Life, 1888-09-06 · page 10 of 14
Life — September 6, 1888 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Suggestions for Polo" - Life Magazine, August 30, 1888 This page contains advice on organizing a polo club, addressed to C. Vanderbilt Smith by the Sporting Editor of Life. The two illustrations at top labeled "A Tale of the Orient" show mounted players in polo action. The satirical content concerns the class divisions in polo: the editor advises that membership be divided into "combatants and non-combatants," with combatants playing while non-combatants pay the bills. The humor targets wealthy elites organizing exclusive sports clubs—mocking how some members fund the activity without participating. The editor also jokes about buying polo ponies cheaply from New York railroads and notes that Shetland ponies, though small, work well for aesthetics. The satire gently pokes fun at the financial and social pretensions surrounding polo club organization among the wealthy.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A TALE OF THE ORIENT. SUGGESTIONS FOR POLO. SCRAGGY-PINES-ON-SCHUYLKILL, Aug. 30, 1888. Y DEAR SIR,—Some of our set wish to organize a polo club, and would be awfully indebted to you for any assistance you Yours sincerely, C. VANDERBILT SoiTH, can give us in the matter. To the Sporting Editor of Live. In the first place, dear Mr. Smith, the Sporting Editor, as you term him, wishes your note had been a little more explicit. You do not say, for instance, in what form you will be “awfully indebted” to the Sporting Editor. Will the in- debtedness be in negotiable shape, like a sixty-day note with interest, or debenture bonds, or will it be simply an I O U, written on the back of one of your visiting cards, and pay- able at the pleasure of the maker? Inquiry at Bradstreet's develops the fact that you are a minor and not engaged in business, so you will pardon this curiosity. Again, you ask the assistance of the Sporting Editor, but do not state what form you expect that assistance to take. If you expect it to be of a pecuniary nature you will be gently, but firmly, denied, as the Sporting Editor has been backing his own tips at the Monmouth Park races, and is behind the game. He can assist no one outside of his own im- mediate family, and as he is a bachelor and an orphan, you will understand what this means. Of good advice, however, he has an unlimited store, which is entirely at your disposal. In organizing a polo club, it is customary to divide the membership into two classes—combatant and non-com- batant. The combatants play the game and the non-com- batants pay the bills. When enough non-combatants have been lured in on the theory that it is “the swell thing” to be a member of a polo club, you will start in to buy the ponies. The Shetland pony has been found too picturesque for this use. The sight of a number of two-hundred-and-fifty-pound men, clad in striped shirts and madly galloping about a polo field on Shetland ponies is apt to give asthetic spectators the chills and fever. You will find it more economical to buy your polo ponies from the New York street railroad companies. Some really excellent bargains may be had by purchasing in this way. The ponies may seem a little bit large, but after they have been clipped, docked and banged, they will do very well. It may be, Mr. Smith, that in this reply some things con- cerning polo have been omitted. If so, and your thirst for information is not entirely slaked, come again. LIFE main- tains its Sporting Department regardless of expense, and you will find the Editor always on tap. Metcalfe. comicbooks.com