But Nye's Picture.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 19, 20 December 1884, Page 1 (Supplement)

But Nye's Picture.

>,"•.> man Uii's'.v." isci-.v much Lin; iiiiuian ho-j-ri • ■••;> ;-r!-.];i:^ :<.>:<\y.T. not !:>7rsi, • : n i t i !ss h.v -.•■i ii hi.- i). riv.iit y! i ib! ; .--ho(l p. tew tiim:.s. Tiv.T ..c r.c.'ili /■.-••. t.i'.i? ',voilt,!i (■■: we.; that one :;oiiS fifty ww.-itic v.-iUi.ftnd .V"t not become imhin^r-d ",n;l 10->«sd from iis frail f^riement of clay. Mvn '.'•) on, t yora' r.i'trr yc-Ar, raining the-•r-tosm ot their fellow-men by an uprigh; •?ouv.--,0, only iDlo-iiit nil by ioi'gotUn.f! ihem■;hv.'; s.t ;ir> unfortunate and weak moment, and paimUfcin;;; tbe>r- portraits to bo published lin.'i their shame proclaimed upon lbs housetop*.. Som'i yor.ri) ago an alleged engraving was rnudv frnm ono of my photographs, but the proof wan sent to me m time, so that I could by telegraph prevsntits publication. In that portrait the wood -engraver had taken tha liberty to tampor with the face and put m Httlo improvements hero and there, according to his ideas of beauty. Among tha rest, I remember that he had unscrewed ths lower j&w and let it down about an inch, so that Lho face had the expression of a vacant 105 m tho early spring. You pull any man's lower jaw loose andlsy ii on hia heaving breast, and then turn lib eyes up toward the star-studded sky, and he seems to lack force of character, somehow. So 1 -.viioil tho Uouhg to " kill " that portrait and bury it with the engraver when the violet;; bloomed. Then another engraves took hialife and his noltX chisel m Jiia hand, and blocked out a :vcon<! ono. He thought I might ho sensitive about my laic front hair. So ha put some on m tho engraving, without additional chargeIs look-;-;! like the hnmjh of grass that springa up around an old buffalo bull's skull. I do not care to v/ear improvised hair, even man engraving. lam not proud. If Nature intended that ray Scandinavian hair should fall early iv ths fight, I cannot help it. I cannot ask the engraver to help me out. Thin portrait was averted by the use ol electricity, and the widow oi the engraver was n*k*d to send her bill m to mo for adj ust ment. Lnter oa, another engraver took hold of the matter. He went at it hopefully and even hilariously, singing anon as he put his sheet-iron shade over his eyes, and adjusted his boileriron coryef; that he might be ready m case I should come m ou him while ha wa« afc work. Ha made a specialty of the Adam's apple. He made a portrait that wasn't so terrific if he hadn't thrown m an intellectual waste of Adam's apple that would inspirea giraffe with awe. He fooled along with the engraving until time to go to proas, handed it m with his resignation, got a copy of the paper, co as to be sure that ho had dons his horrible work well, and then went to interior Africa to make a home. For a long tims after the paper was published my wife would not recognise me on the street, and iho children were bathed m tears. I suffered a great deal mentally, but resolved to live it down, and to aid me m this great undertaking a friend offered to publish a line, life-like engraving that would be certified to as accurate and all former ones denounced as base infringements. I agreed to it, and he went at it. After a good deal of delay he sent me a proof which boro a, striking resemblance to me. I addraiited to him that it favoured me, and we decided to let it go forth with my name attached to it. Gaily the press went on with its low rumble and grn.mblfl, grinding out its thousands of copies of damp papers, heralding to the English-speaking world that the subscriber wore his brains opan to tho inclement weather and pulled his scalp down over his eye to be facafcious. The first copy of the pap9r was a good ope, and the portrait loomed up like the Turkish towel mustache of the young man, but the next .revolution of the press disturbed an em quad or a loose canard or something about the make-up of the paper, and m the onward march of the machine the whole top of my head was removed and piled up over the off- eye like a study m olive-green and navy-blue after an election fight. Still, we aro getting a bette class of engravers than we had five years ago. It seemed pretty harah to kill off the bad ones, but I am willing to make most any sacrifice for the advancement of art. — Dill Nye m " Puck."