Parody of a charity chain letter. Introductions
to Massachusetts spinsters. US, 1888.
In Behalf of 300,000 Old Maids.
(resident in Massachusetts.)
The recipient is asked to introduce one marriageable young man to Mrs.
Blank, No. 998 Beacon Street, in person or by letter. Also he, or she, is
requested to forward a copy of this circular to each of two friends, who
are in turn begged to do likewise, and so on ad infinitum. The object in
view is to find husbands for the surplus female population of the state,
now suffering from lack of brutes in pantaloons to go around.
Published: The Times-Picayune
(New Orleans, Louisiana), 4 Nov. 1888. p. 13. "A clever Boston young woman
is distributing among her friends in society here an original and very amusing
circular, burlesquing the progressive or 'chain' system of subscription to
charity, which has been made such a nuisance of late by the philanthropically
disposed. The document thus scattered reads as follows:" (above text follows).
je1888-11-04p1_intro-Mass_q2
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