Paradise

The illustration shows three scenes of the tropical paradise of Tahiti.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1914-04-11

Thomas Collier Platt, with his young bride, passes through the gates to the “Oldboys’ Hymeneal Paradise” where they are greeted by a “Reception Committee” of several old men labeled “Depew, Potter, Dewey, Flagler, [and] Woodford” and their young wives.

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Ehrhart was not merely commenting on the “May-December” nuptials of the elderly Senator Thomas Collier Platt, and surrounding him with fellow white-haired friends. In a scene where many gray-bearded men are romancing young women, the foreground figures are indeed men who betook younger brides.

Admiral George Dewey, for instance, not only married a widow much younger than he, precipitating a scandal — not so much for the difference in their ages, but her religion (Catholic) and the strange choice of Dewey to transfer his $50,000 house, a gift bought from public subscription, to his wife. New York Senator Chauncey Depew’s second wife was 35 and he almost twice her age. Episcopal Bishop Henry Potter recently married his second wife, who was “only” 15 years younger.