Life, 1889-06-13 · page 1 of 16
Life — June 13, 1889 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Delicate Shades" - Life Magazine, June 13, 1889 This cartoon satirizes social hypocrisy among the upper classes. The scene depicts a gentleman (Boston Flathers) encountering a woman of questionable reputation (Miss Luckeigh) at what appears to be a formal social gathering. The joke centers on social pretense: Flathers claims he no longer speaks to "the common herd," yet he encounters Miss Luckeigh—apparently someone he previously associated with but now must acknowledge in public. Her response, "Why certainly, Mr. Flathers, how do you do?"—delivered with pointed politeness—exposes his snobbishness as hollow. The title "Delicate Shades" references the carefully maintained social distinctions among the wealthy, while the cartoon mocks how fragile and ridiculous these class boundaries actually are.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XIII. NEW. YORK, JUNE.a3, fato. NUMBER 337. Entered at the New York Post Office as S Mail Matter. Copyright, 1889, by Mirchi DELICATE SHADES. Bonton Flathers, Esq.: 1 SUPPOSE YOU DON'T SPEAK TO THE COMMON HERD ANY MORE, Miss LUCKEIGH ? Miss Luckeigh (who has just realized largely): WHY CERTAINLY, MR. FLATHERS, HOW DO YOU DO? comicbooks.com