Figure 1.--This Springfield, Massachusetts boy wears a knee pants suit and straw hat. The portrait is undated, but we would say was taken in the 1870s. Here the small collar and portrait mount are factors.

This Springfield, Massachusetts boy wears a knee pants suit and straw hat. The suit has a jacket with very high lapels. He wears a small pointed collar and simple bow. This is oine reason why we think the portrait was taken in the 1870s. Bows and collars in the 1880s tended to be larger. Here the portrait mount is another factor. He also wears kneepants and long stockings. I'm not sure whay color the stockings were, they do not look black. I wonder if they could be right. A reader writes, "Interesting to note that the boy seems to be wearing knitted socks (see the design) over tan or light colored stockings. The bow on the straw hat appears to be the same color as the stockings." Yes we noted what seems to be heavy jnitted socks over his stockings. I have never noted anything like that before. We are not sure that there is a bow on the hat. Notice that the boy has what looks like a sprig of holly on his lap. I wonder if that could be a sprig of holly on his hat. We think this might be a Christmas portrait. That could also explain the fancy knitted socks. Another reader writes, " This photo looks very strange to me. First, I don't understand what the boy has lying across his lap. It seems like a strip of cloth that matches the suit, but what are the objects at either end? At first I thought that this might be some sort of unusual decoration on the knee pants, but that seems highly unlikely. The ornamental buttons on the knee pants seem more widely spaced than is common. Also the knee pants are quite long and, if the boy were standing up, would come down well over his knees, almost to the upper calf. The length of the pants may not be so unusual for 1870, I guess, but the knitted socks with patterns around the top seem quite eccentric. I have never seen anything like these socks, especially worn with long stockings. The stockings do look brown or tan rather than black, although black stockings often faded with frequent washings so that they had a dull, washed-out appearance, which could be the case here perhaps. Is not the boy's haircut a bit shorter than we would expect for 1870? On the whole, a very puzzling image indeed." What struck HBC about this image is the comination of a rather standard outfit and unusual touches. The boy's hat and suit are fairly standard. As our reader mentions, kneepants were often quite long in the 1870s. The ornamental pants buttons are rather widely spaced, bur we suspect that there was less standardization in the 1870s than the 80s. Thus while the portrait is unremarable, the knitted socks and item on the lap and and hat are unusual. This is one reason we think that this may be a Christmas portrait. A reader writes, "I am not sure that this is a Christmas portrait, although I can not think of a better explanation for the decorative socks and decorations you mention. At first I thought that the object in the boy's lap had curled ribbons at each end. If that is the case, it would support your Christmas idea. But are the curls really ribbons?" I am afraid that the image is just not clear enough to identify the lap object with any precession. Holly seems the most likely to me. One thing. I believe the ;ap object and the hat decoration are the same. While I supose a boy might have a bow on his hat, I think it is unlikely he would have bows in his lap.