2 Responses to “A Glimpse of 1908”

1. fillyjonk
   October 23rd, 2009 - 9:04 am

   I suspect that they would also be aged by poor nutrition, having had childhood diseases that are now prevented by vaccine or cured by antibiotics, and (very likely) seeing brothers or sisters die in early childhood.

   I have old photographs of my grandmother from when she was a girl (she was born in the late 1890s so it would have been before this one). She looked serious but she didn’t look prematurely aged like these girls do…she grew up in a farm family where there was enough food to eat and the kids seem to have been taken good care of (by turn of the century standards).

2. John Salmon
   October 23rd, 2009 - 12:01 pm

   There’s an interesting, if tragic, story there-in the 20′s there was a strike at the Loray mill which resulted in some people getting killed, including the police chief. I used to live in the town in question (Gastonia NC) so I’m aware of the history involved. The mill is still there (it’s an enormous building) but it’s been shut down for a long time.

   The successful, if brutal, repression of the strike played a big part in quashing unionism in the South.