A large group of children, like any gathering of people anywhere, reveals a gallery of personalities – but perhaps with a certain lack of subterfuge common in the young. Sister Regina’s class at the turn of the last century exhibits what suggests, to our mind’s eye, some of the sweetest little girls imaginable – and some we might choose not to know if we could avoid them! Perhaps a few got up on the wrong side of the bed, so to speak, so we can give them the benefit of the doubt; but I’ll put my money on there being at least a few that could try the patience of the saints the Sister teaches her girls about.
Were they told to cross their arms or was it a habitual pose they struck? There is little joy in this event, but one little soul on the back row finds something to smile about. At least two girls wear earrings; another has a ring on each hand. This class is racially integrated.
Imagine setting up a picture today where it would be permissible, from a safety perspective, to stack benches in this manner and stand nearly a dozen little girls on each of them! Horrors! Oh, the lawsuits!
On a technical note: class pictures were likely done by local photographers whose view camera’s lenses were less than stellar in their critical focus across the film plane, resulting in dramatic loss of sharpness on the left and right, as this photo is a prime example, and particularly if light was low and the optimum f-stop was not possible. Adequate light is the main reason that most class pictures were done outside in this period. Most of the girls are wearing colored dresses, but two are wearing dazzling white which plays havoc with capturing detail there (all photographers at all times deal with these issues and make choices).