The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1896-12-05
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
HE FINDS FOOD FOR THOUGHT
INTHE TRUTHFUL CAMERA.
Photo Gallery by the Countryside
Marks Civiliz atoms Progress.


of Christian civilization and the adj |
vancement of modern science. l pass
by one every day and it is gratifying
see its patrons awaiting their turn
or coming out with smiling faces and
all arrayed in their best apparel. 1t
is family discussion before they come
what dress to wear, what ornaments,
and how the hair shall be arranged, or
whether to sit or stand. whether side
view or front or whether the baby
shall be taken alone or with its mother.
All classes are on an equality before
the camera, for the sunlight of nature
has no favorites. So far as faces and
features are concerned, the camera
tells the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth. This morning
as 1 passed saw countryman sit
ting on the steps with a child
in his arms. His wife and little
girl were inside awaiting their
turn. I used to know him before he was
married, and SO I stopped and gave
him my hand. His folks were poor,
honest and industrious, and l have
great respect for all such. The women
do the homework and have the care OF
the children. The men cultivate their
little farms, work the roads, sit on the
iuries, nurse their sick neighbors, bury
the dead, go fishir g on Saturdays and
take the family to meeting on Sundays.
They are generally ,pulists, not be-
cause of any polit cal principles in
volved, but because of utilization and
association. Most of their kind are
Populists and therefore clannish. They
stick together because they are either
poor or less than rich. Their fathers
| fought in the late war, and these will
| fight in the next if it comes IN their
days. 1t may be rich mans war,
but it will be poor mans fight.
"Are you going to have the baby's
picture taken" ''No; not this one, !"
said he; ST wanted my wife's and our
little girls. They are in there. I
/ thought I would like to have them
about the house, for life is uncertain.
you know. Jim Moore's wife died last
year und Jim says he would give the
world for her picture, and Jack Brown
lost his little girl in June. She was a
mighty purity little thing, but Jack
hain't got no picture and SO l conclud-
ed to have some taken for fear ct acct
dent.
| sThat is all right" said I. "but sup
pose you die; wouldn't your wife like
to have one OF your"
81 reckon she would. She mention
ed that, but pictures don't become q
rough man like me, and besides, 1t
would cost more money than | have
got to spare. The winter is comm on
and we all have to have shoes and
stockings and the like, and my cotton
| crop was powerful short, but l will
have mine taken sometime. reckon
all your folks have got 'em, haven'l
they?"
Love for wife and children is the
best virtue of human kind, and poor
folks have as much of it as rich ones,
Yes, more. Many of them haven
anything else to divide their aztec
tions. It is pleasing thing to SEE
them at the picture gallery and to wit
ness their pride when the work is dom
and the faces Of their loved ones ar
before them on enameled cards, fresl
and clean from the artists hand
What wonderful art it is. I remem
Der we'll when the first daguerreotyp'
was taken in our town. 1t was onl.
forty years ago, aud when our first lit
tie girl was four years old we had he
picture taken. She was little beaut..
then. and I thought the picture wa
the sweetest gem on earth. We hav'
, it now in it's old fashioned case. Tha
little girl is long since mother an
has pictures of her own little girls
|, and they are much finer in their finish
but prize the first one most. It car
ries me back in memory to the days Q
my sweetest, fondest, proudest. pa
rental love. I ido]ize that child an
I love her dearly yet, but she left
for a young man she was no kin to i
+ the world, and who has never don
anything for her but to give her
. ring and books of poetry and q littl
. French candy now and then. We ha
!. to give her up to him. and as ToI
: Hood said:
4 .'She took our daylight with her
. And the joys that We love best.
! With morning light upon her brow
: And pearls upon her breast"
!. Daguerre was benefactor to I'll
n emotional side of our nature. He WI
7! a French artist--a painter OF pam
!. ramas of cities like London and Par
I and Naples. He used the rays Of I'll
$ sun through colored glass to heighte
g the effect OF his paintings, and kept G
!, experimenting with sunlight until
n 1889 he caught it on the king M
y made it stick to meta; lic plates and r
= feet the images thrown upon then
S His success was partly accidental, par
y ly design, and he himself was astol
9 ished at his discovery. In 1910 Aras
: made the announcement to tho acad
j. my of science and Daguerre was maj
IS an cfficer in the Legion of Honor al
. voted pension of 5000 francs yea
:. He died in 1851 and a monument "
i erected to him in Paris.
= But like ali inventions, Daguerre
, was crude aud imperfect. Photogr
4, ,,bv har orarvn ont ,,f it and seerus nc