Life, 1883-01-18 · page 12 of 16
Life — January 18, 1883 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Rules for Riding" – Life Magazine Satire This page satirizes Victorian-era horseback riding etiquette through numbered instructional panels. The cartoon mocks the excessive formality and rigid rules governing proper riding technique—positioning of hands, legs, posture, and emotional restraint ("Your Heart and Head Up"). The accompanying letter from "Louisa O." provides comedic context: a wife obsessed with discovering her husband Ralph's "dreadful secret"—his baldness and mysterious locked study. She humorously seeks a baldness cure, plans to spy through his watch repair, and threatens to break into his room. This domestic farce parodies Victorian anxieties about privacy, gender relations, and household secrets. The final section references French political figures and "Sarah" (likely actress Sarah Bernhardt), lamenting France's losses while celebrating her enduring vitality—typical of Life's mix of topical and theatrical commentary. Overall, the page blends gentle social satire about rigid manners with domestic comedy, characteristic of Gilded Age American humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
@ + MOUNTING « ALWAYS FONDLE Your MORSE BEFORE MOUNTING \T ESTABLISHES GOOD RELATIONS BETWEIN MAN AND BEASTs Poy Me ** Wey ohlowing + ON!1s THIS ALL 17 182 WHY) 1CAN RIDE SPLENDIDLY a nods sg DE PRETENTIOUS x PoUR BEGIN! enteE GENTLE TROTTING BCREW ANDA| Youn 1868 To YOUR NAG's Sinzs YOUR ARMS To your OWN. o Youn HANDS AND HEELS Down Your HEART AND HEAD UP, RULES FOR RIDING. sTHE SALLOP, IN THE GALLOP, ALLOW YOUR HORSE TO GO FRIELY, SIMPLY KESPING KIS KEAD STRAIORT. oy aed sce Se ©. dimrine. Sit STEADY AND I have an idea that there is some dreadful family secret about his baldness ; his family is so old that it must have skeletons in its closets. Perhaps Ralph has a part of the skeleton in his “ dreadful den.” Every day I find my desire growing stronger to see the inside of that room, My visitors ask me why I keep the reception room closed. I answer with a sad, enigmatical smile. Here in Boston every one asks what a man’s occupation is. Every man is expected to be busy, so some of the rich young men hire offices and put up signs that they are lawyers, to maintain their respectability; and peo- ple are beginning to ask what Ralph's occupation is; 1 answer that he is a scientist, and they then inquire: ** Why does he not lec- ture at the Lowell Institute 7" ‘* What branch of science does he pursue?” I have never asked him what he does in the room, but, as you say, a husband should have no secret from his wife. But wives have always come to gricf when they have pried into their husband's private affairs. Think of Mrs. Bluebeard and poor Psyche. But { can understand how they felt when there was an unsolved mystery in the house. I have written to the " Friend of the Hairless," P, O. Box 3,051, for the receipt tocure baldness, and I intend to rub the mixture on Ralph's head when he is asleep, family secret or no family secret. Give my love and congratulations to Charley. Your loving friend, Louisa O. P. S.—Ralph has sent his watch to be repaired ; I think that I can find out the combination which opens the lock of the'‘ dread- fal den" by going to the watchmaker's. Ralph is to go to New York next month to meet an eminent English agnostic. If I find out the combination I shall certainly go intothe room. I feel so nervous at the thought that I take bromide every night. [Conctuded next week.) PA UVRE France! Pauvre France! Thy leaders, one by one, Fall from their thrones of Fame, no more to hold Aloft before thine eyes those brilliant lights Of Talent, Intellect, and splendid Power Which shone for all the nations of the world. To everlasting rest within the grave Of late disconsolate thou hast consigned A statesman, and a warrior, and a son Gifted to write for other men to read. All these rude Fate hath borne from thy fond arms, And snatched from thine embrace, and left thee tears. Sorrow and Grief brood o'er thy troubled land, And dark forebodings fill thine anxious soul; And yet, Paswvre France, forget thine every ill! Be wild and gay—for SARAH LIVETH STILL ! " T.D.W. A comicbooks.com