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Marcus Aurelius Root
Root's Daguerrean Gallery
1854
Magazine page
Google Books
LL/36023
The Christian Palor Magazine, Volume 11, 1854 (published 1855), p.29.
Root's Dagurrrean Gallery. Reader, if you will walk into this gallery, 363 Broadway, you can see a number of very interesting views of the most renowned places of the eairth. They are large and well-executed Daguerreotypes of Jerusalem from Mount Olivet, of Bethlehem of Judea, the Convent at Bethlehem, Nazareth, Mount Zion, and Mount Calvary. These are the first actual sun-pictures from the real scenery ever brought to this country. These views possess a remarkable interest from the fact that they are perfectly accurate. A stereoscope of the Holy City has been made, and by it one cau see every prominent feature as vividly as if he stood upon Olivet. We learn that these beautiful pictures were sent to this city, with others, for the World's Exhibition, by the American Consul at Jerusalem. There is no spot on the earth that possesses so many associations as the ancient city of
JERUSALEM.
Queen of Judea's stricken land,
Thy garland, fallen from thy brow,
Lies withered on the desert sand,
And trampled by the Moslem now.
The laurel boughs of Lebanon
Still brush the blue, unspotted sky
Their plumes still quiver in the sun
That gilds thy ruin from on high.
Siloa's brook still flows along
Beneath the palm tree's towering shade,
Unmindful of the pilgrim throng
In grief along its bank arrayed;
And Kedron's amaranthine bowers
Trail their crushed vines upon the ground.
Oh! blasted are the holy towers
That once their glories reared around.
Judea's mountains still are seen
To sentinel thy grave-like gloom;
Her hills and valleys glisten green,
As though thou didst not fill a tomb:
The wave still curls by Calvary's steep
The grape, the fig, the olive shine;
Unwrinkled rolls the dark-blue deep;
And still she bears the fruitful vine;
And fame still gilds her withered brow
Proud city! oh! how dark art thou!
Mr. Root's gallery is the largest and finest collection in America, containing hundreds of the most beautiful specimens of the art. There is one rare picture which particularly attracted our attention. It is a fine crystalotype of five persons on one plate, all of one family, the younger , nine years of age, and the oldest ninety-nine! It may be doubted whether such a picture was ever seen before; such a remarkable group child, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother. It is a rare thing to see five living generations in one family; but it is still more rare to see such a chain of mothers.
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