Figure 1.--In America both pre-teen and teen-age boys wore knee pants during the 1900s. Not all teenagers wore them, but it was very common. The boys here look to be about 8 and 13 yeats old. Noth wear knee pants with black long stockings. Notice how carefully the boys' hair is comb. We would guess here that the boys were photographed on Sunday just before church. We would guess the button on the plder boy;s lapel has something to do with church.

Straight-leg kneepants were the most commomn type of boys' trousers at the turn of the century. The term straight-leg was used in comtemporary catalogs to destinguish between knee pants which were cut staight and knickers which were cut to blouse out, althogh for the most part knickers in the 1900s did not blouse out very much. The German boy here wearing knee pants is a good example of the kneepants commonly worn in the 1900s (figure 1). He looks to be about 7 years old. Kneepants were commonly worn in both Europe and America. We notice both pre-teens and teenagers wearing them. European boys seem to have shiften to long pants in their earky teens. We notice even older teens wearing kneepants in America. Not all older teens, but this seem to have been very common. Different families seemed to have different ideas here. There were also demographic and social-class differences.