Musical accompaniment: Ain’t No Tellin’ by Mississippi John Hurt

 

 

I recently talked to an old friend who told me she has a new job where the pace is slower. Her job has always required her to rush around and keep up with people and support their various projects. I asked her how she liked a slower pace. Was she bored?

“Oh no, I love it,” she told me. “It’s nice to take your time.”

These pictures from turn of the century Mississippi seem to be from another world where everyone took their time.

Here’s the Purviance Bros. Auto Shop in 1900 on W. Peace Street in Canton.

A rare titled photograph from 1901, “Memory Fills The Pews.” Have you ever seen a church with a chandelier?

The Old Methodist Church, pictured in 1913. It’s not clear if this church is the same as the 1901 interior directly above it.  It looks old even in 1913.

The last three photographs are portraits of unnamed subjects taken by Martha Matsy Wynn Richards in 1918.

An older man with a white beard.  I have trouble with the expression on his face. It’s not a smile exactly…maybe watchful? He reminded me very much of another man with a long white beard whose picture we once examined. They give me the same feeling. I wouldn’t ever feel comfortable with either of them.

Older man with glasses, smoking a pipe.

 

This feeling of time slowed down like molasses can be very appealing!