When I first saw this scene I knew it was from England or Scotland, perhaps even Ireland, but though the photographer's name and place of business is stamped into the cabinet card mount, I cannot be sure if it is Ledburgh in Yorkshire or Ledburgh in Scotland (I think the former is likely). This wonderful image came to America with some family member but no one bothered to write on it, so our impertinent curiosity is unsatisfied.
This is surely a commissioned photograph because the entire family and perhaps hired workers are arrayed before the cottage with their fine equipment. Is the man standing in the foreground with arms folded the head of this large family, or would that be the gentleman holding the hand of the little girl in the center of this group of forty. Everyone's attention is on the camera, even the one man who has paused in the process of forking hay into the machinery. Every manner of dress is here and there is such a lot to look at!
It is nearly impossible to have this many people in a photo without someone blurred because they moved at the moment the shutter was tripped, but sometimes there are circumstances that cause you to speculate on the reason: notice that two of four blurred faces are the young girl behind the baby stroller and the young fellow just behind her – he is in the process of moving his hand into the pail in his hand, making you wonder if he has just pitched something at her, causing her movement! Not that far-fetched, is it now? The boys sitting along the top of the machine (where else would little boys be?) are surprisingly still and unsmiling; the only real smile is the young man just below them.
The steam tractor is running, the belt driving the combine is in motion, as are all those exposed pulleys – mechanized farming was even more dangerous then than it is now. It is a fine autumn day, leaves are just beginning to fall. There are two bicycles against the stable wall, and a sack on a handcart that could only be rivaled by the sturdiness of that baby stroller! I have given you a closer view below.
