Life, 1898-04-21 · page 7 of 20
Life — April 21, 1898 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "A Devotee to the Higher Culture" This satirical piece mocks pretentious intellectualism. The scene shows a man and woman in an elegant interior, where she's absorbed in a book while he attempts romantic advances. The humor centers on her pompous declaration that they must maintain "an atmosphere of the purely intellectual" and cultivate "Higher Culture" to elevate themselves above ordinary people. The satire targets those who use intellectual posturing as a shield against genuine human connection and emotion. Her repeated references to "the inmost, stirring after the perfection of the intellectual and spiritual" contrast absurdly with the mundane domestic moment—she's rejecting his kiss in the name of abstract sophistication. The joke: "culture" becomes an excuse for emotional coldness and social pretension.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“It should be our mission to create an atmosphere of the purely intellectual.” A Devotee to the Higher Culture. E was waiting for her when she returned from her club. He watched her coming down the street with three other fair devotees, and, unseen, he smiled down on them as they stood on the broad pavement, chat- ting in their eager, girlish voice shining with excitement and cl glowing. It must have becn an unusually inter- esting meeting. Twice, at least, she essayed to leave them and was drawn back, and the busy hum continued. Then, finally, with a wave of her hand, she rin lightly up the steps, and he could hear her voice in the hall below. It was some moments before she en- tered, and then the fire had died from her eyes, though her color still remained, She gave him her hand somewhat coldly. you mustn't,” she ex postulated, ew back hastily as he bent to kiss her. ‘ Well, only this once, anyway. “Like Rip Van Winkle,” he laughed. “But what is it, dear? Have I offended you? Are— “No,” she interrupted him, seating herself at a safe distance and toying with a book. ‘‘I—that is, we girls,” confusedly. ** Aha!” he smiled, and his brows re- laxed. ‘‘I see; you maidens of the Higher Culture are going to rise supe- rior to the amenities of life. As the boys would say, you are going to ‘swear off.’ “Yes,” she replied, her dimples re turning; ‘‘you don't put it nicely, but I'm glad you understand. You sce, Madame gave us a very fine talk to. day about keeping ourselves superior to these—these familiariti hesitatingly. ing, for instance,” he suggested. “Yes,” consciously, ‘and every- thing of that kind, She says that we ought to be so interested in other thing: higher things—the culture of the inmost; striving after the perfection of the in tellectuai and spiritual—that we shall have no thought of these thin: Her eyes had a far-away expression. ‘*It should be our mission,” she con- tinued, gravely referring to her tiny comicbooks.com