Life, 1910-02-03 · page 27 of 44
Life — February 3, 1910 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous short story satirizing upper-class women's priorities and social habits in early 20th-century America. The joke centers on a grandmother trapped in a well, but her daughter and niece are preoccupied with attending a bridge party—a fashionable social card game among wealthy women. The satire targets the superficiality and callousness of society women: Mrs. Pankton consults her engagement calendar before helping her own mother, and Adele lies about her own bridge commitment while casually delegating the rescue to the fire department with vague instructions ("next to me"). The grandmother's life-threatening emergency is treated as an inconvenient scheduling conflict. The image's title, "Nobility of the Future," drips with irony, suggesting these women represent the moral decline of the upper class. The story mocks their leisure-obsessed lifestyle and indifference to family welfare when social obligations interfere.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
NOBILITY OF THE FUTURE “SOME OF YOUR ANCESTORS, MY DEAR '” When Grandma Fell in the Well A National Affair BY THOMAS L. MASSON ITTLE Bobbie Pankton'’s grandma had fallen down the well Bobbie heard her groaning as he came home from school. He leaned over the side of the well and saw her there. He ran in and reported it to his mother. “Are you sure?" said that lady. “Oh, yes, mamma. I saw her myself. And she looked up and asked me to help her out. I am afraid she will catch cold.”” Mrs. Pankton’s mother was at her wit’s end. She hastily consulted her engagement pad to be sure that she had not made a mistake. Yes, she had an engagement for that after- noon to play bridge, and she had only time to get ready. In the emergency she called up her sister Adele, who lived across the way. * Ade went out probably leaned over too far. mother has fallen down the well. I suppose she for a walk, and must have gotten thirsty. She I imagine her feet are wet Now, unfortunately, I have a bridge party on hand. Could you run over and get her out?”” Adele was one of the accommodating kind, the kind that always promises but never performs, I'll do the best I can,’? she said sweetly. “T knew you would Adele thought for a moment. She, too, was going to the same bridge party that her sister was, although she did not think it wise to tell her. T have it!'? she exclaimed at last, and rang up the fire department. “Will you please get my mother out of a well? ’* “It is in the rear of the house next to me— she ex- plained. Pank- ton's."" “They are out on id the man in charge, “but I will make a memorandum of it.” “Thank you—please don’t forget. It is really very im- portant.’" « fire now comicbooks.com