Life, 1883-05-24 · page 11 of 16
Life — May 24, 1883 — page 11: what you’re looking at
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# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 249 This page satirizes the social nuisance of unwanted serenading—a 19th-century courting practice where musicians would perform outside young women's homes at night. ## The Main Article The text humorously describes Miss Sarah Finch of Marysville, Illinois, who solved the serenade problem violently: she jumped from her window onto the musicians below, killing the cornet player, injuring others, and destroying their instruments. The piece adopts mock-heroic language, comparing her to Curtius (a Roman hero who sacrificed himself for Rome), treating her as a public benefactor. ## The Satire The joke targets both persistent serenaders and inadequate laws against them. The author notes existing laws don't permit scalding musicians with hot water, so Miss Finch's solution—however lethal—becomes darkly comedic as the only "effective" remedy. The accompanying illustration shows the violent scene. The bottom poem, "Labore et Honore" (Labor and Honor), appears unrelated—likely a separate literary contribution praising honest work. This reflects genuine frustration with nighttime serenading as a widespread social problem of the era.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
be‘remarked that our laws do not permit of the scald- ing of even acornet-player, and until more enlightened legislation can be procured, the law-abiding citizen will hesitate to repel serenaders with hot water. What is needed is a method of checking a serenade and of inflicting severe punishment upon the serenaders without, at the same time giving them sufficient cause —in their own opinion—to tear down the house and assault the inmates. Such a method has recently. been invented by a young lady of Marysville, Illinois, and to her are due the thanks and admiration of. her sex. Marysville has for some years been infested by a gang of serenaders, consisting of a violinist, a cornetist, a flutist and a guitarist. This gang has been the terror of every household with a daughter. Beginning at nine o'clock in the evening, with the “Sweet By and By,” the serenaders have habitually gone from house to house until midnight, thus serenading, on an average, thirteen families every night, with the exception of Sundays. Nothing has hitherto intimidated them, and even when Esquire Jones—a choleric old gentle- men—lodged a charge of shot in the guitar, the guitar- ist promptly bought a new instrument, and suing Es- quire Jones for damages, serenaded his daughter with more vigor than ever. Last week the serenaders invaded the front yard of an estimable widow lady with a daughter, Miss Sarah Finch. Though Miss Finch is only eighteen she weighs one hundred and eighty-five pounds, and is a young person of great fearlessness and strength of character. On the night of the serenade which took place at about 9:30 P.M, the serenaders grouped them- selves under the second story window, appertaining to Miss Finch’s room, and standing close together, began the Sweet Bye and Bye. At the conclusion of the first verse the window opened and Miss Finch appeared, leaning out as if on the point of personally thanking them for their superb performances. In another mo- ment she had thrown herself heavily upon the seren- aders. She struck them with the momentum of a body of one hundred and eighty-five pounds falling through a space of forty-one feet. The result was more than even the most sanguine person would have anticipated. The cornet player was instantly killed, his neck be- ing broken. The violinist had his right collar-bone broken, and the two remaining members of the gang were severely bruised, the guitarist having sustained what there is reason to hope are fatal internal injuries. The guitar and violin wereirretrievably smashed, and the cornet was flattened to an extent that must render it permanently dumb, the flute alone escaping unin- jured. As for the noble, devoted Miss Finch, she was not hurt in the least, since she landed upon the heads of the gang, and her fall was thus broken. Serenading in Marysville has been, for the present, completely broken up, and if the example of Miss Finch should be followed by all other unusually heavy young ladies, the complete suppression of serenading thoughout the whole land, will be rendered certain. Miss Finch is the modern feminine Curitius, and the > LIFE: 249 time will come when a grateful people will rear to her a monument far more enduring than brass instruments. W. L, A. LABORE ET HONORE. “THERE is no genius epringing armed and ready Out of the caput of your lucky cove ; Like the grave goddess, calm, clear-eyed and steady, Born‘in the purple from the front of Jove ! No stately muse, discreet in lawn and laurel, Attunes with loving hand the lyre unstrung ; While her pet poet sighs or seeks a quarrel— October nightmares these that Musset sung ! If we may credit those who toil and suffer, Whose brains are neither fuddled, dyed, nor turned, Good Captain Fame’s a’practical old buffer, , ‘And only ships us with our passage earned. There sits your joss! The world kotows in wonder ! His happy wit seems ever on a spree, His lightest word reverberates like thunder. Alas! He ground it out—like you or me. Blind was his fate, as that which now compels you ! He climbed the golden staircase on his knees ! Ask him his secret—and your idol tells you, “Who sits cross-legged, sits not at his ease!” Our heaps of dust old Time comes turning, turning. Quick eye the cunning dotard ever bears ! The pious oyster’s modest pearl discerning, Prizing the toad’s one jewel that he wears ! And this same genius we are all adoring Is but the grace the Arab gained of old ; ‘The lamp’s familiar that, from rust restoring, Good labor—honést labor—shall unfold. T. R. SULLIVAN. comicbooks.com