AN ETHNIC CHILD. I won?t try to sway any of you towards a certain nationality since I really don?t know the origin of the compelling child who sat quietly looking at the camera through those sad searching eyes. Her lips were pursued in a neutral expression yet I know there was an inherent over all somber aspect in the girl?s life. Her dress had a gay pattern and double accents on the short over sleeves. Yet as I study her resealed sixth plate I just can?t pass by the subject?s resignation to her plight in life, so strongly reflected in her portrait. Maybe her hands offer a clue. I suspect she labored in a textile mill. Her hands and fingernails were stained. That suggests she might have worked in the dying vats. The compelling likeness is kept in the bottom of a leather case. There are faint mold spiders and other specks plus pale patina around her.
