Life, 1916-09-21 · page 34 of 44
Life — September 21, 1916 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This humor piece mocks a young man from Little Rock, Arkansas who writes to a New York clothing retailer asking what to wear for his wedding. The clerk mistakenly routes the inquiry to the livery department (which rents horses and carriages), which responds with absurdly formal instructions: "Bottle-green coat, fawn-colored trousers, with top boots, silk hat with cockade"—essentially formal equestrian attire. The joke: the groom expected practical wedding advice but received over-the-top, elaborate clothing specifications. His plaintive reply—"I always knew it was expensive to get married, but can't you suggest something a little less elaborate?"—reveals both his anxiety about wedding costs and his embarrassment at needing such guidance. The satire targets provincial ignorance of urban conventions and the groom's presumed social insecurity about proper dress.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Modest Bridegroom From a story told in Little Rock it would appear that a certain young man of that town was terrified by the con- ventionalities that appeared to him to be necessary in the case of his marriage to a girl of that town. The youth sent a letter to a large cloth- ing concern in New York to ask: “What is the proper dress for a ow, it seems that the clerk who opened the mail referred this inquiry to the livery department, and that the head thereof dictated a brief reply: * Bottle-green coat, fawn-colored trous- ers, with top boots, silk hat with cockade. We can quote you prices as follows.” In a short time came this plaintive lettcr from the young man in Little Rock: EGYPTIAN DEITIES “The Utmost in Cigarettes" Plain Endor kip Pe ‘culture, refinement pineal incorah PREFER. Deities to any other cigarette D5¢ Makers of the Lighest Grade Tarkish __and Enpln gee in the Werks “T always knew it was expensive to get married, but can't you suggest some- H : lappy Idea thing a little less elaborate?” if = Poul’: Companion: The railway board had met to con- sider the case of old Tom Jones, who in accident had become deaf. said a director, “old Tom has been with us a long time, and we E G E’ S | want to find him a new job, What do G LU ¢ vt him in charge of the complaints de- |__IN _HANDY TUBES A canis ts made tasty and deltghttot by using”, Abbot ‘s 8 o OF THE A BEST STORIES of the month are in the current AINSLEE’S “The Magazine That Entertains ”’ At the nearest stand 15 cents the copy Worth Doing Hue: The doctor says that if I keep on working at this pace for money | shall be a wreck at forty-five. Wire: Never mind, dear; by that time we shall be able to afford it. —Boston Transcript. DACAKDE Makes Perfect Cocktall, Rickey or ing! pall, Try Tet GextLeman or Tie Roan: Kindly ‘elp a pore, lonely, ‘omeless. man, guv'nor, wot's got nothink in the world but 4 loaded revolver and no conscientious ob: jection to usin’ it!—Passing Show. grot mos tent. Casta Lows) “OM, JACK! FATHER WILL RE FURIOUS. PAINTED THAT CHAIR THIS