Esperanto on Mars

A Martian.
Does he speak
Esperanto?

That’s the implication of a short item in the Washington Herald on April 15, 1908. It’s a little comic item, meant more to poke fun at (then) contemporary fashion foibles than to seriously make reference to Esperanto. In this case, Merry Widow hats are the subject at which fun is being poked. For those who don’t follow women’s fashion, the Merry Widow hat was a broad-brimmed women’s hat, often decorated, which was popular in the early twentieth century.

In the science fiction of the era, Mars was often depicted as a vastly older planet with the remnants of a once-glorious civilization, now in its dying days, but whose inhabitants (if they still existed) were intelligent and wise beyond the measure of man. (On the other hand, Edgar Rice Burroughs created a Mars of both futuristic science and a variety of fairly savage, feudal societies.) In the comic item in the Herald, we seem to have the wise survivor of the dying society, speaking a logical language, since in the quip, the Martian speaks Esperanto.

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Please Don't Dress Me Like That, Mommy — 1909 Edition

Mommy, the boys tease me.

Just a quickie to remind us how fashions have changed. In my research, I ran across the following, an item in the New York Evening World of February 5 1909 under the heading "May Manton's Daily Fashions." It's a boy's suit.

I have friends who are interested in historic fashion (you know who you are), but the thought of some little boy getting dressed up in this thing—even in 1909—just seems ridiculous. He's a little boy, ma'am, not a doll. The text actually says that the suit "allows him to run and race to his heart's content" and describes the outfit as "masculine in effect." Please. Okay, it's more masculine than a pinafore, but come on!

I've included the whole piece below.

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Be an Oscar Wilde, or Just Dress Like One

The fashion of the day

On June 8, 1882, Oscar Wilde was getting frequent mention in the American newspapers, and some people were mimicking his mode of dress, or at least the popular imagination of it. For example, the Weekly Democratic Statesman of Austin Texas noted that

Miss Florence Gerald, of Waco goes north soon to study for the stage. Mr. Walter Maxcy, also of the hub, appears on the street in knee breeches, black stockings, yellow vest and sunflower, a la Oscar Wilde.

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