A miniature train crosses a narrow bridge from a log cabin toward a separate gilded cake stand on rocky pillars.

Original artwork, not a still

John O'Hara

America may be unique in being a country which has leapt from barbarism to decadence without touching civilization.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

This is a sardonic take on a nation's history: it supposedly skipped the refined middle stage and went straight from rough beginnings to overindulgence. The joke lies in the missing step, civilization, treated like a station the train never stopped at.

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