The Tupelo journal., 1904-04-22
CHARACTER PHOTOGRAPHY.
Wonders, Natural and Spiritual, That
Are Only Developed in Times OF
Stress and Darkness.

Phillips Brooks said: THE times
that make us weakest n that force
our weakness most upon us and make
us most know how weak we are-those
are our coronation-days, the days OF
sickness, days of temptation, days OF
doubt, days of Encouragement, days OF
bereavement and days of aching lone
illness, which cOme when the strong
voice is silent, the dear face is gone.
Those are the days when christ sees
most clearly the cross Of our need upon
our f~oreheads and m to serve us
with His love-"
When the sun is eclipsed, the astron-
omer is able t see the fountains OF
glowing hydrogen that rise out OF the
inner substance of it and project their
splendors for thousands and thousands
of miles beyond its surface. So, wrltes
Rev. A. C. WEIGH, in Character Pho
Biography, when the light is shut out
of our lives, there is often revealed a
beauty we might not otherwise see. SO
we sing:
Rather walking with Him by faith
Thar walking alone in the light =
The Alpine guide blindfolds the ner-
vous traveller as they cross the terrible
chasm. There is no danger, but to thu
unaccustomed eye it seems terrific,
Thus our heavenly Guide puts the
shadow of a hand across our vision. II
shut out the light that might blur anu
mar our faith:
81 do not ask my cross to understand.
My way to see;
Better in darkness just to feel Thy hanor
And follow Thee"
Edison thus tells the story of the
invention of the phonograph: Il was
singing one day into the mouthpiece
of a telephone, when my hnger
touched a wire that pricked it. 1t sug-
gested the idea of the monograph and
| worked it out; but l had a good many
burned fingers before it was complet-
ed" So, under the biting acids char
acter is crystallized, trouble has its
remedial side and sorrow is ever
transmitted.
There is a new idea in developing
pictures. 1t is that heat accelerates
chemical action and that a hot devei-
oping fluid makes a better negative.
This is also true in the chemistry OF
life. Selfshness and carnality are
burned out of the heart by the hot de-
veloper of affection. And as the purest
ore comes from the hottest furnace, so
the noblest souls are refined in the hot
-. - T.;h.1of;0n ofHiotinn onn
oppression are the alchemists by whom
the dross is e~therealized, the carnal
sp%iritualized and the baser metal is
transmitted into pure gold.
When Michael Angelo had become
blind and decrepit with age, he was
led. morning by morning, into the
museum of the Vatican, that he might
delight his artistic sense by passing his
hand over the wonderful torsos. II
was the deprivation of sight that
brought the cunning of the master
hand into closer fellowship with the
canvas and the marble. The develop
ing process is not always easy. We
shrink from the darkroom with its
biting acids and submerging process.
But we must not judge before the
time, only lie still until He traces all
the lineaments, until all the features
come out, until He brings to light the
hidden things, and all will be made
plain:
.Then let us strive and work and wait,
AS those who see the open gate.
The glory in our night;
So that at last through Christ, the way,
We, too, MAY tread the land of day,
Where God, the Lord, is light"
Alone in the darkroom! There are
trials no one else can share, burdens
we must bear alone. Sometimes these
are awful hours of darkness and gloom.
And so in our lives. At times it is
pitch dark, every star in the sky of
hope gone out. Then, when we are
nearly. exhausted, wearied- and worn.
we see a shadow, a light, and we heal
a voice out of the darkness. 1t says:
'It is l." 'Tis the Master. 1t is the
light and we are safe.
When Storms Are Stilled.