Headed for my
Sketchbook Project book.
Caption: Pin boys in Les Miserables Alleys, Frank Jarose, 7 Fayette St., Mellens Court, said 11 years old, made $3.72 last week. Joseph Philip, 5 Wall St., said 11 years old, and works until midnight every week night; said he made $2.25 last week and $1.75 the week before. Willie Payton, 196 Fayette St., said 11 years old, made over $2 last week, works there every night until midnight. Location: Lowell, Massachusetts. Photo taken October 1911 by Lewis Wickes Hine, courtesy Library of Congress.
Father O'Brien
Father O'Brien of
Saint Patrick's Church
started to laugh when
I told him about my job at
Les Miserables Alleys.
"My boy," he says,
"a more aptly named
place there never was."
And then he busts out
sputtering and laughing
like one who has been
touched by the pixies.
I'll tell you something--
I don't get the joke.
© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.
Head over to see
Tabatha Yeatts for the Poetry Friday Round-Up. (Tabatha sent me poem #3 in the Summer Poem Swap. Actually, she sent me 4 poems total! What a gal!)
Nice smiles. You are so observant, to notice the name of the location! My dad was actually a pin boy -- I should ask him how much he made.
ReplyDeleteYou should ask him, Tabatha! Ask him about the whole process. Then write it all down!
ReplyDeleteYou are so good at capturing the imagined backstory of the photos you find. I love your imagination!
ReplyDeleteKeri, I like to keep a foot in the "real," too. I looked for a Catholic church in Lowell and discovered that there were a line of O'Briens who served at St. Patrick's during the latter part of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
ReplyDeleteIt's too late to ask more about it, but my step-father, now gone, also did this, plus sold a pulp newspaper on the corners. I love your poem and the picture. They look sharp, don't they?
ReplyDeleteDownright cocky!
Delete"touched by the pixies" -- a perfect little expression of the speaker's voice, Diane. And what wonderful smiles on these faces, despite the name of the bowling alley.
ReplyDeleteI would like to learn the origin of the name. What a strange choice for a bowling alley!
DeleteOf course there was "a line of O'Briens who served at St. Patrick's during the latter part of the 19th and early 20th centuries." I bet that line continues to this day. :) Another wonderful poetry sketch, Diane. And what a name! "Les Miserables"-- no relation to the musical, I expect. ;)
ReplyDeleteThe next time I go to Lowell, I'm going to visit St. Patrick's church!
DeleteDiane, I like the fact that you allow your reader to closely read the image in accordance with your text. This is another wonderful match-up and the narrator's voice pops right out.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carol! I hope everyone knows that if they click on the image, they'll get a larger view.
DeleteYes, Diane, I think you should explore that name, either in your imagination or in the historical record. What an odd pick!!
ReplyDeleteLove the poem!
I checked the history of the book, and it was published in 1862 and was a popular success, though not a critical one. I imagine it would have still been popular amongst the mill workers of Lowell in the early 1900s.
Delete