Vintage Repeat - Teacher reading a story to all the Cambria City kids around 1912. They are sitting in the back of a park that is still there - next to the old firehall on Broad Street. Blew the picture up so that you can see some of the faces a little bit better. What's touching about this picture is - that if you look close - is a couple of things - that beat up little pail on the left hand side, on the right - is one of the bases for playing ball - but the saddest part of the whole thing - is the complete lack of shoes.
I know it was common - given the economic status of the families - but still when you really stop to think about it in our cleaned up world - going barefoot now would be hard - imagine it back then - between all the horse shit on the streets, dirt from the mill and the general filth of families living on top of and right smack next to each other. Now after having that in your head - kind of make you think - what wonderful afternoon this must of been for the kids - an afternoon of storytelling - for just a couple of brief moments - they could forget about what their own lives were like.
Click to enlarge.
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