Life, 1884-09-04 · page 3 of 16
Life — September 4, 1884 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Elements of Tragedy" - Life Magazine Page 129 The cartoon satirizes domestic infidelity. A woman (Miss Bellefille) has been driven to a man's house by Mr. Jollyboy, prompting her husband Thomas to ask pointedly where she's been all afternoon—"as usual." The illustration shows the guilty parties in a carriage, while the wronged husband stands alone on the road, a visual representation of betrayal and exclusion. The accompanying poem "Our Village Belle" by Peter Penniless reinforces the theme: it describes a flirtatious village woman who attracted suitors but ultimately married someone else, leaving the narrator lamenting his loss ("Woe is me!"). The page combines visual and literary humor to mock both marital infidelity and romantic disappointment in a small-town setting.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE ELEMENTS OF TRAGEDY. Mrs. Jollyboy: 1S MISS BELLEFILLE AT HOME, THOMAS? Thomas: NO, MUM, SHE'S DRIVEN OVER TO YOUR HOUSE THIS AFTERNOON, AS USUAL. Mrs. Jollyboy: AS USUAL! WHY, I HAVEN'T SEEN HER FOR WEEKS. WHO DID SHE GO WITH? Thomas: WITH MR. JOLLYBOY, MUM. OUR VILLAGE BELLE. lL HE was our village belle. Hear me tell How she flirted with the teacher And the single village preacher And the swell. IL. She said she was eighteen. Was I green? Sev'ral slender streaks of gray That through her hair did stray Could be seen. IIL. And to church she often went, Most intent On all the preacher said, And at his prayers her head Low she bent. Iv. Then she'd glance across the aisle At the style That the village swell would fling, And she ‘d think to win a ring And his pile. Vv. And then behind her fan She would scan The teacher’s jealous look, As his face rose o'er his book, Thin and wan. VI. But she wed none of these three, Woe is me! For my father wooed another And I have a second mother, It is she! PETER PENNILESS, comicbooks.com