American Boyhood: Sammuel Morrison (1890s)

Sammy wore Little Lord Fauntleroy suits with long curls at 7 and I think his young friends did also. He writes about this in the book:

If children of the poor (and why not "poor," instead of that idiotic phrase "underprivileged"?) stared at little Sammy suspiciously, it was because he wore long yellow curls and was dressed to suit. This brings up the one big hate of my' childhood, the infamous creation of Frances Hodgson Burnett. Her Little Lord Fauntleroy, which appeared the year before I was born, had a disastrous effect on many fond mammas of that era; the more so on mine, as she had hoped for a girl. Thanks to Mrs. Burnett's namby-pamby juvenile hero, boys were dressed in velvet with lace collars and red stockings; and if their hair had any curl in it, forced to wear "love locks". I was one of these victims. The nurse used to make up my blond hair into golden ringlets every morning, turning them with her spittle around a sort of minor policeman's baton, and I was not allowed to have them shorn until the age of seven. About one boy in ten of that era, subjected to this indignity, suffered gibes, insults and hair-pullings innumerable from his more fortunate fellows; and I was that one in my infant schools. We victims would all have cheerfully contributed our pocket money to have Mrs. Burnett and her odious creation boiled in oil.

The Morrisons were an affluent family. Sammy was sent to a private school. A photograph taken in 1899 shows Sammy at 12 wearing an overcoat

Figure 2.--Sammy at 12 wearing an overcoat and school cap.

so you can't see how he was dressed. You can see his school cap. He may be wearing knickers, although it is not clear from the photograph (figure 2).

Last updated: June 28, 1998