Life, 1883-04-19 · page 10 of 16
Life — April 19, 1883 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 188: Poetry and Book Reviews This page combines romantic poetry with satirical book reviews—typical of Life's mixed content format. The left side features a sentimental poem about lost love, illustrated with period engravings of courting couples. The verses lament a romantic relationship that cannot be, philosophically accepting the separation while celebrating love's value even in loss. The right section, "Bookishness," mocks contemporary literary works through fake reviews: - **Van Dyke's book on books** is joked about as needing a "pocket guide to travel to Europe"—implying it's so practical for financial types they'd flee the country - **Justin McCarthy's Irish history** is sarcastically reduced to the single complaint "Won't somebody tread on the tail of my coat?"—mocking Irish grievances as perpetual - **Ouida's novel** about a fictional countess is ridiculed as invented nonsense - **The Japanese arts book** humorously notes the author omits juggling and acrobatics—things Life's readers actually associate with Japan, suggesting the book misses the mark The satire targets both pretentious literature and author self-importance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ZURE eyes, in you, Watched I ever glowing— Light of love I knew I had set agoing. Soft lips part and speak : Have my own lips pressed you? Hair and brow and cheek, Has my touch caressed you? Restless hands, in mine Were you ever quiet, Palm to palm? What sign Make you to deny it? Form of gentle grace, Said your heart it found you In your proper place When my arms were round you? Eyes that were my creed, Vain my fond heart’s presage : In your depths I read Now for me no message. Then, my girl, go free ! Be my dream all over ; You are not for me, Nor am I your lover. Who hath child and wife— Wisely holdeth Bacon— Fortune for his life Hath a hostage taken. Hazard must be shun, Poverty and peril; Life for such a one Straitened is, and sterile. Straitened ? Aye, unléss Love’s unpurchased treasures Longs he to possess More than all-earth’s pleasures. Sterile? No; not when His desire’s fruition Makes him of all men Best in his condition. Blithe the beggar fares, Joyous echoes waking, Naught for thieves he cares Who hath naught worth taking. If what is the best Fortune will not give me, Fate of that at least Never can deprive me. BOOKISHNESS. A GENTLEMAN by the name of Van Dyke has just put forth a valuable work on “ Books, and How to Use Them.” If it is meant for book-keepers of banks and insurance companies, it ought to have, as an appendix, a pocket guide to travel to Europe. Mr. Justin McCartuy has written “ An Outline of Irish History from.the Earliest Times to the Present Day.” It is a very little book, but it may be still fur- ther condensed. The gist of it may be put into one sentence: “ Won’t somebody tread on the tail of my coat ?” Miss Ovurpa’s new novel is called “ Wanda, Coun- tess von Szalras.” We have not the pleasure of knowing the Count von Szalras, and, if we mistake not, the Chronicles of the Reign of the Grand Duchess of Gérolstein, make no mention of any such person. But if his present wife is the same Wanda that Private- Lieutenant-Captain-Colonel-General Fritz married— the Count von Szalras has our sincerest sympathy. - A wortuy Briton has just perpetrated a book on the “Ornamental Arts of Japan,” but oddly enough he omits all mention of juggling, the butterfly trick, bal- ancing tubs on the soles of the feet, spinning tops on the point of a sword, and the other simple exercises which most of us most readily recall as characteristic in Japanese art. f . THERE is a new novel called “A Daughter of the Philistines,” which leads us to suppose that its author is the well-known correspondent “ Gath.” comicbooks.com