Judge, 1915-05-22 · page 11 of 24
Judge — May 22, 1915 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This story satirizes a wealthy bachelor's misguided courtship. Minturn Honeyman, a privileged man who's lived selfishly for forty years, finally decides to marry after his longtime valet Jimson retires, leaving him helpless. Rather than courting an age-appropriate woman, Honeyman pursues young Miss Agatha Golightly, reasoning that a young wife would be more pleasant company than an older woman. The title "Catching a Tartar" refers to the idiom meaning to encounter someone unexpectedly formidable or difficult to handle. The satire targets Honeyman's entitled assumptions: his belief he can easily manipulate "the sex" despite knowing nothing of actual women, and his self-serving logic that a younger woman should accept him based on his wealth and sophistication. Miss Golightly's unexpected "frankness" suggests she won't be the compliant, decorative wife he imagines—implying his comeuppance.
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N G By J. Cc A T C H ae MINTURN HONEYMAN at iast wearied of bachelorhood. * Fortune had been kind to him, giving him a magnificent in- heritance, and he had taken advantage of hi nse to live as he pleased. He pleased to live the life which goes on the theory that just as much flame in a candle that burns at both ends as in the candle that burns at one end only. an had always laughed at matrimony as a rather need- less restriction and ignored the duty he owed to posterity. He awoke to the reality of his state when Jimson, his faithful valet for more thar, thirty years, left him by the universal route. Jimson, a model of servility, hadn't been fully appreciated by his master, who assumed the right to treat him exactly as a valet should be treated to keep him servile. But when Jimson departed, Honeyman was like a boat lacking a steering device. His growing infirmities emphasized Jimson’s care-taking solicitudes. And some A WALDRON T A RT A R forty years after he should have considered matrimony as an insti- tution, Honeyman resolved to marry. One seldom sees an old man marching to the altar with an old woman. Honeyman, with all his sophistication, argued with him- self—he didn’t care to argue with any one else—that he deserved a young wife because he had never before looked at the yoke with a personal interest Besides, a young wife would be a more agree- able companion than a woman of age and fixed—possibly of dis- agreeable—habits. Casting his eye about, Honeyman decided upon Miss Agatha Golightly as the desired party. She was a vital creature, alive to all the possibilities of social enjoyment. It was a simple matter for him to propose. He knew the sex like a book. Yet the young woman staggered him a bit by her frankness, Honeyman called on Miss Golightly in fine spirits for one of comicbooks.com