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Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West

"

"He has succeeded," grumbled Arthur, as he took his place at the end of a

long line of ticket buyers.

The picture, as it flashed on the screen, positively thrilled them. First

was shown the crowd of merry bathers, with Patsy and Maud standing in the

water a little apart from the others. Then the boy--far out beyond the

rest--threw up his arms, struggling desperately. Maud swam swiftly toward

him, Patsy making for the shore. The launching of the boat, the race to

rescue, Maud's effort to keep the drowning one afloat, and the return to

the shore, where an excited crowd surrounded them--all was clearly shown

in the picture. Now they had the advantage of observing the expressions

on the faces of the bathers when they discovered a tragedy was being

enacted in their midst. The photographs were so full of action that the

participants now looked upon their adventure in a new light and regarded

it far more seriously than before.

The picture concluded with the scene where Uncle John lifted the body

into the automobile and dashed away with it to the hospital.

Maud Stanton, used as she was to seeing herself in motion pictures, was

even more impressed than the others when observing her own actions at a

time when she was wholly unconscious that a camera-man had his lens

focused upon her.

"It's a great picture!" whispered Flo, as they made their way out of the

crowded theatre. "Why can't all our films be as natural and absorbing as

this one?"

"Because," said her sister, "in this case there is no acting. The picture

carries conviction with a force that no carefully rehearsed scene could

ever accomplish."

"That is true," agreed her Aunt Jane. "The nature scenes are the best,

after all."

"The most unsatisfactory pictures I have ever seen," remarked Uncle John,

"were those of prominent men, and foreign kings, and the like, who stop

before the camera and bow as awkwardly as a camel. They know they are

posing, and in spite of their public experience they're as bashful as

schoolboys or as arrogant as policemen, according to their personal

characteristics.

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