Life, 1884-02-21 · page 7 of 16
Life — February 21, 1884 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 105 This page contains **serialized fiction**, not political satire or cartoons. It's Chapter VIII of a story involving characters named Marietta, Augustus, and a Marchese, with plot points about elopement, dogs, a cat, and travel to America. The three illustrations are **narrative drawings** accompanying the story: 1. A couple in period dress with the caption "You must leave immediately," she said" 2. A woman at a desk or table 3. A silhouette of lovers in a boat on moonlit water, captioned "The lovers meantime sped across the moonlit sea" These are conventional story illustrations of the era, not satirical content. The page represents Life magazine's literary serialization function—common in 19th-century periodicals—rather than its more famous satirical cartoons about politics and society.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
> LIFE: The Princess was the only person who had any real influence over Augustus. She still kept a warm spot in her heart for him, though she could whisper in her husband’s ear truly enough the words, “ Ja Viublé tui.” She always spoke to him in Russian at night, devoting an hour a day to each of the European lan- guages, so as to keep him in prac- tice tor his diplo- matic profession. As soon as she came to Sorrento she “smelt a rat.” zs phe. new _ that ““you MUST LEAVE IMMEDIATELY a Augustus was er- Saevsnapy : ratic and she took him aside. “You must leave immediately,” she said. “T shall fall in love with you again if you do n’t.” Augustus, however, was drifting with the tide. Mar- ietta was the tied. He answered Donna Dianamaria in Romany. She understood his meaning and deter- mined to tip over her inkstand when it was time to give the alarm. That was a partially Lutheran meas- ure, and her brother would thus get an inkling. There were no carpets on the floor. The servants could wash it up afterwards. CuapTer VII. UGUSTUS saw that Marietta was not happy with her husband. He was a philanthropist, at least so far as the feminine | portion of humanity was concerned. He persuaded himself that if Marietta wanted to elope, it was Kismet that he should help her. So he made all his arrangements. He left the Marchese’s villa, and the Prin- cess went home. The Marchese. Macaroni | was not by nature | suspicious. He kept | two dogs and a cat. | The cat was named | Hiddigeigeichtoxtolil- | xtochitl Kia-li Cha- | teau.* On the night chosen | by Augustus for the elopement, Marietta, to allay | ““*The author was personally acquainted with a cat who bore that polyglot name in 1824. Kia-li is the Chinese for cat. Chateau naturally means what a cat!’ “TO ALLAY SUSPICIONS, SANG FIRST A CREOLE SONG.” | afforded a box. | a blood-shot eye. | came to America. | the play that he forgot his vengeance. | killed by the earthquake. 105 suspicions, sang first a’ Creole song, then a duet entit- led, “ Guarda che bianca luna,” and at exactly eleven o'clock she said in French, “Dormes beang Bibolotse.” She always spoke French when she was affectionately disposed. Bibuloso soon afterwards heard the cat | mew, but he thought nothing of it. Cuapter VIII. T was a happy thought of Marietta to give the cat to the two dogs. It occupied their attention while she escaped to the boat which Augustus had waiting for her at the wharf. It was the cat’s mew | that the Marchese had heard. He was not fond of anything but opera, and Bark’s passion mewstc touched no kindred chords. He should have remembered Shakspere’s “* Thrice the brindled cat hath mewed.” But his cat was not brindled. The lovers meantime sped across the moonlit sea in a boat rowed by six brigands. Augustus had provided ham ‘sandwiches, since he knew from previous experi- ences of the sort that Marietta would bring nothing but heaps of handkerchiefs and hairpins and Cologne water. “What would you like now ?” he asked, after she had fainted for the first time. “0,” said she, “I | hanker chiefly for a handkerchief.” They landed at Casamicciola. It was the day of the earthquake. They went to the theatre together. They would have sat in a box if Augustus could have Just as the play was about to begin they saw the Marchese enter, with a sallow cheek and They fancied that they saw the gleam of a pistol in his eye. ‘They slipped out and The Marchese got so interested in He was not What is the moral ? Ask it of that black-haired old man who drives daily on the Pincio with a young Italian bride by his side. Ask it of the Princess who is now married for the third time, to an English lawyer. Ask it of Mr. and Mrs. Augustus Whatincom, who | might be living in Chicago together if they had not | quarreled before they got there. They all will answer there is none. ‘THE LOVERS MEANTIME SPED ACROSS THE MOONLIT SEA.”