Life, 1894-08-09 · page 12 of 14
Life — August 9, 1894 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "In the Country" - Life Magazine Satire This page satirizes American boarding house culture and social pretension. The main text mocks the genteel pretenses of middle-class summer boarders who, despite claiming respectability, are largely composed of "persons whom it is desirable not to know." The author catalogues petty disputes—children fighting, wives quarreling, husbands trading insults—that escalate through the entire household. The humor lies in the contradiction between their affected civility (polite insults about being "no gentleman") and their actual behavior. The bottom cartoon, "Not of the 400," references the social elite ("the 400" being New York's upper class). An "Indignant Mother" warns her children away from the cat next door, joking it "has no license"—a witty jab at the disreputable, unlicensed status of the boarding house residents themselves, comparing them to an unregistered animal.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
> LIFE: IN THE COUNTRY. SN passant, the house where we are boarding this summer is situated in a beautiful val- ley and commands a delightful prospect of the surrounding hills which shut it in closely and temper the climate so benefi- cently that it is seldom more than ten or fifteen degrees warmer than in New York. Mosquitoes are unknown here. At least the landlord does not recognize them, though most of the rest of us have a table @hote acquaintance with them; to which we contrib- ute the fable d'hote. The favorite amusement of the boarders is sitting on the piazza in the evening and arguing as to whether we feel a breeze or not, and listening to the voices of the children wrangling on the tennis court or crying upstairs as they are being put to bed. For children are admitted here as freely as in Heaven. Though if Heaven resembles our boarding house in other respects, 1 know one grumpy individual who humbly hopes he will be permitted to go where there are no children and his meals will be served hot, But it must not be thought we are lacking in other amuse- ments. Once a week we have progressive Salmagundi parties with ice cream and dancing. And almost every hour rows occur among the children which naturally involve the parents, and gradually spread until all the house is arrayed on one side or the other and the excitement kept at the boiling point. Of course when Mamie Briggs hits little Tommy Johnson with a croquet mallet, or Charlie Noakins bats stones with Sarah Billings’ tennis racquet trouble is bound to follow. And after the wives and mothers have exhausted their vocabularies on each other, the husbands have to take a hand in the game. When. Mr. Briggs, in a moment of supreme and un- controllable wrath, tells Mr. Johnson that he is no gentle- man, he.merely states a plain and undeniable fact which is patent to all of us and con- veys no insult. And when Mr. Johnson retorts in equally polished language, we feel that the matter is conclusively settled and that no bloodshed islikely to follow. For it must be sadly ad- mitted that the society at our boarding house is largely composed of persons whom ‘it is desirable not to know. Not all of them, however, TESTIMONIAL. Dear Sir: After the first bottle of your medicine was gone, I slept bet- ter. Samuel Shott, announce their real status with the frankness of the young fellow who wears a gaudy red, white and blue hat band. The courage with which he carries this warning insignia of his social and mental unfitness would commend him to universal respect if he had any other virtues speaking of. It is true there is old Mr, Bonder, a Wall Street mag- nate of the most undoubted respectability and great geniality, but he is going to leave to-morrow, because he objects to his pretty young wife sitting in a hammock until eleven o'clock in the evening with any available one of a set of college boys who are honoring us with their noisy presence. In fact, the number of infantile and marital troubles which are continually arising amorig us should serve as a sad and unmistakable object lesson to those contemplating matrimony, But this lesson is unobserved by a number of foolish young persons who seem.afflicted with the proverbial blindness of love, both in regard to that matter and also when they are intently spooning in what they imagine to be dim and secluded corners. But on the whole, we form a thoroughly harmonious and pleasant company, and when we sit on the piazza in the evening, those of us who are on speaking terms debate as to the existence of a hypothetical breeze, and all of us, without regard to age, sex, or social standing, slap mosquitoes and commiserate the poor devils who are cooped up and tied down in the city within easy reach of Coney Island and the roof gardens and all the indispensable comforts and luxuries of the metropolis. Harry Romaine. worth THE PERILS OF PARENTAGE. OUNG WIFE: Oh, George, there’s smallpox in town they say. should catch it! YOUNG HUSBAND: By Jove! I hadn't thought of that. Let's go and both be vaccinated right away. What in the world would we do if baby NOT OF THE 400. Indignant Mother : DON'T YOU EVER DARE TO PLAY WITH THE CAT NEXT DOOR AGAIN, YOU KNOW VERY WELL THAT SHE HAS NO LICE: comicbooks.com