Life, 1905-11-16 · page 18 of 30
Life — November 16, 1905 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical article mocks the literary establishment's attempt to separate itself from corrupt financiers by creating a separate "annex." The joke centers on prominent authors of the era—**Hall Caine, Marie Corelli, Henry James, and Gertrude Atherton**—who become candidates for "patron saints" of this new retreat. The satire highlights **Hall Caine's self-promotion**, shown distributing posters of himself, which ironically secures Henry James and Gertrude Atherton's election instead. The cartoons depict these literary figures as absurdly self-important: Caine portrayed as an egotistical promoter, and a woman (likely representing one of the female authors) as angelic but vapid. The article also mocks **Mary Baker Eddy** (founder of Christian Science), sarcastically praising her for admission based on her hymns being *excluded* from Methodist hymnals—inverting expected standards. The overall point: despite claims of moral superiority, the literary elite are just as vain, self-serving, and ridiculous as the financiers they're avoiding.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
T has been necessary to start a lit- ox erary annex, as the literary people \ found that constant association with Ye some of our most prominent financiers was corrupting their morals “We may write rotten stuff,” said Hall Ca “but we cannot afford to have our business integrity influenced by improper associations. The lit- erary life and the Equitable life don’t go together.” A new building has been thrown up, and every prominent author and authoress can in by paying a merely nominal fee, and the under- standing that they are not to take up too much time talking about them- elves, This restricts the member- » somewhat, but makes it more “ Hall Caine began distributing posters of himself.” It was recognized at once that in order to give the new annex a proper start, it should hav ist two. patron saints, A vigorous campaign was at once under way to determine who these patron saints should be Marie Corelli and Hall Caine were put up on one ticket, and Henry James ‘LIE E* Life’s Retreat for the Prominent. as it was very properly argued that if Mrs. Eddy’s hymns were not allowed in this hook, they must have some literary merit Mrs. Eddy was becomingly gowned in white foolhard, and while walking up the aisle, having suddenly dis- covered that she had come away from home without her diamonds, immedi- ately demonstrated a new set of ex: traordinary beauty. She car- ried in her hands a bunch of forget-me-nots and Jacks-in-the- pulpit She was Douglas Wiggi They carried bunches of hot-air and Gertrude Atherton on the other. Bertha Runkel and Conan Doyle took the stump for the former, and W. D. Howells and S, Weir Mitchell for the latter. The campaign was running about even, straw votes showing a neck and neck race, with the Caine whiskers slightly in the lead, when Hall began distributing posters of himself, and all bets were off From this time on Henry James and Gertrude Atherton had everything their own w and were trium- phantly elec are now being measured for stained glass windows. The ceremony of installing them took place on Wednesday. There w: large crowd present, invitations having been sent out generally to the trade Mary Baker Eddy was placed in charge of the procession, She had been admitted to membership on the strength of the fact that none of her hymns has been allowed in the new Methodist hymn book just published, “Gerty was a dream comicbooks.com