Life, 1884-03-27 · page 10 of 16
Life — March 27, 1884 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 178: Social Satire This page contains two distinct pieces of satirical content: **The Cartoons (top):** Sketch 1 shows "A Dear Old Gentleman" standing alone; Sketch 8 depicts "Combination"—a man sitting on stairs. These appear to be visual jokes with minimal accompanying text, their meanings unclear from the image alone. **"Mrs. Maloney Keeps Lent" (main text):** A dialogue between two Irish-American women discussing Lenten sacrifice. The satire mocks how Mrs. Maloney's family interprets religious fasting: they claim to "swear off" going to theaters and entertainment, yet immediately break this vow by attending a play starring Edwin Booth. The phonetic Irish dialect ("foine wheather," "phwat") was typical of period ethnic humor, depicting Irish immigrants as hypocritical about religious observance while maintaining good humor about their contradictions. The piece satirizes both casual Catholicism and Irish-American cultural stereotypes prevalent in late 19th/early 20th-century American magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A GEAR OLD GENTLEMAN 8. COMBINATION SNOW-TRACK. “ Ou sont les neiges d'autan !"’—FRaNCcoIS VILLON. T seems to-night as though I walked The olden, snow-clad way with you; It seems this hour as though I talked Of what the stars withheld from view. I feel again the white flakes crisp ‘And yield beneath our loitering feet ; I hear the Winter’s sere leaves lisp Suggestions of a Spring complete. Your clinging pressure binds my arm, Your blonde hair blows across my face ; Around me lingers all your charm, My soul responds to all your grace ; And then, lost love, the lights burn low, The chill is here, my pulses slack ; The way we two no more may know Has lost all memory of our track. ‘THE Charge of the Light Brigade.—The gas-bill. DAMAGING to the tiles.—Cricket on the Hearth. A “ jos” lot—Tammany heelers. J. M. MRS. MALONEY KEEPS LENT. » IS foine wheather we’re afther havin’ this Lint, Missus Maloney !”” “Thrue far ye, Missus McCarthy. Barrin’ the wit wheather, it’s bin a dhry saysin.” “ Have ye bin kapin Lint with arl yer accoostomed consisthency, Missus Maloney ?” “Wil, Missus McCarthy, Dinnis an’ me thought the quistion ovher an’ oi sez, ‘Dinny, darlint, phwat ‘ll we shwear off this year?’ ‘Shwear off,’ sez he; ‘phwat far?’ ‘Lint,’ sez oi. ‘So ’tis,’ sez he. ‘’T is phwat?’ sez oi. ‘Lint,’ sez he. ‘How many toimes hev ye bin ter the theayter?’ sez he. ‘None,’ sez oi. ‘Did ye go ter the Ould Gyard Ball?’ sez he. ‘ Divil a wan,’ sez oi. ‘Have oi tuk ye ter Dilmonico’s ?’ sez he. ‘ Niver, sez oi. ‘Thin,’ sez he, ‘we’ll shwear off goin’ no- phwere an’ commince goin’ somephwere.’ An’ with that he tuk me ter see Edwin Boots, the imminint tra- joodian, play Boucicault in the Fool's Revinge. That ’s how oi’m kapin Lint.” “Moi luv ter yer hoosband, Missus Maloney.” “The same ter yours. Wan fayre shwap ain’t no burglhary. Gudday !” And the two daughters of Erin parted. 2 J. K. B. ~ comicbooks.com