Figure 1.--The Irish were the first major immigrant group in America to be wdely dispairged. Note the way the family in the upper right is looking unconfortably at the immigrant children playing. The children look to be mostly Irish, notice the caps. Unfortunately we do not know where this illustration appeared and when. We believe it probably appeared in an illustrated magazine during the 1880s.

The Irish were the first major immigrant group in America to be wdely dispairged. Note the way the family in the upper right is looking unconfortably at the immigrant children playing. The children look to be mostly Irish, notice the caps. Unfortunately we do not know where this illustration appeared and when. We believe it probably appeared in an illustrated magazine during the 1880s. A reader writes, "The children sliding down the ramp from the quay side looks to have been great fun. It looks very similar to the modern day game the kids play nowadays when they slide down a sheet of plastic strip covered in soapy water. The ramp itself looks pretty rough to be sliding down so perhaps it was a boat launching ramp that may have been covered in whale fat to help the boats slide up and down much easier. I remeber reading something like this when I was researching for a story to tell the sea scouts some years back. The onlt difference is, this picture shows children sliding down, whereas the picture I saw was of a boat being hauled from the water. This may not be the case, but the similarities are there." Of course this is a drawing and not a photograph, but we believe that this is a period illustration depicting how children actually played. This doesn't look to be a boat ramp, but rathr a ramp used to slide cargo down where it could be loaded on boats. As a result the planks were worn smooth--mking it an ideal slide. Even so there must hsve been occasional splinters.

Created: 1:30 PM 9/18/2006
Last updated: 1:30 PM 9/18/2006