Life, 1884-10-09 · page 11 of 16
Life — October 9, 1884 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 207 **The Cartoon (top):** Two young men discuss matches one is chewing. The second explains he's been at Richfield Springs (a mineral spa) and is now chewing sulfur-end matches to "taper off" from the water he was drinking there—a joke about the supposed medicinal properties (and taste) of mineral springs water. The humor lies in the absurd logic of substituting one unpleasant substance for another. **"The Liars' Club Discuss Eggs":** This is a tall-tale humor piece where club members compete with increasingly ridiculous fabrications about extraordinary chickens. One describes a hen laying 24 eggs daily for 25 years; another claims an aunt's hen that could lay eggs in any prepared style (poached, scrambled, omelette) without human intervention. The satire mocks the exaggeration common in boastful storytelling. **Other items:** Include poetry ("The Pansy"), a reference to Marie Antoinette, and a political epitaph (the "J.G.B." reference remains unclear without additional context).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
First Young Man: END OF THOSE MATCHES IN YOUR MOUTH ? Second Young Man: WELL, You THE PANSY. OU are proud, fair flower, of your faultless face, As bright as the sunlit skies, You are proud of your rare patrician grace, And your star-like violet eyes. And while I gaze at the poise of your head On the stem so regally set, I think of the haughty queen long dead, La belle Marie Antoinette ! Yet I love you well in spite of your pride, For, amid the dusk and dew, Last night, in a whisper, my Confided her secret to you! CLINTON SCOLLARD. ect, dark-eyed, WAITING FoR A Boost—The Bartholdi Goddess. POLITICAL EPITAPH FOR THE IDES OF NOVEMBER— Hic jacet J. G, B.—Peace to his Ma(i)nes. BILL, Goop HEAVENS! CHARLIE, WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU PUTTING THE SULPHUR I'VE BEEN SPENDING MY VACATION AT RICHFIELD THE LIARS’ CLUB DISCUSS EGGS. | | At the meeting of the Liars’ Club held at the residence of Struckdum Timkins last evening the subject of eggs was broached. Saphirus Elkins remarked that he once owned a Cochin | China that had been on his father’s farm for twenty-five years and held the belt as champion eggster of the coop. “Why,” said he, “that hen could lay twenty-four eggs a day and not half try, but she had one great fault. In sum- mer she suffered from the heat so much and was so old and tough that her eggs were all hard boiled when laid.” Having delivered himself of this story, Saphirus leaned back in his chair and gazed calmly at the medal on the table. Ananias Barnum smiled serenely and said that was noth- ing. His aunt had a hen once that could lay any kind of an | egg—poached, scrambled, boiled or omelette. The Barnum | hen, furthermore, did n't confine itself to laying eggs, but hatched them, too—fricaseed, broiled, or in any style. They | had to kill her finally as she was not a discriminating poult, comicbooks.com