It is the flavor of the beautiful domesticity of the early times that hangs around old homes and gives to them a more compelling interest than belongs to public buildings. Facing the "Green" at Williamsburg is an old house built on the simple, uncompromising architectural lines that in a measure typify the early American life. Next to "Old Bruton Church" it stands in ample PLANTATION SCHOOLHOUSE WHICH JEFFERSON ATTENDED. grounds, and its intrinsic beauty would appeal to the camerist even if he did not know that it had the distinction of being chosen by George Washington for his headquarters. Going on up the James river, one passes a half-score of Colonial houses; Brandon, the seat of the Harrisons, is too well-known to need description. Here, too, is the seat of the Tylers, and stately "Westover" enwrapped with the glamor of the romance of the "Fair Evelyn" Byrd, celebrated in song and story. Nearer Richmond lies ancient "Turkey Island Plantation," from which went out seven sons to carve their names deep in the history of the new world. John Randolph of Roanoke, Thomas Jefferson, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Randolph, "Light Horse Harry" Lee, were all descendants of William Randolph, of Turkey Island. The old house has been gone more than a quarter of a century, but the family burying-ground has through the protection of a thicket withstood the ravages of time, and if one penetrates the dense growth, he may still see the gravestones of William Randolph and his wife Catherine. The estate passed out of the hands of the men of Randolph name long ago. It was once the home of that Pickett of Gettysburg fame. In Richmond, the camerist may pick and choose according to his individual taste. If it runs to the beginnings of American history, he may for the effort of a short drive be rewarded with the information that he is on the reputed spot where a slender Indian girl saved the precious neck of that prince of swashbucklers, J. Smith, and at the same time put her own musical name in the category of the immortals. This is truly Powhattan's own hunting ground, and if the camera devotee is possessed of a modicum of credulity, he may photograph the very rock where Pocahontas and the delightful Captain pulled off the prettiest piece of stage business of all times. If this taste be revolutionary, the devotee of the lens may, for a five cent trolley fare, see St. John's church and stand in the very pew where Patrick Henry thundered his ultimatum to the old world. But alas! one may no longer see the old church in its original form. The bacillus of "reform" has at last. got in its deadly work, and St. John's has been "enlarged" and "improved." The war waged against this was long and bitter, but the "reform" party won and the old church bared her bosom to the axe and hammer of the conquerers. Walking a block or two on this same Church Hill one may make a historical jump of nearly a century and land in the midst of things that played star parts in the big drama of 1860 to 1865. Libby prison is long ago razed -like the house of the surrender at Appomattox, it fell a victim to man's greed. -but overlooking the spot where the famous prison stood is the war time home of the most celebrated of female Federal spies, Miss Van Lew. This woman planned and managed successfully the escape of a number of prisoners of war, being aided by an underground passage and a secret chamber in her house. After her death the residence passed into the hands of the Albemarle Club, later it became a hospital. On the way to Hollywood Cemetery, one may, by diverging a few blocks from his route, see the White House of the Confederacy (now the Confederate Museum), and the wartime residence of General Lee, which is now occupied by the Virginia Historical Society. Arrived at the cemetery, the Confederate Monument compels the interest so that there is no time to waste on lesser things. Of irregular, unhewn stones, roughly put together, its ruggedness softened by clinging ivy, it makes a silhouette against the sky that is of a singular beauty not to be seen elsewhere in America. FIGURE COMPOSITION. BY SIDNEY ALLAN. Landscape Backgrounds.-Breadth and Detail.-Different Combinations of Foreground, Middle Distance, and Distance.-A Hint from the Old Masters.-Exceptional Cases.-With Sixteen Illustrations. CHAPTER IX. NLIKE the interior background which, as we have shown in the last paper, is limited to foreground and in most instances only to middle distance effects, the well composed landscape foreground generally shows foreground as well as middle distance and distance. Of course, this does not always hold good. In "The Auto Girl,” by H. J. Leonard (Fig. 92), we merely see a foliage background and in the decorative panel, "Flashing Sunlight" (Fig. 85), by Eva Watson Schutze, the foreground is absent, which is also the case in the charming picture "Mother and Child," by Geo. de Forrest Brush (Fig. 87). But more outof-door figure compositions show a distinct foreground, middle distance, and distance. For this the "Young Horseman," by Richard Lorenz, is typical. There we notice a steady gradation from distinctness to indistinctness. The same can be observed in Figs. 88, 93, and 97. In interiors the middle distance, the background is generally represented by clearly defined objects, they may be somewhat blurred but they represent distinct forms and shapes. In the landscape background there is a tendency to slur the middle distance. Middle distance and distance are in many cases but slightly differentiated (viz. Alfred Stieglitz's "Net Mender," Fig. 89). The gradation is hardly perceptible and almost the same value of tints prevails throughout. This introduces a new element of breadth and detail, detail in the foreground and breadth in the background. The reverse, which is sometimes applied by painters, I believe is impossible in figure photography. The distance in Coburn's "The Dragon,' Fig. 5, is as clear and distinct as in Seifert's "Hypatia" (Fig. 70), but there is no figure in the foreground, and if there were one it would be merely a blurred shape. Detail in the foreground and breadth in the distance is a good medium to express a vast area of space. In Fig. 87 as well as 95 the horizon line looks as if it were a couple of miles away. Also, "At the Edge of the Cliff," by Myra A. Wiggins, conveys the idea of distance; in this particular case, however, the diagonal lines in the middle distance prove valuable helpmates. In backgrounds that depict open country or the sea, the horizontal and diagonal lines generally |