Life, 1899-04-27 · page 8 of 20
Life — April 27, 1899 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page 360 from Life Magazine This page features a formal portrait of **the Empress of Japan** wearing an ornate crown, veil, and decorated robe—presenting her as refined and culturally elevated. The accompanying verse romanticizes Japanese women as aesthetically superior, suggesting they will "achieve in time" and "bring the Japanese girls to lime" (likely "limelight"). **"The World's Progress"** section contains gossipy social commentary about American high society—mentions of the Brassey family, Harvard connections, and scandalous behavior (drunk riding into drawing rooms, infidelity). The satire contrasts idealized Japanese femininity and imperial dignity against the crude, dissolute behavior of American aristocrats, mocking American society's pretensions to superiority while simultaneously exoticizing Japan.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE EMPRESS OF JAPAN. ER object all sublime, Sho will achieve in time, And bring the Japanese girls to time, The Japanese girls to time, The World’s Progress. j R. and Mrs. Double- 2 , dollar Brassey will WA, send their son to Har. = £~* card. Harvard has been SS sonotified. Mrs. Brassey is a daughter of the Hon, C. C. Futrents and a N cousin of Earnest Klymer, who mar- ried a Pusher. The family, as a whole, And make cach Japanese gent To Parisian gowns consent, And keop his wife in a corset pent, His wife in a corset pent. make a very strong team, They all admit that fashionable society in America is not sufliciently exclusive. Heritage Doolittle and Charley Four- inhand recently rode their horses into the drawing-room of Mrs. Leeds The. gang. Both were drunk. Boys will be boys. Heritage is thirty-nine. Charley is forty-two, Mrs. Rrobynssonne Jjones has ceased calling upon Mrs. Browne Ttayleure. But Mrs. Jjenkynns Skynneure is still on friendly theurmes with her. ‘There is probably no truth in the report that J. Frederic Demutton has given up food. Why should he? His mother was one of the Long Island Dryvers, and the Dryvers have always been fash- jonable as everybudy knows—that is, everybody who is anybody. Mrs 0. Watchus-Watcbus appeared in ber new sables on Thursday. She removes them at mealtime. Cttes are made, not born. aT HOME. Ccomicbooks.com