Life, 1891-04-16 · page 8 of 14
Life — April 16, 1891 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Mountain Climbers" - Life Magazine This page features a comedic sketch about mountain climbing presented as a fashionable social activity. The scene depicts Miss Maud Modern and Mr. Freddy Twooley at a conservatory reception, where Miss Maud enthusiastically describes the thrills of mountain climbing—its "glorius views" and "sense of triumph." The joke becomes clear in subsequent dialogue: Mr. Twooley reveals his climbing experience involved crossing the Atlantic and subsequent mishaps (losing his glass, getting "beastly tamed"). The satire mocks the era's nouveau riche pretensions and fashionable pursuits among the upper class, where people boast of adventurous activities that prove laughably trivial or exaggerated. The accompanying illustration of a horse-drawn carriage humorously undercuts any claims of genuine adventure among this elite set.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS. A fashionable re- Ses : ception, Miss Maud Modern and Mr. Weally Twooley, having strayed into the conservatory, are seated on a rustic bench, behind a mass of ferns and palms, Miss MAUD MODERN (smpul- sively): 1 dote on mountain- climbing—it's so grand! Such splendid exercise, such glorious views, Such thrilling sense of triumph, when you plant ‘‘GETTING INTO A VERY BAD STATE.” * LIFE- JERSEY CITY Of the famed Appalachian brother- hood ? Mr. TWOoLey (complacently): I have the honah. Miss MAuD (as#de) : undone! MR. TWOOLEY (continuing, with some animation) : Bah Jove, a woyal club! a clevah set-— All thowoughbweds, y’ know. Such spweads in town! Such hops at Fabyan’s, and the Calumet ! Such wides on tally-hos ! Miss MauD (aside, désgustedly) The impious clown ! Well, Iam ON THE WAY TO THE STATION. Grandpa: WILL BRING IT OUT, Freddy (who ts precocious): Yes, 1 DISCOVERED THAT WHEN I WAS CROSSING THE ATLANTIC. YES, IT'S A GOOD THING FOR A BOY TO TRAVEL, FREDDY; IT DEVELOPS HIM. IF HE HAS ANYTHING IN HIM, TRAVEL On some gray giant's cap your saucy shoes, And while the roaring wind sweeps round you, stand Like tiny gnat upon an elephant! O, Mr. Twooley, can’t you sympathize ? You climb, I know—I see it in your eyes! MR. WEALLY TWOOLEY (¢angutdly): Aw, yes; a little. Miss Maup: Did you ever go Up Washington—by bridle-path, you know, Along that narrow ridge ‘twixt vale and vale, Great gulfs of air, the bristling woods below, And fitful mists that up the mountain sail ? I know you have! You—— Mr. TwooLey: Beg wecent—I wode up, by caw. Miss Maup (aséde): By car! yet I understood— Perhaps misunderstood—that you were one pawdon—aw—My twip was Indeed! (Aloud) And (To him) And don't you ever climb? Mr. TWOOLEY: Some fellahs do— I don’t. Such howid, tiahsome work, y’ know ! I twied it once—got pebbles in me shoe, And toah me gloves, and wipped me togs in two, And fell into a bwook where hop-toads gwow, And lost me glass, and got so beastly tiahed, When I weturned I weally most expiahed ! Miss MauD (aséde, and striving hard to control herself): Poor fellow! (Aloud) Ah! the music—I must go; My partner would not find me here. Adieu! Mr. TWOOLEY (résing, and proffering his arm): Permit me! Miss Maup (archly) : Thanks—but it would é/re you so— A horrid climb (she vanishes up the conservatory steps) for one like you! Paul Pastnor.