Life, 1911-08-10 · page 34 of 40
Life — August 10, 1911 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This humorous story by Sam Walter Foss satirizes the excessive club culture and social pretension of his era. The joke centers on two people—Mr. and Mrs. Clabberhuse—who share the same unusual surname yet meet at a social gathering as strangers. The satire works through their absurdly inflated titles (Chairman of various guilds, Grand Mogul, High Priestess, etc.), which mock the elaborate hierarchies of civic and social organizations. After fourteen years of marriage, they've been so consumed with their respective club activities and "spheres" that they've barely seen each other, discovering their relationship only through accident. The cartoon illustration shows a domestic scene, likely depicting the moment of their reunion. The humor targets both the pretentiousness of organizational titles and the neglect of actual family relationships in pursuit of social status—a pointed critique of American civic life in the early 1900s.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Meeting of the Clabberhuses (In view of Mr. Foss's recent la- mented death, written many modern, readers.) He was t the Chairman of the Guild these muy ‘be interesting to many He wag tha chick Meatoc ot Of the Oracular Oligarch He was the Lord High Autoce And_ Vizier of the Sons of Light, And Sultan and Grand Mandarin Of the Mellennial Men of Might. He was Grand Totem and High Priest Of the Independent Potentates; Grand Mogul of the Galaxy Of the HMlustrious -out-Lates ; The President of the Dandydudes, The Treasurer of_the Sons of Glee And Leader of the Clubtown Band And Architects of Melody. I. She was the Grand Worthy Prophetess Of the Illustrious Maids of Mar! Of Vestals of the Third Degr She was the most Potent Matria She was High Priestess of the Of Clubtown’s Culture Coterie, And First Vice-President of League Of the Illustrious G. A. B. She was the First Dame of the Club For teaching the Patagonians Greek ; She was the Chief Clerk and Auditor Of Clubtown’s Anti-Bachelor Clique; She was High Treasurer of the Fund For Borrioboolaghalians, And the Fund for sending Browning's Poems To native-born Australians. I. Once to a crowded social féte Both these much titled people c, And cach perceived, when introduced, They had the selfsame nathe. hostess said, when first. they met: “Permit me now to introduce zood friend Mr. Clabberhuse To Mrs. Clabberhuse.” Their” “'Tis very. strange,” said she to him, “Such an unusual name! ame so very seldom heard, That we should bear, the same. “Indeed, "tis wonderful,” said ie And I, surprised the more, Because I’ never heard the name Outside my home before. “But now I come to look at you,” Said he, “upon my lif If I am not indeed deceiv You are—you are—my wife She gazed into his searching face, And seemed to look him throug! “Indeed,” said she, “it seems to me, You are my husband, too. “TL've been so busy with my clubs, And in my various spher I have not seen you now,’ “For over fourteen year ust the way it’s been with she said, And then they both politely bowed, And sweetly said “ Good-night.” Sam Waiter Foss. Sidney Smith on Wit Let any man show me that which is an acknowledged proof of wit and I believe I could analyze the pleasure experienced from it into surprise, partly occasioned by the unexpected re- lation established, partly by the display of talent in. discovering it; and put- ung this position synthetically I would say, whenever there is a superior act of intelligence in discovering a rela- tion between ideas, which relation ex cites surprise, and ‘no other high emo- tion, the mind will have the fecling of wit. Why is it not witty to find a gold watch and seals hanging upon a hedge? Because it is a mere relation of facts discovered without any effort of mind and not (as I have said in my defini- tion), a relation of ideas. Why is it “YOUR SLEEPING DRAUGHT WASN’T A BIT OF GOOD. toven i.” “wat tines?" “THE CATS THAT KEEP ME AWAKE comicbooks.com