Good Morning, Manchester

We were in an old, renovated mill in Machester (New Hampshire) on Saturday evening.  This building is the site of a museum called "The Millyard," where an old textile mill has been partially restored so we can all try to imagine Manchester in the glory years of the Industrial Revolution.  Some manufacture-enthusiast - probably one of the tycoons - was quoted, in a plaque in the museum, gushing that Manchester, with is massive textile output, generated through power from the Merrimack River, was becoming a "veritable Manchester [England].

In any case, the children and I were looking at this huge picture - black and white, of course - blown up into a poster mural, probably dating back to something like the turn of the century.  The subject of the picture seemed to be a classroom at recess - a huge collection of children, pretty much all of the boys looking like the artful dodger from Oliver Twist, right down to the cap.  There were plenty of girls as well, and an extremely matronly, tall lady of about 45 standing over them; looking at her, there's no question who was in charge.
The children were curious about the picture, and asked me when it was taken; my guess at the time was 1910 or 1920.  So Daniel asked whether any of them were alive.  I hemmed and hawed and concluded that a few of them still be alive.  But then Ian found a far better way of clarifying their status:

"In other words, they might still be alive, but if they are, then they're on 'Good Morning America."

I loved that quip, and I just assumed he had heard it on TV or something - it seemed a bit too perfect to originate with a ten-year-old.  But when I asked him where that category came from, he said something like, "Well, I know there are a lot of old people on Good Morning America."


(November 9, 2013)