On this All Souls' Day, two little souls who enjoyed Prospect Park long ago, and were captured on a summer day in a photo that wound up in a stereoview card set.
The park was featured often in these sets (the predecessors to ViewMasters and IMAX 3-D), testifying to its magnitude as a tourist attraction. The ghostly figures, fixed forever in the distant past on my same familiar and beloved park spots, often remind me of my favorite lines from Dead Poet's Society:
They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of
hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is
their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like
many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait
until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what
they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now
fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them
whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? - -
Carpe - - hear it? - - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your
lives extraordinary.
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