There were no playground facilities in the working-class section of the city no swimming pools, no hockey rinks, no community clubs. The city assumed no obligation to provide recreational facilities. There was little time for aimless play anyway. Adolescence was a luxury of the middle class. All members of the immigrant family were expected to contribute to the struggle for survival. The children in this photograph, taken in 1904, are gathering wood for the family's fuel supply. It was usually collected along the CPR tracks which formed the southern boundary of the North End.
