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The accompanying photo. depicts an incident which, says the sender, Mr. Herbert S. Sellars, of 25, Hertslet Road, Seven Sisters Road, Holloway, N., may be witnessed any afternoon at Torton, near Gosport, Hants. "Tom," the subject of the photo., is the property of a dairyman well known in that district. Whilst going the rounds, certain lady customers have been in the habit of giving the horse bread. Preceding his master, and arriving at the houses of these good friends, he draws his float up on to the pavement, and then knocks at the door by raising the knocker with his mouth, and then letting it drop again. This he continues to do till the door is opened, when he receives his well-earned reward.
[2]Copyright, 1899, by George Newnes, Limited.
[2]Copyright, 1899, by George Newnes, Limited.
Here we have a group of merry-faced schoolgirls indulging in a jump arm-in-arm together, and the snap-shot gives us a very vivid idea of the almost incredible positions assumed by the limbs and body under such circumstances. The four girls on the left apparently led off, and seem to be quite complacently perched in mid-air, but the trio on the right are decidedly unsteady in their alignment, whilst the young maid on the extreme flank is quite distressed in her uncertainty. The photograph was taken at the château of the Marquise San Carlos, near Paris, by Miss Lilian Noble, of Slissinghurst Grange, Cranbrook.
From a Photo. by R. W. Fisk, Rickmansworth.
From a Photo. by R. W. Fisk, Rickmansworth.
From a Photo. by R. W. Fisk, Rickmansworth.
The photograph here reproduced shows a very unique freak of Nature. It represents an apple tree that was growing on October 12th last in Mr. Blake's garden, the Metropolitan Station-master at Rickmansworth (Herts), and its point of interest lies in the fact that although the tree is still in full blossom there are several ripe apples upon it at the same time. There were several dozen other similar trees of the same age in the garden, but this is the only one that bore blossom and fruit at the same time. The photograph was sent in by Mr. R. W. Fisk, of Rickmansworth.
With the Soudan reconquered and Khartoum itself fast reassuming that civilizing influence amongst the tribes of the Upper Nile that General Gordon sacrificed so much to accomplish, added interest has been taken in Gordon relics of late. The accompanying photograph represents a book that was printed for the General in Khartoum, and was highly treasured by him on account of it being the first book ever printed there. The relic is now in the safe keeping of the British Museum, where it is open to public inspection. The text, by the way, is in Arabic.
Amongst the curiosities ofThe Stranda few months ago we gave an illustration of a section of a board taken from a wheat trough, worn by wheat passing over it. Here is a photograph, sent in by Mr. Byron Harman, of the Tacoma Grain Company, Washington, showing a steel-plate, 4ft. square and ½in. thick, taken from a large elevator at Tacoma, that has actually had holes worn through it by wheat continually falling on it from a height of 4ft.
It is well known that experiments with paper and a pair of scissors are often productive of the most wonderful results, but the design reproduced in the accompanying photograph is perhaps one of the most remarkable obtained under such conditions, and it has the additional novelty of having been cut out by an old lady of feeble sight. The original paper design was sent to us by Mr. M. A. Holmes, of 3, Alma Road, Canonbury, and the reproduction presented in these pages is from a photograph of it taken by us.
Mr. D. H. W. Broad, of 18, Beatrice Road, Stroud Green, N., the sender of this photograph, writes that it represents a curious piece of old ironwork which has recently come into his possession. It slips, he says, on to a candle, the spike in the middle going into the wax at any place you like to adjust it. The object is apparently to automatically extinguish the candle, should the sleeper leave it alight on retiring. When the wax is burnt away the spike is released, thus bringing down the extinguisher. The candle in the photo. is standing in an old brass tinder-box.
This little snap-shot requires quite an amount of scrutiny to decipher. It has been sent in by Mr. Andrew E. Pearson, of 8, Cobden Road, Newington, Edinburgh, who took it on the Gareloch, at Shandon, in August last. It represents a sailing yacht travelling from left to right, and throwing shadows so remarkably well defined that if the picture be turned upside down it appears almost the same. When turned end on—as it now stands—it might be mistaken for a bat or a butterfly, or even a moth. Being reversed again, curiously enough it still retains the same likeness.
This photograph, sent in by Mr. H. Clifford, of 236, 52nd Street, Brooklyn, New York, shows how they grow beetroots in California. The largest of the two roots displayed is over 5ft. in height, as may be estimated by comparison with the young lady standing alongside it, and it is estimated that it will tip the beam at over 200lb. Beetroots of this size are naturally not quite so tender as the smaller kind one is accustomed to receive at table; in fact, in order to slice them it might be necessary to use an axe or a circular saw. Mr. Boker, who grew these, says that there need be no fear of any denudation of our forests, as he can raise a good-sized one underground in the course of a season.
From a Photo. by Hellis & Sons.
From a Photo. by Hellis & Sons.
From a Photo. by Hellis & Sons.
That music hath charms may undoubtedly be true, but it is difficult to understand how one could enjoy the harmony, however dulcet it might be, evolved from such an instrument as is shown in the above photograph. It consists of the major portion of a human skull, over which is stretched a sheet of sheep's skin for sounding-board; portion of the leg-bone as key-board, with bits of the small bones of the arms for keys. This curiosity belongs to Mr. A. I. J. Harwood, of 87, Park Street, Camden Town, N.W., and was sent to him as a native product from Durban, South Africa, on July 5th last, by Mr. C. Wilson.
Certainly a very unlooked-for effect is to be found in the photograph of the lady's face here reproduced, which has been sent in by Mr. Edward Duxfield, of Eton House, Basford, Stoke-on-Trent. On holding the picture upside down another face may be distinctly traced, whose presence is purely the result of certain combined shaded effects. The mouth is the same in both faces. The photo, was taken in the garden about mid-day.
The interest attached to the next photograph we reproduce does not lie in the subject illustrated, but in the fact that it was taken by a very primitive sort of camera, made out of an old cigar-box, with a pill-box pierced at one end by a pin prick instead of a lens, the lid of the pill-box being retained as the cap. At the back of the camera was an arrangement for the reception of the plate, and the whole was enveloped in cloth. This novel apparatus was made by the thirteen-year-old son of Mrs. C. L. Taylor, of 40, Nichols Street, West Bromwich, who forwarded it for our inspection.
A very curious study in perspective is afforded by our next photograph, which was taken by Mr. E. Ford, of Bridge Place, Bexley, Kent, whilst leaning out of a railway carriage window in the rear part of a train. A curve was being rounded just at the moment the snap-shot was taken, and in the distance the locomotives may be seen just about to pass over one of the newly built granite bridges in Cornwall. Owing to the hilly nature of the country, all the main line trains are drawn by two engines. Mr. Ford says that they were travelling at the rate of about thirty miles when he took the photograph.
Transcriber's Notes:Table of contents added by transcriber.P.3added missing footnote anchor.Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
Table of contents added by transcriber.
P.3added missing footnote anchor.
Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.
Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.