Wednesday, February 9, 2011

In Which Lennie Takes His Medicine And Sees a Dentist. Sortta!

Thursday February 10, 1898
Snowed and blowed.

Had a band concert.

Doggone! The snow had just melted! One snow "went off" as Lennie puts it. Another appears on the horizon. That's sorta true in our everyday lives, too. One stormy problem gets taken care of and there is always another one approaching.

Friday, February 11, 1898
Prof is cross.
C. Church had a supper.

had a big time.

Lennie's problems with the professor continue. I'm betting Lennie somehow was at the center of whatever situation had caused the prof to be 'cross'. But I can't say that for sure as I wasn't there.
This week Lennie attends an evening meal at the Christian Church. A supper means "people" and Lennie was a people person. It is possible that many in that small town of Wakefield, Nebraska enjoyed the social gatherings at several churches. This is where they could visit with friends and neighbors. A sixteen-year-old boy of 1898 would not have had a lot social outlets. Family. School. Church. Community gatherings. No video games, no television, not even movies, although they did have "lantern" shows.


Today I'm sharing some more photos with you. I'm wondering if Lennie himself were the photographer. He did take photos and mentions that in his diary from time to time. These were taken some years after he wrote his teen diary but before he married.


You can see that Lennie had a great sense of humor. In the first series he appears to be "taking his medicine". (Remember that you can click for a close-up.)


In the second series Lennie pretends to be seated in a dental chair. I think. Surely they had dental chairs in 1898!


Today the composite photo hangs on the wall in the office of Lennie's grandson.


I hope you are enjoying this year-long adventure with Leonard Charles Davis (Lennie C Davis) of Wakefield, Nebraska in the year 1898.



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2 comments:

  1. I love the dental series. It reminds of how I felt when I had my infected tooth extracted before the Novocain.

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  2. How did Lennie have all this access to photographs? I was under the impression that photography was kind of rare and expensive in that time. Maybe I'm wrong. Or maybe there was a photographer in the family? Do you know?

    In any case, I think it's wonderful that 113 years later, I'm looking at a wiesenheimer boy captured for all time. His spiritedness reminds me of a couple boys 'round here.

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