Picture book of people with each other to prove they love each other a long time ago
Age 5. A sepia-toned cabinet card. The little boy has a small round face and very large eyes, and is clad in a velvet Little Lord Fauntleroy suit with swathes of lace at the collar. He is stiffly posed with one hand reaching up to rest on the top of a small column, which has been draped with something that might be a tablecloth; he has rather obviously been tied to the leg of the chair behind him to keep him from fidgeting.
Age 13. Another cabinet card. An undersized young man in his starchy new Eton dress, big collar and top hat and bum-freezer (which he will not be tall enough to trade for tails for a discouragingly long time). There's once again a stiff look to him - although he's not been tied to anything this time, he's still on constraints to not fidget and be on Good Behaviour.
Age 17. Oh look, he doesn't always stand around as though he's got a yardstick down one leg! This one is a Kodak snap, fresh and newfangled in black-and-white, with the photographer's shadow in it. He is no longer tiny, but he's obviously got a bit to grow yet and mainly consists of coltish limbs. The rather unfocused image catches him in the act of feeding a straw skimmer hat to a swan. The hat is not his.
Age 23. A great large photo in a fancy folder, with fancy embossed corners holding the picture in: a wedding portrait. He is perfectly tall and grown into himself now, at last, and has developed a small caterpillar upon his upper lip. He is standing, yardstick-down-his-leg once more, with one hand on the back of the chair which holds his bride and all her yards and yards of lace Honestly, neither of them look particularly thrilled, but then it was a long photography session..
Age 33. Another Kodak snap. The caterpillar remains; the yardstick has gone missing again; he has posed willingly for a friend's camera against the backdrop of the Army camp, one hand on his hip and his hat held over his heart; his face is dirty, his hair is all out of place, and his smile is brilliant.
Age 13. Another cabinet card. An undersized young man in his starchy new Eton dress, big collar and top hat and bum-freezer (which he will not be tall enough to trade for tails for a discouragingly long time). There's once again a stiff look to him - although he's not been tied to anything this time, he's still on constraints to not fidget and be on Good Behaviour.
Age 17. Oh look, he doesn't always stand around as though he's got a yardstick down one leg! This one is a Kodak snap, fresh and newfangled in black-and-white, with the photographer's shadow in it. He is no longer tiny, but he's obviously got a bit to grow yet and mainly consists of coltish limbs. The rather unfocused image catches him in the act of feeding a straw skimmer hat to a swan. The hat is not his.
Age 23. A great large photo in a fancy folder, with fancy embossed corners holding the picture in: a wedding portrait. He is perfectly tall and grown into himself now, at last, and has developed a small caterpillar upon his upper lip. He is standing, yardstick-down-his-leg once more, with one hand on the back of the chair which holds his bride and all her yards and yards of lace Honestly, neither of them look particularly thrilled, but then it was a long photography session..
Age 33. Another Kodak snap. The caterpillar remains; the yardstick has gone missing again; he has posed willingly for a friend's camera against the backdrop of the Army camp, one hand on his hip and his hat held over his heart; his face is dirty, his hair is all out of place, and his smile is brilliant.