Life, 1893-01-05 · page 11 of 60
Life — January 5, 1893 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "5 P.M." — Afternoon Tea Culture Satire This page satirizes the social ritual of "afternoon tea" in Edwardian high society. The upper illustration shows a crowded, chaotic gathering of fashionably dressed socialites arriving at what appears to be an exclusive tea event — coaches and elegantly dressed attendees "flocking up the stairs, now by two, now by three." The poem mocks this scene as superficial: guests are described as "light-hearted" but "heedless of care," their chatter empty of substance. The lower vignette contrasts this with an intimate domestic scene — two people by a cozy fire, suggesting genuine comfort. The satire's point: the fashionable afternoon tea social event is pretentious and hollow, whereas a simple, honest tea at home is "the only real way to take afternoon tea." It critiques upper-class affectation through gentle mockery of social pretension.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HERE Of damsels half-smothered in velvet and fur; All blooming and dimpled, some gentle, some proud, A light-hearted, happy, ##souciante crowd; Who flock up the stairs, now by two, now by three, ‘To join in the revel of afternoon tea. a rumble of coaches outside, and a stir Thro’ the mellowing dusk of the candle-lit room, A faint scent drifts out as of roses in bloom, A clinking of china, a snatch of a song Caught up by a fiddle and Aoated along: A current of chatter for Fashion's decree Keeps tongues on the wag at an afternoon tea With jesting and laughter they come and they go. A flippant procession of Beauty and Beau; ‘Their jests and their gossip enliven the air So empty of earnest, so heedless of care, at all the gay spirits amongst them agree The more make the merrier afternoon tea. | ; But I am far wiser t n they, for I feel That a cosy wood fire stirred up to reveal Two chairs and a table drawn into the glow, And Polly to pour out the fragrant Pekoe. The pink cup for her, and the white one for me, Is the only real way to take afternoon teal W/E. IW, comicbooks.com