Thursday, May 17, 2007

A gun and a pipe


I love people and life. This photo is of a coal miner's child entering his house with a gun in one hand and a pipe in the other! He is climbing through what could be a cat hole, wearing work overalls. The walls of his house are covered in newspaper - now there's an idea for cheap and inventive wallpaper! It was take by Marion Post Wolcott in 1938 and i saw it on a website called Shorpy - it's a blog of photos from about 100 years ago. Quite interesting.

It's a shame that there is no more information about this child than what the photo shows - is that gun just a toy?! does he grow up thinking guns are good?! Although the surroundings suggest they are far from a wealthy family, that doesn't indicate what kind of a life he actually lived..... is he having more fun than a rich kid? although he climbs through a hole to get into his house he could still know real love.... but who can tell, he could be desperately sad and lonely instead. It's all a mystery.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This photo was actually taken during the great depression, dust bowl era. Thus the paper on walls is for insulation, it was the only thing they had for it then.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your comment and information. I guess i wasn't really thinking about the era when i wrote the post, although i should have done.