Life, 1884-02-07 · page 6 of 16
Life — February 7, 1884 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page features an engraving of a Native American statue with the headline "STATUE FOUND IN THE RUINS OF NEW YORK, AND RESTORED BY GEN. FRAS. CATTI DI MACCARONI." The satire appears to be a **reverse-archaeology joke**: imagining a future civilization discovering American ruins and mistakenly attributing a Native American statue to Italian General Francesco Caccini di Maccaroni as its "restorer." This mocks both the tendency to misattribute historical artifacts and perhaps contemporary debates about Native American heritage and representation. The accompanying narrative describes a romantic drama between characters named Philip, Miss Nougat, and others—seemingly unrelated to the statue itself, suggesting the magazine mixed serial fiction with satirical commentary typical of 19th-century humor publications.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: A. D. 3904 STATUE FOUND IN THE RUINS | OF NEW YORK, | AND RESTORED BY GEN. FRAS.- CATI DI MACCA. | RONI. IT THROWS MUCH UPON THE COS- ICAN WARRIORS OF THE XIX. CENTURY. and rose leaves. Philip had been playing tennis with Miss Nougat in the sunny court, and, after a closely- contested love-set, they had strolled aside to rest for a Miss Nougat had never looked more beautiful. head, which strikingly resembled that on the new five- cent piece in the exquisite grace of its poise, was sharply defined against the green background of leaves, and the.wind had blown her soft hair into delicate curls about her face. Philip, too, was handsome as a god; his clear, brown cheek was flushed with the fire. Miss Nougat could restrain herself no longer, and drawing closer to him, she murmured, gently: “A love-set! Ah me! And yet I don’t know that I mind playing love-sets with you, Mr. Delphia. There is something delightfully typical about it—suggestive of Cupid and that sort of thing, you know. O dear, Mr. Delphia! sometimes in my wildest, dreamiest musings I have dared to think that you do not look upon me unfavorably ; that the sweet vibrations of my heart are | hope ?” | enter together. | I have been guided by your advice, but my heart is | torn with anguish!” and with these words | Delphia cast one last, long look at Miss Nougat, who ' correspondent to similar vibrations of your own ; that the affection I have for you may not be unreciprocated. Mr. Delphia! Philip! Look at me! Speak! May | And Miss Nougat caught in her own the ivory fingers of that aristocratic Delphia hand, and waited eagerly for a reply to her impassioned appeal. All the subdued coquetry of Philip’s nature was roused to life ; and as he withdrew his hand from the fond Nougat grasp, and sought to hide his blushes behind his racket, he felt a thrill of delight and was about to steal a shy | glance at the fair wooer, when suddenly the clock in | the distant church tower told forth the hour of four, p.M. The charm was broken—he remembered to have heard a clock in his own home strike that hour, years before, and he seemed to see his doting mother, and to hear her imploring voice as she cautioned him against the wickedness of Massachusetts girls. Heavens! He was saved, but by what a narrow chance! He rose, and looking steadily at the lovely creature who sat awaiting his reply in keen suspense, he said: “ Dear Miss Nougat, do not think me lost to all sense of modesty and manliness when I tell you that I have long | suspected the tendency of your attentions, and have LIGHT , could wish, but my dear Mamma who foresaw the | dangers to which my innocent inexperience would be | exposed, and dreaded my being snapped up by a : Massachusetts harpy, entreated me not to yield to any TUMES or AMER- | consent. wished, O, so heartily, to be able to respond as you misguided affection and pledge my hand without her My dear Miss Nougat, believe me, I feel for you as a sister, and must confess that a purely platonic friendship with you would be most agreeable—but I cannot marry you! I adore you; I shall never forget you; but matrimony, alas! is a Paradise we cannot Adieu! Farewell! Dear Mamma! Philip was sobbing in grief and broken spirit, and, seizing his | racket, flung out of the garden and tore down the street. Presently Miss Nougat rose, and walked with hesi- tating steps to the gate, and saw of her lost Philip only | the soles of a pair of tennis shoes, and those, too, in while in a little vine-covered arbor, rackets in hand. | Her | perspective. She gazed and gazed until her great violet eyes were filled with tears, and her rosy lips just parted as she murmured softly, “I wonder if he knew that Grandpapa Cordonier left me two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in Government bonds ee % Just a year after this painful and affecting scene had | occurred in Cambridge, a fair June sun was shining in warmth of exercise, and his eyes shone with unwonted | Southern Pennsylvania, and a gentle June breeze was blowing through the pleasant quiet of a cemetery. In a dim, rose-perfumed corner there rose a granite shaft, and at its foot a gray-haired woman in the costliest of crape and Henrietta cloth was bowed in grief. She mourned a son, an only son ;—and finally stumbling to her feet, she leaned to trace with tear-dimmed eyes and a long, thin finger of black undressed kid the | carved inscription on the monument, which ran as | follows : comicbooks.com