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We know nothing virtually nothing about the Reed family other than that they were from Pennsylvania, we're not sure yet about the city, perhaps Philidelphia. There were two boys about the same age. One was Eddie Lou Reed. I'm not sure about his brother's name. Eddie was a 1-2 years older than his brother. A HBC reader has set us two portraits. One is undaed, but was probably taken about 1899-1900.
It shows Eddie in a frilly white dress at about age 4. It has balloon half sleeves and a waist ribbon done in a pastel, perhaps light blue although we are not sure. Eddie also has ringlet curls and a very large hair bow, perhaps in the same color as his waist ribbon. With his white dress he has black long stockings and shoes with bows. A second portrait was taken in 1904 with the two boys. Both boys have been breeched, but they both still have ringlet curls, although they are worn without hair bows. We are not sure just when the boys were breeched.
We know nothing virtually nothing about the Reed family other than that they were from Pennsylvania, we're not sure yet about the city, perhaps Philidelphia. Our reader believes that they were a middle-class family. That may eell be, but the way their hair is done leads us to suspect they were a very affluent middle-class family. The boys wearing ringlets at age 8-10, for example, would not have attended school and would have been taught at home, perhaps by a tutor.
There were two boys about the same age. One was Eddie Lou Reed. I'm not sure about his brother's name. He was a 1-2 years older than Eddie. A HBC reader has set us two portraits.
One portrait of Eddie is undated, but was probably taken in 1900 or perhaps 1899 (figure 1). It shows Eddie in a frilly white dress at about age 4. It has balloon half sleeves and a waist ribbon done in a pastel, perhaps light blue although we are not sure. Eddie also has ringlet curls and a very large hair bow, perhaps in the same color as his waist ribbon. With his white dress he has black long stockings and shoes with bows.
We are not sure just when the boys were breeched. It was becoming much less common for boys to wear dresses by the late 1890s and turn-of-the 20th century. Most boys by 1900 were breeched by before they reached 5 years of age or at age 5 years. The public school system was wll estblished by 1900. Boys started school at age 6 and very few boys would have begun school still wearing dresses. We suspect, however, that these bpys were tutored at home. So it is possible that there breeched was delayed to age 6 or perhaps later, but this would have been unusual. Note that in the Reed family, breeching did not include cutting curls. We have no ideas when the boys had their curls cut.
A second portrait was taken in 1904 with the two boys. Looking at their faces, I thought Eddie was the younger brother on the left. Our reader tells us that Eddie was the boy on the right. So Eddie was the older brother. I'm not sure about their age, but they look to be 8-10years of age. Both boys have been breeched, but they still have ringlet curls, although they are worn without hir bows. We are not sure just when the boys were breeched. Both boys wear wear middy blouses. The younger boy's blouse has a rather fussy scalloped edging. His brother has a more standard middy blouse. The younger boy wears bloomer knickers while his brother seems to wear knee pants. They both have long black stockings. I'm not sure abour the younger boy's Eddie's shoes. His brother has high-top shoes. Both have elaborate ringle curls.
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