Life, 1884-09-04 · page 7 of 16
Life — September 4, 1884 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of "Life" Magazine Page 133 This page contains a single cartoon depicting a countryside encounter between a well-dressed horseman and a farmer with his companion. The farmer (Thomas) explains to the horseman (labeled "Farmer") that he and "my young lady" had "a little tiff this morning" and are now separated—he's walking one direction while she rides ahead. The humor relies on misunderstanding: the horseman assumes the woman riding alone represents impropriety, but Thomas clarifies this is their normal arrangement after quarrels. The cartoon satirizes Victorian social conventions and middle-class anxieties about propriety and respectability. The joke depends on the reader's awareness of period attitudes regarding unmarried couples' public behavior and proper social decorum.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Farmer: LOOK-A-HERE—STRANGER! WHY DON 0’ YOURN DON’T LOOK NO WAYS BLOWED. Thomas DO N’T UNDERSTAND, SIR. WHEN THEY TAKES THEIR HEAD, SIR, LEAVE 'E | “Tt was temporary aberration of mind,” explained the prisoner. “The highest medical experts have testified that a red nose is conclusive evidence of insanity, now,—" “Perhaps that accounts for the horrible sights that you | seemed to see on your way to the station-house ? id, Gulliver, you had a ‘ brick in your hat," “Yes, your Honor, I £now I did. keep my hair from standing on end. ened in all my —” “ Well, what caused your overweening desire to sit down, and your inability to promenade with the officer ?” “ Paralysis, Judge, paralysis! Only listen to me, and I can explain it all. Yesterday afternoon I was struck completely paralytic by lightning, anrd——" “TI believe you,” interrupted His Honor, with a sigh. “Lightning, no doubt. ‘Jersey lightning!’ Blackwell's Is- land is about as weil insulated as any place I know of—unless you happen to have ten dollars with you.” Tam I never was so fright- I put it there myself to | _! sua stetrin OU KEEP ALONGSIDE O’ YOUR GAL? THAT 'ERE CRITTER ME AND MY YOUNG LADY HAS HAD A LITTLE TIFF THIS MORNID TO SOLITOODE—THAT 'S MY WAY, “ Ten dollars!" gasped Mr. Jones. “Oh, now, you really —please—oh, I'm all in a daze.” “You 're right,” remarked the officer as he took his arm. “A sort of a ten daze.” And Gulliver started on his travels. A Bak relief—Seltzer. Very hard lines—Victor Hugo's, in manuscript. It is thought that the Plumed Knight's helmet will make an excellent bier vessel—after the election. Nor a transport of delight—The boat for Blackwell's Island. “Yes,” said Mrs. Spriggins, “I took in the Naughtycultu- ral Exhibition of flowers. Them narcotics from the South ' was beautiful.” comicbooks.com