Life, 1926-09-02 · page 14 of 41
Life — September 2, 1926 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a satirical illustration titled "The Gay Nineties," depicting an iron stag in a domestic garden setting. According to the caption, the image mocks late-19th-century social pretension: lawn ornaments like decorative stags and flower beds were status symbols that indicated wealth and respectability. The "iron stag" represents this artificial affluence—a cheap, gaudy decoration meant to suggest prosperity. The accompanying text sections discuss "The Pilgrimage" (likely a literary reference) and "Life and Limb" (a brief anecdote about garters). The page satirizes how outward decorative displays could mask genuine social standing, a common theme in period satire about Victorian and Gilded Age materialism and social climbing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Gay Nineties BEFORE THE DAY OF THE SOCIAL REGISTER ONE COULD TELL W110 WAS WHO IN A TOWN BY THE FRONT LAWNS, FOR INSTANCE—A LAWN CUT UP BY MERE STAR-AND-CRESCENT PLOWER-BEDS MEANT COMFORTABLE RESPECTABILITY, THE ADDITION OF A RUSTIC TRIPOD WITIC A KETTLE OF GROWING FLOWERS WAS ANOTHER STEP UP THE SOCIAL LADDER—BUT AN IRON STAG ADDED TO THESE MEANT POSITIVE AFFLUENCE. The Pilgrimage A® atmosphere of solemnity surrounds the old home of the hero, Even as the morning sun gilds the tablet upon which is graven the great man's name, a group of pilgrims is scen approaching from the dis- tance. For this the hero’s home has been set aside; for this the yews, the cedars and the spruces are decked with dew. ‘The song of a bird, clear in the morning air, contrasts with the hallowed stillness of a nation’s shrine. How near the scene approaches unto sublimity ! Now the pilgrims arc at the gate. Strange sounds fill the air. The Hubert P. Grossman Corporation Fin- ployees’ Benefit Association has arrived for its annual and Field Day with plenty of sardine sandwiches, am soda and chocolate cake. HU. Be. Life and Limb “THIS suspense is awful,” said the flapper when she noticed that her garters allowed her new silk stock- ings to wrinkle. comicbooks.com