Who Were They?

This unknown boy is using a nice bed tray to properly elevate his book for optimal reading posture. I have often wondered about the purpose of the photo. It is a matte print that reminds me of a professional photograph. Perhaps it was for an advertisement or magazine. From the time I found the photo to the moment I saw the prompt for this week’s Sepia Saturday, I kept thinking it reminded me of something, but I wasn’t sure just what. Finally it dawned on me that it reminds me of the Robert Louis Stevenson poem “The Land of Counterpane.”

When I was sick and lay a-bed,

I had two pillows at my head,

And all my toys beside me lay

To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so

I watched my leaden soldiers go,

With different uniforms and drills,

Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets

All up and down among the sheets;

Or brought my trees and houses out,

And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still

That sits upon the pillow-hill,

And sees before him, dale and plain,

The pleasant land of counterpane.

I always liked the imagery in the poem. Even as a child of the 1970s, I knew that a counterpane is a bed spread, that small boys used to play with toy soldiers, and that imagination could rescue you from boredom. I sometimes thought I would like a set of toy soldiers and trees and houses, but alas, that did not come to be.

For more introspection and images from around the world, click over to Sepia Saturday. You will be happy you did.