Life, 1883-03-08 · page 5 of 16
Life — March 8, 1883 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 111 The main cartoon, "A New Way to Pay Old Debts," depicts a tailor violently beating a man (labeled "Mr. Everyhort") who apparently owes him money. The dialogue suggests the tailor has resorted to physical violence as debt collection. The satire critiques brutal debt-collection practices of the era. The tailor's extreme response—beating rather than using legal channels—mocks both incompetent creditors and the desperation of those owed money during what was likely a period of economic hardship. Below is "A Floater," a brief joke about a New York dandy named Dudekins who prefers floating on the bay to walking, punning on "lighter than cork" (frivolity) versus actual physical buoyancy. The left column contains miscellaneous satirical "Fables in Four Lines" on various social topics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
FABLES IN FOUR LINES. A CASTILIAN HONOR, A CAST-IRON ship from far off Castile bore Upon the rocks—and on its side ; I seized the soap and washed myself ashore, MORAL. there's life, soap, I cried. While there’s OBJURGATION, Tue bob-tailed paused with sudden shoc The driver cursed the passenjare— Who dropped his money in the box. MORAL. None but the brave deserve the fare. THE COLLECTION OF INTER- NAL REVENUE. ‘THe gay Moonshiner reeleth Oft in the sTiLL-y night; His tax he ever stealeth. MORAL. Whatever is, is right! A. Z. BRUTE BITE ? A NEW WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS. Importunate Tailor: Great HEAVENS, Mr. EveERSHORT, DOES THIS Mr. E.: Nov UNLESS HE THINKS YOU'RE AFRAID OF HIM. Pompeii.—That Art-m-s H-Im-s will cither personate the Statue of Bartholdi, or put on a sugar coat and go as a homeopathic pill.—-That Cl-r-nce D-nsm-re will chalk his head and be there asa cue, and that the Count di C-sn-la will go in a Golgot cos- tume of heterogencous and unrelated parts.—That the Marquis de Leuville will be present in his original character of Mantalini. —That the Marchioness of Clinton Place will go as Sister Skewton.—That U. S. Gr-nt will appear as the Tower of Babel.—That the Duchess of Erie will be there, and drive Duckie and Daddles tandem.—That the Prince of Wales isn't invited—And_ that a good deal of poor, white, Knick- erbocker trash isn’t either. —And that J-hn K-lly is. — That several connubial relatives will not present.—That the reason for this is, the affair is to be very swell, and one must draw the line somewhere, you know.—That ‘T-ddy R—se- v—t will go as Consistency, the Five-cent Jule.—That little Gr-fl-ths-M-st-n has consented to drop his hyphen, wear that bob-tail overcoat, and go as you please.—That Gr-fl-ths wears that coat to keep his spine warm and his brains cool.—That T-ny P-st-r and J-hn L. S-ll-v-n have been invited.—That J-hn St-ts-n heard it wasn’t going to be abit like the French Ball, and declined.—That L—b-t wasn’t invited because it wouldn't be agreeable to T-rnb-ll, and T-rnb-Il_wasn't invited because it wouldn't be agreeable to L—b-t.—That each daily paper has been requested not to send more than nine reporters to write the thing up.—That W-rr-n L-I-nd will furnish dress coats for the occasion.—That the happy nine will be given by each guest a printed description of his or her costume, for the sake of accuracy, don’t you see ?—That a heavy 38th street lady had hysterics be- cause she was left out.—That she has hopes yet.—That business will be stagnant all over the country until the thing is over.— That nobody will read Lies next week. A FLOATER. Younc Dudekins (who lives in New York), Sp. g., was much lighter than cork, He would skip o’er the bay. Down to Far Rockaway, And take Angeline for a walk. Tue ingenuous reporter who had gone to see Salvini’s Othello was told by his editor to “ make two sticks.” “But there were seven or eight” the young man said. comicbooks.com