Life — March 31, 1887 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Tea Plague" This is a title page for a section called "Tea Plague." The illustration depicts a social scene, likely satirizing Victorian or Edwardian-era tea culture. A man reclines lounging in a chair while several fashionably-dressed women attend to him—appearing to serve or entertain. The screen behind them suggests an interior domestic setting. The satire likely mocks the social rituals and excessive formality surrounding afternoon tea gatherings among the upper classes, or possibly critiques the idle leisure of wealthy men who are waited upon by women. Without additional context from the magazine's date and surrounding articles, the specific "plague" being satirized—whether it's social affectation, gender dynamics, or class pretension—remains somewhat unclear, though the exaggerated postures suggest mockery of affected behavior.