Life, 1892-10-13 · page 13 of 14
Life — October 13, 1892 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a nostalgic poem by Harry Romaine lamenting the decline of a seaside resort, likely after World War I. The reference to "Teutonic throats" playing Wagner suggests German entertainers who would have been present before or during the war. The "spooks" in the title likely refers to ghosts—both literal and figurative. The beach resort that once bustled with summer romance and "Wagner airs" now stands abandoned and deteriorating: flower beds dead, pavilion decaying, grass overgrown. The speaker mourns his past two-week vacation with someone named Mabel, now replaced by only the "grim and pallid ghost" of that memory. This appears to be post-WWI commentary on how war disrupted leisure, tourism, and civilian life. The abandoned resort—with its German entertainment—symbolizes the loss of pre-war gaiety and normalcy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LEFT TO THE SPOOKS. A® what a change! The hotel stands ; An empty barn, deserted ;— And looks across the barren sands, Where summer lovers flirted. A howling waste of barren beach. Forsaken by the million, The hungry arms of ocean reach. The gaudy red pavilion Where once the band’s Teutonic throats, Blew Wagner airs before us, Now sounds the deeper, grander notes, Of ocean's winter chorus. The flower beds are choked and dead, The beach has changed and shifted : “Keep off the Grass,” is dimly read, Where restless sands have drifted And on the broad piazza where, I used to sit with Mabel, There stands a weather-beaten chair, A seamed and worn-out table. And leaning up against a post, In that once dear location, I see the grim and pallid ghost, Of my two weeks vacation ! Harry Romaine. comicbooks.com