Every once in a while I come across a photo that seems like an impossibility. Impossible it was ever made, impossible that it survived. Yet here it is.
This is a baptism in Montgomery County, Alabama, circa 1900. Its title is Calling for Sinners.

Alabama Dep’t of Archives & History

A man is standing with his back to the river, facing the ladies in their Sunday best. Despite their long dresses and the hot Alabama sun, they look cool and refined in their white dresses and straw hats.  Just a few people are visible around the canopy of trees, but there are almost definitely more standing nearby.
The timelessness of the baptism and the simplicity of it all makes me long to be part of a slower, simpler time.
The record didn’t give the name of the church or the river. But it would have been a black church in Montgomery county, and they’re almost definitely standing beside the Alabama River.
Imagine that! A faded image of a scene 125 years ago still has the power to convey a little warmth and goodness and familiarity to anyone who takes the trouble to look.