Life, 1890-07-31 · page 3 of 16
Life — July 31, 1890 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page (Volume XVI, Number 256) The page announces Ward McAllister's manuscript "Society as I Have Found It" will be published by Cassell Publication Company. The text sarcastically criticizes McAllister as a social arbiter of New York's fashionable society, suggesting his writing lacks substance—merely documenting an "absolute unimportance and lack of influence in matters of any moment." The main cartoon depicts a well-dressed couple in conversation. The caption reads: "He: Won't you marry me if your father consents? She: No; but I will providing you aunt doesn't object." This joke satirizes the absurd social hierarchies of elite society, where an aunt's approval supposedly carries more weight than a father's consent—mocking the arbitrary nature of high-society rules and etiquette that McAllister documented.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME NUMBER 366. A NEW AUTHOR. is announced that the manu- pt of Mr. Ward McAllister’s “ Society as | Have Found It,” has been placed in the hands of his publishers, the Cassell Publication Company. It will be issued with a portrait of its author made froma recent photograph, We are afraid Mr. Ward Mc- Allister’s friends have played him a cruel trick, That he should take himself seriously is not surprising ; all animate objects have the same tendency; but that his friends should allow him to run his head into print is much to be regretted. When one considers the “ society" of which Mr. McAllister writes, that is, New York fashionable society, its absolute unimportance and lack of influence in matters of any moment, it is difficult to speculate upon what its historian can write about. .Al- though Mr. McAllister is not con- sidered a gentleman of unusual intellect, his microscopic eye may enable him to compile a volume that will create a flutter among his femi- nine admirers, Violet. ern Jasg NE owing Pr sler Top, He: WON'T YOU MARRY ME IF YOUR FATHER CONSENTS ? She: No; BUTT WILL PROVIDING YOUR RICH AUNT DOESN'T OFJECT. comicbooks.com