Life, 1897-09-02 · page 9 of 20
Life — September 2, 1897 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "At Trinity" — A Poem About Peggy's Sunday Hat This page presents a poem (signed "M.L.W.") celebrating a woman's fashionable hat worn to church at Trinity. The illustrated vignettes show church scenes: worshippers in a pew, a gentleman admiring a woman, and church architecture with bells. The satire is gentle social commentary on Victorian/Edwardian fashion obsession. The poem jokes that "Peggy's Sunday hat" — with its "airy wings outspread" and "Rosettes" — is so eye-catching it distracts from religious observance. Men lose focus during services; the narrator's "heart grows warm" seeing the wearer. The hat matters more than piety. This reflects *Life* magazine's recurring theme mocking how ornate women's hats dominated public attention and church etiquette of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
At Trinity. BURST of airy wings outspread, Rosettes (she calls them choux), A bit of lace, a fluff of tulle, An artful bud or two To match the pinky bloom that sweeps a Across her check, and that, The essence of simplicity, Is Peggy's Sunday hat! When bravely down the aisle it goes In time for morning prayer, What envy pouts upon the lips Of every rival fair! And who can wonder that the chants Are sung a trifle flat, With all the choir looking straight At Peggy's Sunday hat? I, sitting in the pew behind, Through sermon, psalm and hymn, Am baffled by the curve and droop Of that provoking brim. I long to brush my finger-tips, In one audacious pat, Across the rippled hair half-hid By Peggy's Sunday hat. ¥ ‘3 ly But patience! When the bells ring out To set the crowd astir, And in the porch a flock of lads Waits for a smile from her, For me she has a glance so shy My heart grows warm thereat, And homeward walks my London tile With Peggy's Sunday hat. MEW. comicbooks.com