Life, 1884-04-17 · page 11 of 16
Life — April 17, 1884 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers **The Cartoon:** The top illustration satirizes the effect of newly cheap cab fares in New York. A man sits atop a horse-drawn cab in an exaggerated, sprawled posture—the caption jokes that he's neither drunk nor epileptic, but has simply been shocked into this state upon learning his fare costs only fifty cents. The satire suggests that absurdly low cab prices were so surprising to New Yorkers accustomed to higher fares that the news itself was physically stunning. **The Text Below:** This appears unrelated—it's a humorous story about a poker game involving characters with comical names (Deacon Trotline Anguish, Mr. Cyanide Whiffles, Rev. Thankful Smith). The narrative mocks small-town poker play and dialect-heavy rural speech patterns common in period humor. The page demonstrates *Life* magazine's mix of satirical commentary on contemporary urban issues alongside comedic fiction.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ONE EFFECT OF CHEAP CABS IN NEW YORK. THIS GENTLEMAN IS NOT INTOXICATED, TOLD THAT HIS FARE IS ONLY FIFTY CENTS. NEITHER IS HE SUBJECT TO FITS. HE HAS MERELY BEEN if he were undecided whether to go fishing or write a message ; there is Queen Victoria, with an expression of countenance much resembling our New England friend Mrs. Pinkham ; Pope Leo is gazing with rapt admiration at Sara Bernhardt across the way, who holds in her hand a copy of Sara Barnum and “ wax- eth” exceeding wroth thereat ; the Prince of Wales tegards Mary Anderson intently ; there are others too, equally remarkable, but none more so than a figure which resembles John Kelly, Gambetta and Keifer, being a whole show in itself and well worth the half dollar required for admission. In the centre of the room are grouped the renowned painters, musicians and actors of a limited sphere of the world. Edwin Booth is easily distinguished from Mrs. Langtry, the latter wearing a blonde wig ; Washington is making his one hundredth (more or less) appearance in his trip a- cross the Delaware. Having wearied of this room we go down into the crypt, where most delightful horrors are pleasantly served, J. K. B. Aller bride en main—to allow your wife to go to Maine. R. TOOTER WILLIAMS opened the first jack-pot with a little hesitation and four white chips, Saturday evening. Deacon TROTLINE ANGUISH, who had strayed in under the, chaperonage of Mr. CyanipE WuiFFLES, and who apparently had jacks-up and a very superficial knowledge of Mr. WILLIAms, came in. Mr. Ruse Jackson felt a strong tempta- tion to put a plaster on the back of the wall-eyed king he had caught, hold him up with the deuces and try and pull something, but the studied indifference with which Mr. Witxiams gazed into space, made him lay down his hand and wish he were dead. Mr. CYANIDE Wuirr Les borrowed a blue chip from the Deacon “ jess —jess till de nex’ han’,” and came in and kept the change. Then all eyes naturally centred on the Rev. Mr. THANKFUL Situ, who, in addition to a barricade of chips which made Mr. WuiFFLEs’s mouth water, had a four flush and a cheerfulness of demeanor which boded no good. “Ez my fren’ Toor’s done open dat jacker,” he began, sweetly, “I rises hit.” So saying, he put up such a stack of blue chips that Mr. WutFFLes nearly fainted. “Whad yo’ go do dat for, Brer THANKFUL?” in- comicbooks.com