The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-10-30
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
uE FINDS FOOD FOR THOUGHT
NrHE TRUTHFUL CAMERA.
photo Gallery by the Countrywide
Marks Civilizations Progress.

The photograph gallery in a country
town ia one the most pleasing marks
OF Christian civilization aud tho adj
vancement Of modern science. / pass
by one every day and il is gratifying
7 SEQ lie patrons awaiting their turn
Il coming out with smiling faces and
OIL arrayod in their best apparel II
Is family discussion before they come
what dress TO wear, what ornamental,
and how the hair shall be arranged, or
whether to sit or stand, whether a side
view OF q front OF whether the baby
shall be taken alone OF with its mother.
All classes arc on an equality before
the camera, for the sunlight Of nature
has no favoritea So far as faces and
! features are concerned, the camera
tells the ruth, the whole truth aud
nothing but the truth. This morning
os / passed / saw countryman sit
ting on the steps with a child
In his arms. His wife and little
girl were inside awaiting their
turn. used to know him before he was
married, and 80 1 stopped and gave
him my hand. His folks we're poor,
honest and industrious, and / 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 fishirg on Saturdays and
take the family to NEE ing on Sundays.
They are generally p 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 a rich mans war,
bat it will be a poor mans fight.
''Are you going TO have the baby's
picture taken" "No; not this one. ="
said he; 81 wanted my wife's and our
little girls. They are in there. I
I thought 1 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 q
mighty purity little thing, but Jack
hain't got no picture and so conclud-
ed to have some taken for fear of acct
dent
"That is all right, said I, "but 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 q
rough man like me, and besides, it
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't
they?"
Love for wife and children is the
best virtue of human kind, and poor
folks have Os much of it as rich ones,
Yes, more. Many of them haven't
anything else to divide their affec-
tions. It is a pleasing thing to see
them at the picture gallery and to wit
ness their pride when the work is done
and the faces of their loved ones are
before them on enameled cards, fresE
and clean from the artists hand
What wonderful art it is. remem
Der we'll when the first daguerreotypC
was taken in our town. 1t was only
forty years ago, and when our first lit
tie girl was four years old we had bel
picture taken. She was little beauty
then, and 1 thought the picture wal
the sweetest gem on earth. We have
it now in it's old fashioned case. Tha
little girl is long since a mother anC
has pictures of her own little girls
and they are much finer in their finish
but prize the first one most. 1t car
ries me back in memory to the days o
nv sweetest, fondest, proudest, pa
rental love. / idolize that child ant
I love her dearly yet, but she left u
for young man she was no kin to Il
the world, and who has never don
anything for her but to give her
ring and books of poetry and LITTLE
French candy now and then. We hat
to give her up to him, and as Ton
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 a benefsctor to tn
emotional side of our nature. He wa
a French artist--a painter OF pane
ramas OF cities like London and Pari
and Naples. BE used the rays OF tn
sun through colored glass to heighte
the effect Of his paintings, and kept o
experimenting with sunlight until i