Life, 1884-01-10 · page 11 of 16
Life — January 10, 1884 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Sabbatarian" — Life Magazine Satire This is a scathing critique of New York's Sabbath laws, specifically those championed by jurist **David Dudley Field**. The cartoon depicts a drunk man who embodies the absurd contradiction these laws created. **The satire's point:** New York law permitted only two Sunday activities—church or getting drunk—while prohibiting libraries, museums, theaters, and art galleries. The poor, unable to afford church or improve themselves culturally, were effectively forced to saloon-drinking. **The targets:** Field and the "Sunday Closing League" (a religious reform movement) are mocked for their hypocrisy: they claimed moral authority while their laws actually *encouraged* drunkenness among working people. The closing section's dark joke—that the devil governs Sundays—suggests religious reformers have created the opposite of their stated goals. This reflects 1880s-90s tensions between Protestant moral legislation and urban working-class leisure, portraying such laws as tyrannical rather than righteous.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: ‘ POPULAR SCIENCE CATECHISM. No. XV.—The Sabbatarian. HAT is this? This, dear, isa gentleman who has been trying to observe the Sabbath. He seems to be very tired? Very. And his breath—whew ! That is the odor of sanctity, my precious. But it smells like very bad whiskey. So it does. He has been drinking, then? So it seems. But I thought you said he had been trying to observe the Sabbath? I did. But how? According to law. But how according to law? Why, by the laws of the State of New York, framed by that broad-minded jurist, Mr. David Dudley Field, there are only two ways of spending the Sabbath. What are they? Going to church or getting drunk. Or both? Yes. But why does not the gentleman go to a library and | improve his mind? | It is against the law. | Go to the museum? Against the law. To the art gallery? Against the law. To the theatre? Against the law. Stay home? His home is one cheerless, ill-ventilated room, and he is driven from it by loneliness. But are not the saloons closed on Sunday by the same wise law ? Oh, yes. Then, how did the gentleman get in? By the back door. But why does he not go to hear the good, pious preacher? Because it makes him tired. Then he is a big exception to the rule, is he not? Oh, yes. How many other exceptions are there in the city ? About 850,600, My ! but are there so many who do not go to church? Yes, And how many would go to the libraries, museums, theatres and art galleries tf they were opened? About 1,000,000. Then why does not the majority rule? Because we get such wise and good gentlemen as Mr. Field to frame our laws, and send chuckleheads to Albany to endorse them. But the poor people who work hard all the week? Well? They do not want to go to church all Sunday? Scarcely. What can they do? Get drunk. But for recreation? The law forbids recreation to the poor. Why? Ask Mr. Field and the Sunday Closing League. But is this not a free country? Oh, no. But, I thought it was? You were wrong. What ts it, then? An absolute monarchy. By whom governed? On week days by Mr. Jay Gould and Mr. John Kelly. And on Sundays? By the saloon keepers and parsons. But is there no supreme authority over all these! Oh, yes. Who? The devil. HAND AND GLOVE. Great SwELL (at an evening party): “You have dropped your glove, Miss.” Sentimental Spinster: “ Thanks.” (Sudden thought): “Can he mean anything?” STantey has discovered a river in Central Africa called Kissmelonga. It cannot be very far from Lake Myum-nyum. A MEDICAL journal says, “ Much of the distress and | sickness attributed to dyspepsia is occasioned by hum- or in the stomach.” This is believed to be an awful grind on the paragraphers who have said funny things about the doctors. A CORRESPONDENT asks if John Swinton hasn't a middle name. Certainly. It is I. Tue Japanese have taken to using patent medicines. | The Japanese must go. comicbooks.com