howdy today redheadpei! yes we have the proof of the Prairie Dog but not the gap teeth but then I've never seen a photo taken in the 1800's where the person was smiling have you? I'm glad you liked the story, she was a very unique character!
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Libby was a good looking woman and must have been healthy to live that long after all she went through. I can’t imagine that nut bar husband being much of a comfort although , as you mentioned, he did look quite respectable in the photo.
They always kept their mouth shut and looked serious in the old photos...guess they didn’t have two rows of gleaning white teeth seen in todays photos of movie & TV personalities.
Howdy tonight redheadpei! I was amazed that she lived so long so she had to have had good genes I think. As far as the no smiling in old photos goes this is what a Time magazine artcle says about that subject and I tend to agree.
"Experts say that the deeper reason for the lack of smiles early on is that photography took guidance from pre-existing customs in painting—an art form in which many found grins uncouth and inappropriate for portraiture. Though saints might be depicted with faint smiles, wider smiles were “associated with madness, lewdness, loudness, drunkenness, all sorts of states of being that were not particularly decorous,” says Trumble.
Accordingly, high-end studio photographers would create an elegant setting and direct the subject how to behave, producing the staid expressions which are so familiar in 19th century photographs. The images they created were formal and befitted the expense of paying to have a portrait made, especially when that portrait might be the only image of someone."