Life — May 13, 1886 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "A Distinction" This cartoon depicts a church wedding scene where two women converse in the pews. The caption presents a joke about language and social propriety: **Mrs. B.** warns that poor Clara should not "sell herself to that wheezy old skeleton" (a disparaging reference to her prospective groom). **Mrs. A.** corrects her, insisting "it is not a sale; only a lease." The satire mocks the mercenary nature of marriage in high society, where women's unions were often financial transactions. The "lease" versus "sale" distinction is darkly humorous—both imply Clara has no genuine agency, only temporary or permanent ownership. The elderly groom's physical unattractiveness ("wheezy old skeleton") reinforces the critique that such marriages were purely economic arrangements rather than romantic partnerships, particularly disadvantaging women.