Life, 1885-04-16 · page 12 of 16
Life — April 16, 1885 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 222 This page contains two satirical pieces and humorous shorts targeting 1890s American society. **"In Short"** (poem by R.W. Clarke): A comedic dialogue about courtship, likely referencing Shakespeare's *The Taming of the Shrew* ("Meg" and "Will" allude to characters). Part I shows a woman's frustration with an arrogant, domineering suitor. Part II reveals her conflicted acceptance despite reservations—satire on women's limited marriage options and resignation to social expectations. **"Spring Lamb with Caper Sauce"** (illustration): A grotesque caricature of a rotund man dining, surrounded by frolicking cherubs/putti. The exaggerated features and self-satisfied expression mock either wealthy gluttony or possibly a specific public figure (unclear from image alone). **"The Musical Mule"**: Satirizes both operatic snobbery and fraudulent artistic criticism. When a mule substitutes for an absent opera singer and produces terrible sounds, critics praise it as "Wagner" and the public applauds—mocking how fashion, not merit, drives cultural acceptance. The moral: people follow social convention over honest judgment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
IN SHORT. I E acts as if he owned the house ; I sit as quiet as a mouse. He speaks as though he were a king And I his page, or—anything. In short, I can’t abide him. He jokes in tongues I ‘ve never heard ; Quotes Greek and Latin—how absurd ! He stares me boldly in the face ; For my replies he leaves no space— In short, I'm dumb beside him. Il. He asks, do I remember still How I was Meg, and he was Will? Do I regret the kiss he took The day he fished me from the brook ? In short, I'd like to shake him. He asks me if I'd like to go And see what Europe has to show ? To change my name and station? Well— I wish—I fear—I cannot tell— In short, I guess I ‘ll take him! R. W. Clarke. SPRING LAMB WITH CAPER SAUCE. THE MUSICAL MULE. HILE a well-known English /mpressario was giving Italian opera in an American city, the retired Count who had the most overshadowing bass voice in the troupe suddenly fell sick from a surcharge of macaroni and some one had to be engaged to take his part. In this emergency the Impressario secured the services of an aged Mule who had a consolidation of the asthma and bronchitis. When the four- | footed singer had turned his voice loose on the crowd that had gathered to hear a popular opera, it sounded like a col- lision between an earthquake and a hardware store, and the | applause that followed was terrific. The leading paper of the city, published the following morning, contained a two-col- umn eulogy on the Mule’s maiden effort, under the heading, | “A Four-footed Nightingale,” and during the rest of the en- gagement the price of reserved seats advanced to $17. The result of it all was, the count was discharged, the Mule ob- tained a permanent engagement at $250 per night, and the T musical critic of the aforesaid leading paper took his overcoat out of the pawn shop and bought a new suit of clothes. It was the unanimous decision of the community that the “Wag- nerian cu/tus" had scored another splendid triumph. MoRAL: This Fable teaches that the “music of the future” is at present domiciled above the heads of the profanum vul- gus; and that it is““bad form" to be silent, when Fashion bids us applaud; besides playfully intimating that a good deal of lying is done at the high behest of good society. FLAGGING ENERGIES—Those of the Paving Department. THE AFGHAN QUESTION—What colored worsteds shall I use? “ MORPHINE Parties” are now fashionable in Paris. They are popular with dudes, who are thus enabled to appear on the same intellectual level with their hosts, comicbooks.com