Life, 1885-08-13 · page 11 of 16
Life — August 13, 1885 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This page satirizes social pretension and class fraud at Saratoga Springs, a wealthy resort destination. The cartoon shows "Combination No. 13"—a "little girl" paired with a "green pear," likely a visual pun on unripe or immature things. The text describes "the Saunterer" (the magazine's recurring satirical character) posing as an English aristocrat ("Lord Cholmondeley Harcourt") at a hotel. Hotel staff immediately defer to him, assuming nobility grants social superiority. The satire mocks how easily wealth and pretense fool people—he gains credit, speaking invitations, and even gets his portrait copyrighted for advertising alongside famous personalities. The piece ridicules Saratoga's shallow culture: endless concerts, water-drinking obsession, and status-conscious society that treats transient wealthy guests better than permanent residents. The final joke about orchestras playing lowbrow songs ("Sweet Violets," "Whiskers on the Moon") highlights the gap between the resort's pretended sophistication and its actual entertainment quality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
or) ~ + abide. ALITTLE GIRL A GREEN PEAR, COMBINATION No. 13. COMBINATION. door with their whisks, and caused the clerk to feel sorry that any mistake had been made and promised to see to the com- fort of Mr.—er—ah? ‘Lord Cholmondeley Harcourt,” replied the SAUNTERER to this evident interrogation. Bang! went the bell. Front came a regiment of darkies, and seventeen rooms and a bath-tub were at the SAUNTERER'S disposal in five minutes. As he went to his apartment he overheard the words: “We don't ketch one of those noble fellers often, and when we do! Lord! what'll they say up at the Union!” Once accepted as a Lord, everything went along smoothly. Invitations poured in for days, and the SAUNTERER was seen in such good company, and was so cordially received at the Baptist Convention in the Town Hall, where he occupied a private box and made a speech advocating Free Trade in | water tanks, that he obtained all the credit in town he de- sired. In fact, money was found to be forthcoming, as his society was found to be so desirable at public gatherings that had he wished—and he frequently did—he could command his own price simply for looking in. Considerable revenue was likewise obtained because of a judicious remark made concerning one of the weters, which remark was copyrighted by the company owning “he spring, and attached to the SAUNTERER’S portrait, likewise purchased and copyrighted, to be scattered broadcast through the periodical literature of the land, along with those of the Rev. Henry Ward Langtry, Lillie Pinkham and Mrs, Lydia Beecher. The SAUNTERER’S friends objected to the copyrighting of portrait, but when it was placed before them as a permanent injunction against the insertion of the same in the Rogues’ Gallery, they were comforted. The main features of Saratoga life are the concerts, hops and water drinking. Every well regulated hotel gives at least seven concerts during the day, some of them even going through the formality of a waltz on the arrival of every train, so as to convince the newly arrived visitor that transient guests at war prices are more popular there than permanents at Starvation rates. The music, as a rule, is very simple and light, but matters have been so arranged here that the classically inclined may gratify his desires. While the United States Hotel orchestra is playing “Sweet Violets,” and the Grand Union band is rendering “ Whiskers on the Moon,” the lover of the classic can stand midway between the two, an infallible receipt for producing a Symphony Concert which will deceive the best tuned ear. comicbooks.com