TONED HANDS . . .

That held the boy’s favorite pocket knife appeared in his resealed sixth plate dag with an odd hue that might have occurred because he worked in the dye vats in a cloth mill. As I study the marvelous, although a bit sad masterwork, kept in the bottom of a leather case, I wonder if the lad used his meager pay to purchase that open implement or was it given to him by his employer because it was used in the process of his job. Young children, both boys and girls, worked very long hours sometimes six days a week, with little free time. The astounding skill of the daguerreian is clearly visible even in my reproduction. The daguerreotype has aged perfectly. The tinting was done by an artist!