Life, 1921-05-05 · page 29 of 46
Life — May 5, 1921 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes American tourism and leisure through mock travel writing. "Our Walking Tour No. 23" presents an absurdly elaborate 87-mile Sunday outing from a city, peppered with invented historical anecdotes (like a fabricated Burr-Hamilton encounter at a graveyard) and ridiculous local characters (multimillionaire "Tobias Nutte," the hermit thrush sighting). The accompanying cartoon of a giraffe illustrates the hyperbolic tone—suggesting the walk's implausible difficulty or the magazine's mockery of nature-appreciation enthusiasts. The "Coming Sporting Events" section continues the satire, listing deliberately absurd competitions ("Office-Seeking Relay," "Transatlantic Obstacle Race") that parody both political corruption and the era's obsession with competitive spectacles. The overall effect lampoons genteel, leisured society's romanticization of nature and history while simultaneously celebrating various questionable sports and political machinations. It's social satire aimed at upper-middle-class pretensions.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
old- who kirts inner Our Walking Tour No. 23 (Arranged after consultation with the President of the Rocky Mountain . edestrian League.) any bright pleas- ant Sunday morning take the trolley that leaves the City Hall at 5:35. After wind- ing in and out among the crowded city buildings for some thirty minuics you will suddenly emerge into the open country. Skirting the canal and crossing the iron bridge, you will eventually arrive at Bumington. Here your walk begins “Leaving the car, step briskly up the steep grade about two miles to the emi- nence that commands the valley. The farn way off in the right center, just at the fork of the three roads, was owned during the Revolutionary period by Farmer Punk. The remnant of Wash- ington’s army, consisting of 383 men, had crept up the night before when they were sudd confronted by the entire British forces in the vicinity, consisting of a formidable total of 403. The battle raged around the farmhouse, and in the vi- cinity of the woodshed the British were piled seven and eight deep. Now starting on your walk, a pleasant descent of eight miles {rom your eminence brings you by the farmhouse; just beyond is the charm- ing little village of Nutville, named after Tobias Nutte, the multimillionaire. It will your while to step into Mr. allery for a moment and sce randt: The Coal Dealer’s Aunt. The Auction Bridge. cer: Harlem Goats at Play. Leaving the town pump on your left, may take a short cut through the sdist graveyard where many quaint s invite your attention. Some are characterized by a grim The first one to the right as you r reads Here Lies Cephas Gruntfield He hated everybody, everybody Hated him, Gone, but not Forgotten. | what is that rare sound that breaks upon your car? That is the clear note of the Nutville Hermit Thrush. Pausing a moment to get a vision of this rare bird, miles), where a story told of Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. It scems that after a political conference at the home of General Greene, they were walk- ing near the Muddington bone yard when Hamilton, with a sinister look in his eye, suddenly turned to Burr and observed “Not a bad sunset.” Burr endeavored in vain to conceal his real motives. In a voice of suppressed rage and resentment, he hissed: “IT don't care for sunsets.” It was this remark that opened Hamil- ton’s cyes to Burr's perfidy. From that moment the tragedy moved swiftly to. its dramatic end. Beyond Muddington take the road to left. Four miles farther on, in a delight- ful little grass-grown station, festooned with the wild carrot, the milkweed and the stinkweed gloriosos you will find the trolley waiting to bear you back to town, where (barring accidents) you should ar- rive some four hours later. Refreshed and invigorated by your 87 miles of walking, you will now welcome the opportunity of sitting up until past midnight relating your adventures to the family circle and endeavoring to imbuc them with your own passionate love of nature. Coming Sporting Events LL-Comers World Trade Wrestling Carnival; no holds barred but the strangle; auspices League of National A C. Date to be announced later. Intersectional Ostfice-Seeking Relay auspices G. O. P. A. C.; Preliminaries, East vs. West, Washington, D. C. National Memoir Championship; open to ex-Cabinet members only Letter-Carriers Weight Lifting Carni- val and Salary Steeplechase; for the Will ays Cup; open to novices, juniors and veterans; Civil Service A. C. National Transatlantic Obstacle Race; open to diplomats, ex-diplomats and would-be diplomats; auspices White House A. C. Drawings for position to be announced later. New York Mayoralty Marathon. Tam- many the field. Entries now open. National Price-Cutting and Fancy Div- ing Championships; for the Consumer you press on through Garbage Center (18 Cup; auspices Profiteers A. C. Mr. Tortoise (as Mrs. Giraffe passes): 1 states on ¢ Te SHE'S GETTING AWFUL HIGH-TONED. GOES mules) getting some exquisite vistas of the World’s Championship Buck-Passing BY WITH HER HEAD IN THE AIR AND NEVER canal and its boat, to Muddington (17 Contest; Trotzky vs. Lenine; to a finish. EVEN GLANCES IN MY DIRECTION, comicbooks.com