From the day
Perspective: The Future Historian · Sight
Through my lens, the dawn of this century is a study in gilded excess and rigid silhouettes, where women drift by in silk S-bend corsets as if they were graceful human pigeons. I watch a gentleman capture the scene with his primitive Kodak Brownie, his eyes widening at the morning paper reporting that executors get $425,000 fee; Chicago court fixes the amount in the Pullman estate, which will reach nearly $14,000,000. It is a staggering sum that highlights the burgeoning gap between the worker and the titan, a contrast as sharp as the starch in a high lace collar. In this fragile era of industrial empires, one must truly speak softly and carry a big stick to navigate such vast fortunes while the first Zeppelins begin to cast long, ominous shadows over the winter streets.