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Here we see a boy named Francis in hos First Cimmunion outfit. Unfortunately we do not know his last name. He was photographed with his brothers and sisters. They seem to be a good Catholic family. The family was from Philadelphia. Francis wears a white blouse and short pants with white long stockings. We were a little surprised by the long stockings as the family snapshot was dated 1952. We do not see American boys commonly wearing long stockings, especially white long stockings in the 1950s, but First Comminion was a very special event and white long stockings were once very commonly worn for First Communion. The date could be wrong, but the girls' dresses look about right for 1952. We are less sure his brother, who seems to be wearing knickers, although we are not sure. Knickers had really disapperared in America by the early 1950s, but we see a few boys wearing them when dressing up.
A reader writes, "I think the date is probably correct. Although long stockings had mostly died out by 1952 in the United States, they were still being worn in Quebec and other conservative places. I suspect that the long stockings were prescribed by a particular parish tradition, and that
the parents didn't want to deviate. The boy probably wore them only for this ceremony."
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