I’ve been working with a lot of very early campus images recently and it can get a little tedious looking at the same few buildings over and over. But I found myself charmed by this image taken sometime just before the formal opening in October, 1912:
The first thing I noticed, naturally enough, was the three men posed between the three arches. Then, the abandoned shovels in the right foreground. But finally my heart was stolen by the little white dog at the far left. (Click twice to get a good look at him.) He looks like a rascal to me and I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a lot of scraps for his lunch.
I would also note that that barren and rocky soil was probably actually conducive to the well being of the little cypress tree.
Bonus: Speaking of which, the current crop of Italian cypresses has been both alive and upright for quite a while but just last week things started to look a little bit . . . tippy.
First photo predates the Italian cypresses’ being taught to recline…
Must have taken quite some time to get the trick of it.
There appears to be another man hiding behind the third column (which also puts him behind the man with the tall hat and his shovel held out at his side)
Sure enough. I had missed him.
Looks like a pit bulldog to me. Just got back from Fort Davis, Marfa and Marathon, where I got iced in with no cell phone or wifi. Just now catching up.
Barney L. McCoy, Hanszen 67
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