Life, 1884-03-13 · page 10 of 16
Life — March 13, 1884 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "After the Ball" - Life Magazine Satire This is a humorous poem by "The Night Watchman" about romantic obsession following a formal ball. The two illustrations show: **Top image:** A night watchman discovering a young man sneaking back into the ball-room after hours, unable to sleep due to romantic preoccupation. **Bottom image:** The same young man searching the corner where he sat with a young woman, hoping to find a dropped ribbon or rosebud as a keepsake. The satire mocks the sentimental excess of Victorian romance—the narrator sympathetically understands this lovesick behavior ("I know the sensation, / For I've been there myself before"), but the poem's ending deflates the romance: the hall has been swept clean, and he must accept defeat. The joke targets both the romanticism of ballroom culture and the futility of chasing ephemeral romantic moments. The detail about "kerosene" odor adds mundane reality to the dreamy atmosphere.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AFTER THE BALL. BY THE NIGHT WATCHMAN, ND so you ’ve come back to the ball-room Long after the dancing is o’er ! Could n’t sleep—yes, I know the sensation, For I ’ve been there myself before. And so you climbed in at the window ! (I am glad there are no more spies) And you go straight back to that corner Where she looked up into your eyes! And there, where she sat in the corner, You are looking with eager face, ‘In the hope that she dropped a rosebud, Or a ribbon, or a bit of lace ! But, alas ! your search will be fruitless, For the place has been just swept clean ; So good-bye to the dingy ball-room, With its odor of kerosene.