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Bennett, Arnold, 1867-1931

"The Card, a Story of Adventure in the Five Towns"

The windows of the shop were beset throughout
the day with crowds anxious to see who was in the lifeboat, and who had
come out well, and who was a perfect fright. The orders on the first day
amounted to over fifteen pounds, for not everybody was content with one
photograph. The novelty was acute and enchanting, and it renewed itself
each day. "Let's go down and look at the lifeboat photographs," people
would say, when they were wondering what to do next. Some persons who
had not "taken nicely" would perform a special trip in the lifeboat and
would wear special clothes and compose special faces for the ordeal. The
Mayor of Ashby-de-la-Zouch for that year ordered two hundred copies of a
photograph which showed himself in the centre, for presentation as New
Year's cards. On the mornings after very dull days or wet days, when
photography had been impossible or unsatisfactory, Llandudno felt that
something lacked. Here it may be mentioned that inclement weather (of
which, for the rest, there was little) scarcely interfered with Denry's
receipts. Imagine a lifeboat being deterred by rain or by a breath of
wind! There were tarpaulins.


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