What is Play?
“Childhood” from The Migonette: A Christmas and New Year’s Gift. New York: D. Appleton & Co., ca. 1856.
Catalog Record (Copy 1) | Enlarged Image | Adopt a Gift Book Home
This is a fascinating and rather complex depiction of the interaction between childhood and parenting. A father bends over a stream with his two young children and the family dog, blowing on toy boats; his older son is in the wooded background, triumphantly carrying the bellows which will aid their play project. Meanwhile a well-dressed mother urges her properly dressed son to keep going, although he longingly glances at the boat race.
