How Times have Changed
- Thread starter gord
- Start date
Time sure did change. I remember when midwives would stick a pipe into new born's mouth to test their lungs strength before Jesus. Those were good old days.
Whatever the company scrip could buy at the company store.
My great grandpa worked at a steel mill in the early 1900s. He worked for scrip.
He smoked cigars but would use the tiny bit of cash my great grandma made sewing to buy "REAL" cigars from a shop.
Later in life he smoked those little Italian cigars exclusively.... DeNobli maybe??
There were empty boxes all over his house and shop when we cleaned them out in the early 1980s.
I have heard that the poor often smoked horse turds. Probably lavender, kinnikinnic, and ground dandelions and coltsfoot as well. Common poverty fare.
The wee lad was old enough to do a (small) man's work, who'd have the heart to deny him a pipe after his shift?
Probably his dad died in the mine and he being an older sibling was working to support his ma and younger siblings.
Probably his dad died in the mine and he being an older sibling was working to support his ma and younger siblings.
Judging by the background I'd think that's a costume and props for an upper middle class photo session.
I know great grandpa used to smoke his cigar nubs in a pipe. He also was known to smoke other guys cigar nubs in his pipe.
Most likely ANY tobacco scraps he could find.
He did not speak English at all when he came from Sweden.
Schools in Sweden did not teach English like they do now.
You mean just because the pick axe is bigger than he is and it's most likely he couldn't pick it up to carry it 2 feet? Nah.
Possibly but circa 1900 coal mining was about as low class work as you could get. It'd be like dressing your daughter up like a street walker for a photo shoot.
The boys would usually start underground as trappers opening and closing the air doors when the cars of coal would come through. When I started underground circa 2001 I had the great pleasure of being taught mining by some really old English and European miners. The English men, mostly Jordy's and Yorkshiremen, would leave school to start underground usually at 15 years old. Some of the guys I worked with had over 50 years experience underground. My boss Gunther, a German, started underground at 14 to support his family after WW2 as a trapper and worked his way up to mine boss. I still miss those guys. It's been about 12 years since I've been underground (i work at the more respectable profession of cabinetry now) but I still miss it. My wife says I still cut coal in my sleep.
Certainly a studio, posed, nicely lighted portrait. How else the model earned his keep, we can only guess. Miner, stable mucker, student, photographer's son, who knows? It's a cute shot none the less.
My Dad around 1929. Wish I would have found this pic when he was alive so I could ask him about the context of the pic.
I’ve seen this in the past, and have read at several places this is not a real photo.
apnews.com
www.snopes.com
Of course smoking in the 19th and very early 20th century was a different world with young kids smoking.
This photo from the 1900s doesn’t show an 8-year-old miner, just a kid in a costume
CLAIM: A black-and-white photo of a young boy clutching a huge pick shows an 8-year-old coal miner from Utah or Colorado in the early 1900s.
apnews.com
Is This a Photo of a 6-Year-Old Coal Miner?
The widespread presence of laboring children was a common sight in the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century.
www.snopes.com
Of course smoking in the 19th and very early 20th century was a different world with young kids smoking.
Could be, but there are a lot of historic photos that paint the same kind of picture. If it is a prop, that's still one tough little bastard. Just lookit' his eyes.
There are lots of prodigies on violin (my field) notably Milstein, Heifetz, and the whole Leopold Auer School, that did their debut at very early ages performing works that professionals could not match in dexterity. Tough times breed tough people. Unlike today's prodigies, they weren't imitative intuitives, but had a mentality to match.
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