The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1896-10-24
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
He FINDS FOOD FOR THOUGHT
THE TRUTHFUL CAMERA.
Photo Gallery by the Countryside
Marks Civilizations Progress.

The photograph gallery in a country
town is one the most pleasing marks
of Christian civilization and tina adj
vanccment Of modern science. pass
by one every day and it is gratifying
t see it's patrons awaiting Their turn
or coming out with slh:!'ny faces and
oil arrayed in their best apparel. 1t
is q family discussion before they como
what dress to wear, what ornaments,
and how the hair shall be arraugcd, or
whether to sit or stand, whether q side
view or front or whether the baby
shall be taken alone or with its mother.
All classes are on al equality before
the camera, for the sunlight OF nature
has no favorites. So far rs faces and
features are concerned, the camera
tells the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth. This morning
as passed I saw countryman Sit
ting on the steps with child
in his arms. HIS wife AM! little
girl were inside awaiting their
turn. I used to knew him before he was
married, and so l stopped and gave
him my hand. His folks were poor,
honest and industrious, and I have
great respect for all such. The women
do the housework and have the care Of
the children. The mau cultivate their
little farms, work the roads, sit on the
iuries, nurse their sick neishbors, bury
the dead, go fishi' 6 on Saturdays and
take the family to NEE ing Oh Sundays.
They are generally ? pulists, not be-
cause Of any pollt ca principles in
volyed, 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 tho next if it comes in their
days. Il may be a rich mans war,
but it will he poor mans fight.
care you going to have the baby's
plCtUE6 CIkSH. NO, uot tHIS one,
said he; II wanted my wiic's AID our
little girls. They are in there. I
I thought I would like to have them
about the house, for life is uncertain,
you know. Jim Mnore's wife died last
year und Jim snys he wou!l give the
world for her picture, and Jaci; Brown
lost his little girl in June. She was q
mighty purity little thing, out Jack
haiu't got no picture and SO aonc'ud-
ed to have some taken Tor fear Ct acct
dent..'
'That is oil right" said I, "bn: sup
pose you die; wouldn't your wife like
to have one Of you?'
81 reckon she would. She mention
ed that, but pictures don't become
rough man like me, and besides, it
would cost more money than / hive
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, bnt I will
have mine taken sometime. reckon
all your folks have got 'em, haven't
they?"
Love for wife and children is the
best virtue of human kind, and poor
folks have as much Of it as rich ores.
Yes, more. Many of them haven't
anything else to divide their affec-
tions. It is pleasing thing to SEQ
them at the picture gallery aud to wit
ness their pride when the work is done
and the faces Of their loved ones are
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 dsguerreotype
was taken in our town. It was only
forty years ago, and when our FIRST lit
tie girl was four years old we had her
picture taken. She was q little beauty
then, and I thought the picture was
the sweetest gem on earth. We have
it now in its old-fashioned case. That
little girl is long since a mother and
has pictures of her own little girls,
and they are much finer in their finish,
but I prize the first one most. 1t car
ries me back in memory to the days Of
my sweetest, fondest, proudest, pa
rental love. I ido)ize that child and
l love her dearly yet, but She LETT us
for a young man she was no kin to in
the world, and who has never done
anything for her but to give her q
ring aud books of poetry and little
French candy now and then. We had
to give her up to him, and as Tom
Hood said:
"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 beneiactor to the
emotional side of our nature. He was
a French artist-a painter of piano.
ramas Of cities like London and Paris
and Naples. He used the rays of the
sun through colored glaes to heighten
the effect of his paintings, and kept on