That is what mothers would like to know. Mr. Byrne says, with a smile, that it was neither—that the expression was a purely natural development. But will the mothers of England believe him?
UNHAPPY LITTLE PEOPLE.
"WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?"
There is, too, the case of the little boy gazing so intently into a hand-glass; what did he find hidden in its depths to make him suddenly cast it aside, and turn to where the photographer is presumably standing, with such a look of mingled disappointment and disgust? His discovery was evidently remarkable, for, as will be seen, it had the additional effect of taking his fore-lock out of curl. Again Mr. Byrne is appealed to, and again he smiles and vouchsafes the same reply. And again the mothers of England will have their suspicions.
In photography, as in many another profession, the path of those who would forsake the beaten track does not lie through acacia groves. Many obstacles strew the way. For instance, Mr. Byrne conceived the notion of posing children in a big boot, such as appears in two of the accompanying reproductions. It is a simple-looking boot, yet it took two years to make; that is to say, the day the order was given, and the day it was satisfactorily carried out, were separated by a span of such duration. But much happened in between. First of all Mr. Byrne made a rough design of what he wanted, giving the dimensions, etc., and sent it, through a friend, to a local bootmaker. Perhaps, not anxious to have his idea noised throughout camera-land, Mr. Byrne's instructions were not as explicit as they might be; it was the time of the dynamitard outrages, and the worthy artist in leather grew suspicious. What might his customer want with such a boot? it was most unusual; he had never heard of a man with such a large foot; and why only one boot? He didn't like such peculiar orders, but he would do what he could in the matter; of course it would cost a goodish sum. As to whether the poor man had nightly visions of the strange boot being filled with infernal machines and placed under the House of Commons, and himself charged by the State with aiding and abetting the plot, no reliable information is forthcoming, but certainly, after two months had elapsed, he sent word to say that he found the work more difficult than he had anticipated, and that unless the one-legged individual, for whom the boot was apparently intended, could call and be measured in the ordinary way, he must regretfully throw up the job. A carpenter was next tried, but with little more success. The boot actually did come home, after a time, but it was large enough for six children to lose themselves in, instead of comfortably accommodating one. At this stage it occurred to Mr. Byrne that one of the Drury Lane "property" men, used to tailoring for pantomime giants and other unusual creatures, would be able to make a boot a little bit out of the common without being too inquisitive as to its mission in life. So it finally arrived, a beautiful creation, fit for any Brobdingnagian dandy, and redolent of Day and Martin. But Mr. Byrne wanted a dilapidated boot; to save further trouble, however, he proceeded, with the aid of a pocket knife and an old hatchet, to dilapidate it himself.
LITTLE MISS PENSIVE.
It was much the same with the egg appearing herewith. It was tried in canvas, wood, and papier-maché before the more serviceable aluminium produced a "lay" that any pantomime bird might be proud of. Both the boot and the egg have done yeoman service since. They have assisted in producing something approaching a thousand photograph-pictures.