. Write a brief note, say frankly what
you want, enclose a self-addressed and stamped envelope, and two
cards--the stamps because it is your business, and you should pay the
cost of it; and the cards in order that your collection may be uniform.
But mere signatures are not highly regarded. Manuscripts and letters are
much more to be prized. Do not, however, make requests that put persons
whom you do not know to any considerable trouble, or that require them,
in order to grant your favor, to give up for nothing anything that has
real money value.