Friday, February 21, 2014

THREE-PIECE SUIT, 1906

Here he is, looking like the Man of the Year.
He’s just out of high school – the public high school in Newton, Massachusetts – and is about to start his engineering course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
          This was my father’s favorite photograph of his father, Gardner Sabin Gould, who, as a little boy, apparently spent lots of time at the fire station just down the street. Tom was the lead horse that hauled one of the Newton Fire Department’s water tankers, and my grandfather was entranced. He had a hobby horse – a horse head on a broom stick – and he spent hours nickering and neighing and trotting all around the back yard of the house on Boylston Street, pretending to be Tom, the horse.
          The nickname stuck; my grandfather was known as “Tom” all his life to family and friends (except for my grandmother, who called him nothing but Gardner).
          At any rate, here he is.
          Three-piece suit (notice the rounded bottom of his vest – not the notched, pointed style); stiff collar, cuffs (and cufflinks, of course); necktie.  The vest has a watch pocket – but there’s no watch yet: that came at his MIT graduation in 1910.
I love the haircut: the central part, the tufts over his ears, slight curls at his temples. He’s clean-shaven (I can see the cleft in his chin). And is that a tin wall in the background, or is it some kind of wall covering or drape? Chickering Studios in Boston...
One of his most memorable jobs as a civil engineer was the building and installation of the portico that sits over Plymouth Rock – I have a framed certificate that his crew presented to him – sixty-odd signatures beneath a hand-written citation.
And he was a masterful cribbage player! He taught us all to play (I think it was the first card game I ever learned); I remember family gatherings involving cribbage games: single-elimination, multi-generational tournaments that went on for hours after dinner; much laughter and cheering, lots of encouragement. My mother played every time, even though she hadn’t the faintest idea how to play the game – my grandfather said he admired her for her willingness to participate in such a long-standing tradition!
But those suits!

The real deal, indeed.

26 comments:

  1. What a handsome fellow. I have no clue about cribbage, but I can totally relate to living as a horse since one of my daughters tried life as a dog. She even wanted us to buy a leash.

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    1. That's funny, Wendy! I love that she wanted a leash, and, forgive me, I would have bought it in a flash! You've made my day.

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  2. Those haircuts with the tufts over the ears were big back then. I have photos of my great-grandfather with a haircut like that. Cribbage is a big card game in our family too - but not quite to the extent that it is in yours, I think. On the other hand, the game of "3-13" has become huge among our whole extended family. We play it all the time on the beach at Tahoe during the annual family reunion. (My brother has made a special card table for playing cards on the beach) Card games are not only fun, but they bring everyone together which is even better!

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    1. Cribbage is still big. I'm my cousin's driver to his chemo sessions; we take a cribbage board and play away while he gets his drip...he says "Cribbage will get me through!" And I bet it will...

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  3. I really wanted to learn cribbage. I even got a cribbage board, but never learned. Maybe that is something to do in my old age, though I was never good at card games.

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    1. I have to tell you, cribbage is an excellent game! Lots to do with math and probability; some out-and-out scheming, too! It's still a popular game here in New England.

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  4. I thought cribbage was something from Harry Potter! I do like the idea that he wanted to be a horse. I have this idea that even as an adult he had the occasional gallop!

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    1. Isn't that quiddich (or something like that)? And he certainly had his moments as an adult -- although by the time he married my grandmother, he'd worked all that out of his system!

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  5. It is a lovely portrait, and an excellent description too.

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    1. I agree, Jo! He was a handsome guy, no doubt; and the pose is striking.

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  6. All the graduation photos had men in suits...so different today. I wonder i those part in the middle hair cuts followed some natural hair lines...some had them some didn't.

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    1. I remember him with a side part -- I think it was just a craze of the early 1900s. And I have to say, I miss the suits and ties!

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  7. Indeed a very handsome photo. Could that be his first real 3 piece suit? On my own son's graduation a few years ago I might have given him such a suit if I thought he would ever wear one. Alas, young men of today no longer need or desire the classic styles.

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    1. I never thought of that, Mike, but it very well could have been his first real three-piece suit! He was the oldest son (four brothers), so was the first high school graduate in the family; maybe it was a rite of passage. Thanks for the suggestion...

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  8. I can't remember the last time I saw a man in a three piece suit, I know my father had one, that I never saw him wear. It looks very smart on Tom.

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    1. I don't remember my father ever wearing one -- but both my grandfathers did, even during the summer months! I wish the fashion would come back, Bob...

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  9. What a handsome man indeed! A most interesting story into your family as well. Cribbage is a game that goes way back in our family too, and I even have my grandfather's old cribbage board!

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    1. What a great piece of history THAT is, Karen...I'm envious! I've got one of my father's, but not a single one that goes back more generations. May you always hold the right jack!

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  10. My, my, doesn't he look confident and ready to take on life. A special photograph that.

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    1. He does, doesn't he? I think the photographer was far ahead of his time...I've never seen another portrait like this one.

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  11. Such a lovely photo to make any mother proud. He looks so clear eyed and quietly confident.

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    1. Some might say he even looks a little too sure of himself. He was a wonderful man -- and I remember him with great affection.

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  12. I have to agree about his looks; I bet he made a few female hearts flutter. Such a confident stance too.

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    1. He was handsome 'til the end...lived into his 80s; wore suits all his life. He met my grandmother when they were both in their teens and never looked at another woman from then on!

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  13. A very nicely written tribute to your grandfather Deb.

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    1. Thank you so much! Everybody who contributes to Sepia Saturday has such great tributes to ancestors -- it's such a perfect way to become more familiar with them...and each other!

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