Mark Twain on SF's social scene
With the start of the hectic social season, I couldn't help be amused by Mark Twain's observations of the San Francisco scene according to Leah Garchik in the San Francisco Chronicle. Of course, we must remember that this was before the excessive use of plastic surgery by socialites. Hmm, doesn't sound like it, does it?! :)
At the start of the winter 1865 holiday season, after attending a number of balls, Twain reported that four out of five ladies were pretty, including Mrs. L.B., "attractively attired in her new and beautiful false teeth''; Miss R.P, whose glance was marked "by the fine contrast between the sparkling vivacity of her natural optic and the steadfast attentiveness of her placid glass eye''; and Miss C.L.B., who blew her nose with grace that "marked her as a cultivated and accomplished woman of the world.''
As to Miss X, on the other hand, she has a "sickly smile,'' "decayed teeth'' and a "dismal pug nose.'' "Everybody knows that she is old; everybody knows she is repaired (you might almost say built) with artificial bones and hair and muscles and things, from the ground up.