would gain! Instead of having to suffer during the performances of
incompetent actors and singers, as we do to-day, the whole world would be
able to see and hear the best talent of the ages for an insignificant
fee. I hope your prediction will come true, Uncle John."

"It's bound to," he replied, with confidence. "I've read somewhere that
Edison and others have been working on these lines for years, and
although they haven't succeeded yet, anything possible in mechanics is
bound to be produced in time."




CHAPTER IV

AUNT JANE'S NIECES


The picture, which was entitled "The Sacrifice," proved--to use Patsy's
words--"a howling success." On Monday afternoons the little theatres are
seldom crowded, so Mr. Merrick's party secured choice seats where they
could observe every detail of the photography. The girls could not wait
for a later performance, so eager were they to see themselves in a motion
picture, nor were they disappointed to find they were a mere incident in
the long roll of film.

The story of the photo-play was gripping in its intensity, and since Mr.
Werner had clearly explained the lesson it conveyed, they followed the
plot with rapt attention. In the last scene their entrance and exit was
transitory, but they were obliged to admit that their features were