in fairness a 28-with-a-6-year-old is the traddest wife for an uncertain but educated young man pushing middle age

(they called them “widows” back then)

(they had shit for forensics though)

Woltze’s 1874 “The Irritating Gentleman”

I think I’ve said before, but that style of hat, of pipe, of grooming absolutely meant at the time what “fedora neckbeard vaper” would today and the girl’s mourning dress and carpetbag suggest she’s vulnerable in limbo relocating after the death of her provider