Life, 1884-05-15 · page 3 of 16
Life — May 15, 1884 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "At the Ninety-Ninth Century Club" This satirical cartoon depicts an upper-class social gathering mocking the "Ninety-Ninth Century Club," described as promoting "fusion of fashion with intellect." The scene ridicules pretentious intellectualism among the wealthy. The caption introduces Mr. Norridgewood, whose "seller has taken a prize at the recent Dog Show" and who "drives a dog cart"—absurd qualifications for intellectual society. Another figure has written a book on "Suppositious Generalities" and their "Bearing on Hypothetical Relativities," lampooning academic pseudointellectualism and jargon. The satire targets the contradiction between claimed intellectual pursuits and actual shallow social climbing, suggesting that wealthy individuals use pseudo-intellectual pretense to justify exclusive club membership while their credentials are trivial or nonsensical.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AT THE NINETY-NINTH CENTURY CLUB, AN ASSOCIATION TENDING TO THE MORE COMPLETE FUSION OF FASHION WITH INTELLECT. Miss Blowsenbury (admiringly): Ow! 1s rus the Mr. NorRIDGEWoop ? Mr, Norridgewood, whose setter has taken a prise at the recent Dog Show, and who drives a dog cart (modestly): WELL, A—AHEM—A—YES ! (Disgust of the real the Mr. Norridgewood standing near by, who has written a book on Suppositious Generalities t1 their Bearing on Hypothetical Relativities” and expects to address the Club at the next meeting.) TO A VASSAR GRADUATE. RAMERCY, and marry come up! Why should ITTLE Bas-bleu, don't blow your horn; rf an aged and unwedded Sage seek to become a You can’t make a pudding, I dare to be sworn. Presidential candidate ? It’s not for a housewife—so to speak— To flunk at dinner through reading Greek. Hicu art—The labors of the hanging committee, comicbooks.com