Saturday, August 29, 2009
I think these first two represent the beginning of a journey. The one on the left is titled “Bear Lake,” which is somewhere around 25 miles north and west of Boulder. The one on the right is titled “Aspens.” I think these two were likely part of their “inventory” when they hit the road.
The Page’s weren’t novice travelers. Soon after they moved from Kansas to Colorado, he and Ethel joined the Chautauqua circuit. Think of it as educational Vaudeville. Ethel did dramatic readings and such, while Willard gave talks on various subjects as he made chalk drawings on a big board. Back then, they were known as “Chalk Talks.” They traveled all over the Midwest on the circuit. Teddy Roosevelt call it “the most American thing in America.”
Anyhow . . . Ethel was stricken with severe arthritis, and their lives changed as her condition worsened.
