Life — August 19, 1886 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Limited Instructions" - Life Magazine, August 19, 1886 This domestic comedy sketch satirizes class distinctions and servant employment in the 1880s. A new butler, uncertain about his duties, receives confusing instructions from a lady of the house: he should admit the Misses Smith if they call, but *not* admit Mrs. Brown—unless the lady's name is actually Mrs. Jones, in which case he should defer to her judgment about which visitors to accept. The humor lies in the butler's bewilderment facing these contradictory, socially-coded rules about which callers warrant admission. The joke mocks both the arbitrary social hierarchies governing Victorian households and the difficulty servants faced navigating their employers' intricate social pretensions and petty distinctions between acceptable and unacceptable visitors.