Life, 1914-01-15 · page 19 of 40
Life — January 15, 1914 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top illustration satirizes high society's informal behavior. Titled "RÉGIME SANS CÉRÉMONIE" (Regime Without Ceremony), it depicts ambassadors at the "petit lever" (informal reception) of a Marquise or "Bryan"—likely referencing William Jennings Bryan, a three-time presidential candidate. The sketch mocks the pretense of formal diplomatic protocol being abandoned in actual practice, showing elaborately dressed diplomats in undignified poses. The text discusses New York City appointments and the tango dance craze. It defends a park appointee against opposition from Herman Ridder and Jacob Schiff, and dismisses moral panic about the tango as harmless folly that will fade. The page concludes with an obituary of Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, praising his medical credentials and subsequent literary contributions. The overall tone is irreverent mockery of social pretension and manufactured outrage.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
REGIME SANS CEREMONIE LES AMBASSADEURS AU “ PETIT LEVER” DE LA MARQUISE OU BRYAN the gate at Ellis Island, but that the appointment is opposed by Herman Ridder and Jacob Schiff. Mr. Williams is a valuable man. If Mr. Ridder objects to him it may be because in his late place he showed himself deficient in humility in his dealings with the German steamship companies, and if Mr. Schiff objects it may be because he barred out too many of the Chosen People from the Promised Land. But all that comes to is that when Mr. Williams was em- ployed by the United States he worked for the American people, and if em- ployed by the City of New York he would work for the people of New York. There is work to be done for them in the Water Department, especially in the scrutiny of con- tracts. Manhattan has a promising Park Commissioner in Mr, Ward, and it is time it had a qualified Park Commis- sioner. HERE is a great deal in the papers about the tango, and other dances, said to be improper. No doubt they are improper as danced by improper people. And who are these strange people who dance so much and in such public places, and get so much newspaper notice? Where do they come from? What other employments have they? If they are young, have they no parents? If they are old, can’t their children keep them in order? There is an immense propensity nowadays to get in between fools and their folly. That is in some degree the preacher’s office and the parent's. Their efforts failing, if the folly be- comes too disorderly or too contagious, it makes a job for the police. But ordinarily the grasshopper season is short. People tire of follies. GU. R. WEIR MITCHELL is dead. He was a remarkable doctor, and when he retired from practice fairly full of years, he came to be a very acceptable writer of stories. He was the more acceptable because he knew something, and because so many contemporary writers of tales know so little. He had a cultivated mind, a irly rare thing among American writ- and wrote very agreeably out of a full experience of life, and contributed a profitable variety to contemporary fiction, comicbooks.com