An article in a Carnegie Museum Magazine (I can't remember the exact name of the publication) said that early children's fashion was the adult style of twenty years before. Weren't those hats popular in the 1880s?

I can hear the parents -- "That's all right, son. You can get a lot of good wear out of that hat. Why waste money buying a new hat every year when you can wear it for a few years and then it'll be just right for your little brother."

Children from this era looked like tiny little adults, the way they dressed them. Some of their hats are too big for their teeny heads!

It's a hell of a thing to be able to look at these kids in this picture, and then realize that they've all grown up, gotten married, had kids of their own and eventually died having lived full lives (ostensibly).

I hope they had good lives.

My grandfather would have been 6 years old in NYC in 1909. While I don't think he's in the picture, he sure could have been. The image gives me an insight into his world growing up...