Life, 1885-03-19 · page 12 of 16
Life — March 19, 1885 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis: Life Magazine, Page 166 **The Main Cartoon** depicts a social satire about class pretension. "Miss Parvenu" (a newly rich person) apologizes to her mother for being rude to "poor little Mrs. Wilkins." The mother responds that maintaining "first society" status requires snubbing those outside it—the entire point of exclusive social membership is the ability to demean others. **"A Word of Warning"** satirizes diverging American and British English dialects. The piece humorously "translates" a Ben Jonson love poem into exaggerated cockney (London) and Americanized slang versions, predicting the languages will become mutually unintelligible. It's linguistic snobbery dressed as cultural anxiety. **"Science" Section** contains absurdist humor: sealing wax contains no wax; Cleopatra's Needle wasn't made by Cleopatra (obviously)—so perhaps Washington didn't design the Washington Monument either. The joke mocks pseudointellectual logic. **Minor Items** include puns ("Lady in Waiting"="old maid") and brief gossip anecdotes about social embarrassments.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Miss Parvenu: 1 WAS ALMOST SORRY, MAMMA, THAT YOU SPOKE SO RUDELY TO THAT POOR LITTLE MRS. WILKINS. Mamma: WELL, MY DEAR, PRAY WHERE ¢s TH ARE OUT OF IT? SATISFACTION OF BEING IN THE FIRST SOCIETY IF YOU CANNOT SNUB THOSE WHO | A WORD OF WARNING. ITH profound regret we notice the | insidious differentiation which has | already divided the English tongue into the | American and British dialects, and which un- | less soon checked will produce two distinct languages. The vernacular of the street, the parlor, and the hotel becomes, in time, the vehicle of classic literature. At the present rate of change, the day is not far off when Ben Jonson's exquisite love song will thus be rendered in London and New York. In Lonpon. Svig vith thy hoptics hunto me Hand hi vill raise my glass. Leave but ha kiss hinside your mug Hand hi ‘Il not call for Bass, “Ot coppers hof the ‘eart require The best ; vich H’Alsop’s is. Hah! Might hi split ha quart with thee Hi vould not change for fiz. IN New York. Put down the budge with but a wink, And I will see all your blind. Leave me an osculate and e’en To lager I'm resigned. A mental Katzenjammer needs A “ball,” that must be boss. With such, I 'd charge Dry Monopole To profit and to loss. W.E. S. F. “LADY IN WAITID An old maid. MANY MEN OF MANY MINDS.—The New York Judiciary. INTERESTING INTELLIGENCE FOR THE FAMILY CIRCLE—Gold has dropped to Pa. | SCIENCE. EALING wax, we are informed, does not contain a par- ticle of wax. And when we reflect that there are no parts of ceiling in its constituency, its name certainly seems a misnomer. . * . MONG the scientific notes of various contemporaries there has lately appeared the statement that Cleo- patra’s Needle was not erected in the t'me of nor by the order of the illustrious Queen. It will therefore not be inappropriate for all true minded scientists of our land, who cherish the memory of the Father of his Country, to give due and timely notice that the monu- , ment at Washington was neither erected nor designed by Washington himself, thus relieving him of all responsibility for the existence of such a monstrosity. And_ this fact should be graven deep upon every stone composing the monument, in every known hieroglyphic in existence, so that in the future ages when King Ptoletix I., of America, presents it to a friendly nation, that friendly nation may not cast ignominious reflections upon the architectural tastes of the great American President. Mrs, B—— said to a friend: “ My husband put a bright copper into the contribution plate last Sunday, when the usher came around, and he discovered the mistake at once.” And her friend has n't decided yet whether the discovery was made by Mr. B—— or the usher, ORDER OF THE BATH.—Soap and towels for one. comicbooks.com