Well, we are well into summer now, so I suppose this would be a good time to discuss hammocks. Hammocks have a role of their own to play in the postcard world. Despite the occasional reference to hammocks used by those who go down to the sea in ships, and the occasional vacationer beset my mosquitoes while sitting in a hammock, hammocks were for lovers. And by that, I do not mean people who wanted to sit next to each other and hold hands.
Take the couple at the top of this column, secure in silhouette on a modest hammock. Being told that a grass widow isn’t green lets us know that this is the wife of somebody who is far away, and she knows what she’s getting into when she gets into a hammock
A fabric swing that was also widely used as a bed carried with it certain possibilities, though this friendly couple would be well-advised to note the one-person dimensions of their hammock and the condition of their trees before moving to another stage of this relationship. (Er, is it my imagination, or is she studying his shoe?)
The romance of the hammock was something which could go on into one’s golden years, even if the local wildlife is watching,
A cartoonist, of course, could get away with a lot, of course. This couple have taken up a romantic pose in a hammock of good size held up by reasonably solid trees. One should not allow questions like how two people small enough to fit into a hammock in this position were able to climb up that far in the first place, and, judging from their expressions, whether they wouldn’t be too exhausted at this point in the date to wave a fan need not get in the way. (Just as a side note, to distract you from the slanderous suggestion I just made about this pair, fans were, at this point, considered almost inseparable from hammocks: all part of the general association with those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.)
Only rarely did an artist consider such nagging propositions as gravity. This artist has noticed not only what happens to the hammock when a couple get into it, but what can happen with the couple, but this is generally left to the mind of the reader.
Postcards which went in for photography over cartooning had to deal with such matters. Take a look at how much more there is to this hammock than most of the drawn versions, and how this couple is burdening it.
The reality of physical science as it related to summer romance could not be dismissed with a few brush strokes. Of course, romance in a hammock was not a mere cartoon frivolity, so obviously there were ways to enjoy oneself even if one WAS three-dimensional.
Not every hammock in creation could be suspended three feet off the ground. All you needed was enough clearance to swing, as we can see with this down to earth couple.
Speaking of which….
Blogsy Babbles 