p. 31 | ETCHING; AN ILLUSTRATION by Mrs. Blatchford

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, January 8, 1880

FromThe Review and Herald, Vol. 55, No. 2

ETCHING; AN ILLUSTRATION.

By Mrs. Blatchford

You take a polished plate of copper, and, having coated it with a thin film of wax, you draw upon its surface with a metallic pencil the picture you wish to produce, the graceful flower, the beautiful head, or the landscape,—your outlines must be clear, and your shading distinct. But when your drawing is all complete, is there a finished picture? No. A long process is still before you; an acid solution is prepared, and into this your plate is plunged, but it must not remain too long. You withdraw it, and, finding that the more delicate lines of your picture have been sufficiently deepened, you coat them with the film of wax, and submit the plate once more to the corrosion of the acid. In this way the plate is treated again and again until the required gradation of light and shadow is secured.

Now you may remove the wax, and see your completed sketch, but the work is not yet finished; you have only the instrument which is to give you upon soft tinted paper, by careful manipulation, the beautiful etching, and not one only, but many, shall reward your skill and patience. Fit emblem, as I thought, in observing the processes of the art this summer, of the time, and thought, and skill, which are expended upon those who are to make enduring impressions upon human souls. And just this is being accomplished through the years in our schools and seminaries in many lands under the loving guidance of our missionary teaching,—this work first of polishing the plate,—that the lines of character may be clearly drawn, then the long, slow process, requiring such infinite patience and skill, of deepening and strengthening those lines, throwing in the light and shadow, until balance and harmony are secured, and all this not with the beauty or perfection of the individual life alone as the ultimate end, but that from her these impressions of character may be made upon other lives—multiplied a thousand-fold. Were our divine Lord present with us to-day, and were we seeking a gift worthy his acceptance, what better could we find than such a plate, prepared to make these ineffaceable impressions upon human souls?

But you say, “Ah! it is not ours to give these sentient plates; the surrender to God must be their own act.” True; but what if I tell you that they have already given themselves, and now look to you for this costly preparation? The means of training and culture and spiritual development are furnished in our mission homes and seminaries; the call comes to-day to all who are “willing-hearted” among us to bestow with free hands the gifts necessary to sustain the pupils from year to year during the long period required for their education.—Mrs. Blatchford, on Higher Standards of Giving.