Life, 1883-05-17 · page 4 of 16
Life — May 17, 1883 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page 230: Life Magazine Satire & Fable This page contains **"A Fable for the Brave,"** a moral tale about a fly encountering a sheep that claims a lion lives nearby. The fly initially flees but returns, discovering the sheep itself is the real threat—it eats the fly. The illustrated cartoon shows a figure holding aloft a basket of birds or creatures, likely depicting the moral: that real dangers often come from unexpected sources or from those we underestimate. The surrounding column contains brief satirical notes on various topics (hospital treatment, poetry references, business matters), typical of Life's humorous commentary style. The fable's broader point appears to be social commentary about misjudging threats—warning readers that obvious dangers may distract from subtler, more immediate ones.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
230 You see I am writing to you with a type-writer. I cannot hold a pen. The toils are gathering around me. I have put the bureau against the door, and shall soon go to bed. To bed! oh, the sarcasm, to me, of the usually comfortable word ! Oysters are still good. Hip, hip, a raw ! Tue Khan of Tartary wants to visit America, but Khan’t. Many patients at our best hospitals receive gruel treatment. WueEn the poet alludes to “ April’s sweet smiles” he means mint julips. A “LOAN wIDDER”’—-the relict of the late Mr. Blumenstein, who still conducts his business. IrisH CHEmist: No. Glycerine smuggled into har- bor under cover of darkness is not night row glycer- ine. A Goop title for a novel is hard to procure. Hawthorne’s last is “ Dust.” than “ Git !” Julian It is so much sweeter Tue trouble with Mr. Carter Harrison of Chicago seems to be a difficulty of keeping his mouth shut and his ears hid.—Lowisville Courier- Journal—Just what ails brother Talmage. Is this thing getting to be epi- demic ? Rep Dos, Arizona, is getting civilized. A coroner was appointed last month, and next morning he im- panelled a jury to view the most recent corpse. The following was the verdict: “We, the jurey, dooly swore, find that diseased _kem ter his deth by the juj- mint off Godd, fer hevin kawled Bil Jaxon a lier.” ParvuLus Jack Horner Sedebat in corner Edens a Christmas pie. Inseruit thumb, Et extraherit plum, Clamans “ Quid sharp puer am I !” AT a recent Southern camp meeting the eloquent divine said : “ The wheels of the righteous shriek and groan as they toil up the hill of salvation and over the ruts of temptation and the bridge of damnation, and have to scrowdge pretty lively to get up at all ; but the sinner, with greased wheels and flying colors, slips down to tarnation like a dose of oil, with a rip and a whizz, and raises no dust whatever.” Now who says oratory is a lost art ? 2 LIFE: Tue London Globe is remarkable for coherency. Speaking of a tree in Berlin, it says: ‘‘ Recently the seventeenth body of the seventeenth suicide was cut down from its branches.” Great Scott! Suppose the seventeenth suicide’s twenty-ninth body had been found there ! A FABLE FOR THE BRAVE. FLY, observing one day a sheep running with great rapidity from a forest, enquired : “What is the matter, my friend ?” “Matter enough !’” panted the Sheep, “ Dear Fly, in yonder wood. there is a Lion !” “Really? and what of that?” returned the Fly. “Surely, you are not afraid of a Lion ?” “And do you indeed not fear him?” gasped the sheep. “Certainly not ; to prove it, I will myself enter the wood.” The Fly hurried away, and returning after some time, continued : “You are right, my friend ; he is there; but really there is no occasion for fear. I conversed with him for some minutes, and I even flatter myself that it was I who annoyed him. Pray, do not be so timid !” At this moment a spider, who had just completed her web near by, appeared suddenly on the scene. The Fly turned pale, and, without warning, fainted quite away. The Spider, seizing him, bore him into her web, whence he never re-appeared ! “Alas! my friend,” sighed the Sheep, as he walked quietly away, “It is not so much what you are afraid of, as it is the being afraid !” " ILLUSTRATED ADVERTISEMENT. A MIDDLE-AGED MAN TO SELL STATUARY AT RETAIL must be well posted and have A x references, — West —st. comicbooks.com