Life — April 5, 1900 — page 15: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This illustration depicts an elegant ball scene satirizing hypocrisy among the upper classes. The dialogue suggests Mrs. Mashery is "an awfully good woman" who behaves impeccably in society—except she "flirts outrageously." The punchline reveals the specific target of her impropriety: "only with the clergy." The satire mocks both the woman's selective morality and implicitly critiques the clergy's vulnerability to flattery. For a Gilded Age audience, this highlighted the tension between the pious public image expected of "respectable" society women and their actual behavior, while also suggesting that clergymen were susceptible to worldly temptations despite their vows. The joke relies on the audience understanding that such behavior was considered scandalous but somewhat tolerated if confined to "appropriate" targets.