Life — October 19, 1911 — page 24: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Life magazine cartoon satirizes Boston's upper-class pretensions, particularly the wealthy residents of Back Bay and Beacon Street. The title references Boston's self-aggrandizing nickname, "the Hub of the Universe." The satire mocks the contradiction between Boston's elite self-image and reality: the sign reads that "Daughters of Actors, Tailors, Editors, Plumbers, Artists, Steamfitters and Others in Trade" are admitted to a school for girls—yet the refined residents insist pedestrians "tread softly" through their aristocratic environs, as if walking through sacred ground. The joke targets Boston Brahmin snobbery: these supposedly refined families actually descended from working-class tradespeople, yet they've adopted affected airs of superiority. The crowded street scene with various institutions and people underscores the gap between their pretended exclusivity and Boston's actual democratic, working-class origins.