Life, 1884-04-17 · page 7 of 16
Life — April 17, 1884 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Vaulting Ambition" Cartoon Analysis This satirical cartoon depicts a domestic scene titled "Vaulting Ambition." A young woman (Jane) arrives late to breakfast, claiming her room was so cold she couldn't dress quickly, and expressing envy of fire engine horses who can dress in seconds. The joke mocks the era's leisurely upper-class lifestyle and gendered expectations. Jane's elaborate morning routine and complaint about minor domestic discomfort contrast absurdly with her stated ambition to be as efficient as a working animal. The cartoon satirizes both the impracticality of women's fashions (requiring lengthy dressing time) and the gap between aspirational claims and actual behavior among the leisure class. The accompanying text provides household management advice, typical of Life's satirical approach to domestic life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VAULTING AMBITION. Paterfamilias : WELL, JANE, ARE N’T YOU COMING TO BREAKFAST AT ALL? YOU’RE AN HOUR LATE NOW. Jane: Ir WAS SO COLD IN MY ROOM I COULD N’T DRESS. I wisH I was A FIRE ENGINE HORSE; IT ONLY TAKES THEM TWO SECONDS TO DRESS, AND THERE ’S A FIRE ALWAYS READY FOR THEM. flannel, and keep a brick on the cover. This will avoid any further trouble. Great care should be taken in the choice of pictures for the baby’s bedroom. A dear little girl, in her second year, was once scared into epileptic fits by waking up in the night and catching sight of General Butler’s portrait which hung on the wall opposite her crib. Many housekeepers do not understand the cause of the mysterious brown stains which so often disfigure their handsome tablecloths, and the origin of these has occasioned much conjecture. After studying this matter long and carefully we have come to the conclu- sion that they generally appear after a near-sighted person has helped himself to the gravy, or an enthusi- astic novice has been carrying the roast duck. Economical husbands who are compelled to polish their own shoes every morning will be thankful to learn of something which will spare them blackened fingers and aching arms. It has often been suggested to use milk instead of water when moistening the blacking paste; but even then, polishing is a slow and disagreeable task. All trouble and inconvenience can be avoided simply by wearing patent-leather shoes and none other. CHEZ GUBBINS. T was the sweet Spring time, and the hail beat against the window panes and the wind howled so that Mr. and Mrs. Gubbins felt more than usually contented and placid as they sat before their bright, cheerful fire. Mr. Gubbins was deep in. the politics of the New York Hérald, while his wife, who was reading in one of the other sheets of that circus-tent-like daily a column headed “The Drama,” at last looked up with a puzzled expression and said : “John, here’s an extract from an English paper criticising the Yankee pronunciation of Mary Ander- son, and it says that she makes the word ‘yonder’ thyme with the name of the male goose; now how under the sun can she twist ‘yonder’ into anything like ‘drake’?” Mr. Gubbins looked thoughtfully over his spectacles into the fire, shook his head slowly, and answered : “It must be a mistake, my dear, or a misprint ; those literary fellers and compositors are an ignorant, careless set, you know.” A FASHIONABLE writing-stick—The stylograph. comicbooks.com