Goat carts are not as common today as they were in a more agrarian age, and even in urban communities at a time where many people kept carriage and buggy horses, chickens and perhaps even a cow on their property. A goat could be trained to pull a small cart with children as passengers, so it was the bicycle or go-cart of its time. Some were quite elaborate and expensive affairs, but most were more cheaply constructed and surely many were homemade projects.
The young boy in this image has a very nice cart; he is dressed in the Buster Brown style with some Little Lord Fauntleroy touches. As is not uncommon, it is the son who is pictured at the reigns while the daughter stands by (perhaps doing her best to look properly admiring while thinking, “I can drive that thing every bit as well as you.”)
Technical note: The image below compares the faded state of the collected print with the image restored to its original appearance. It is surprising how much tonal range still exists in a faint and yellowed original when scanned and edited in readily available image manipulating software. See Restoration of Old Photos.
