Life, 1885-05-07 · page 6 of 16
Life — May 7, 1885 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 258 The main cartoon depicts "The Mahdi" captioned "What! English girls here, too!" adapted from the Melbourne Punch. The Mahdi was a Sudanese Islamic military leader who led a revolt against British colonial rule in the 1880s. The image shows him as a skeletal, threatening figure confronting English women, satirizing Victorian anxieties about colonial conflicts and the vulnerability of British subjects—particularly women—in imperial territories. The cartoon reflects contemporary concerns about British imperial expansion and the dangers colonists faced from indigenous resistance movements. The exaggerated, dehumanizing depiction of the Mahdi was typical of period racism and served to justify imperial military campaigns. The satirical point appears to mock both the Mahdi's surprise and British complacency about colonial vulnerabilities.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
*- LIFE: FABLES OF THE TIMES. THE POLAR BEAR AND THE SURVIVOR, A POLAR Bear one day remarked to his family as he | stepped out of his ice cabin: “ Well, I must go and hunt up another Survivor; there ‘s nothing left of the last one but the left flank and a few spare-ribs. They are getting rather stingy down South. They don't send us enough Survivors to make up real swell dinners for Thanksgiving Day and Christmas.” After a short walk the Polar Bear found a half-starved Sur- vivor sitting on a chunk of ice and lunching on a super- annuated pair of brogan shoes. “Well, you are a Survivor of the last Arctic expedition,” remarked the Bear. “ Now, you come up here in order to be hunted up and adver- tised, but you'll find that it can't be made to pay. If you had stayed at home, you could have had yourself hunt- ed up by stealing a mule, and you might have been adver- tised to your heart's content by running for office. Now, this is a poor country for a sensible man to settle in. It won't sprout black-eye peas, and if you stay here you ‘ll be patching a poor man's breeches as long as you live. I advise you to go home; but I never give advice free. You must pay for this, and I shall now proceed to collect my fee.” Then the Polar Bear seized the Survivor, carried him home and ate him for supper. MorRAL: The intrinsic excellence of good counsel often | dignifies its obscure course; and the Walrus and the Polar Bear are perhaps intellectually competent to advise some of the North Pole pilgrims. WASHINGTON TERRITORY has a “haunted saloon.” The quality of Washington Territory whiskey precludes the | idea that the saloon is haunted by spzréts. The Mahdi; WHat! ENGLISH G/RLS HERE, 1 {Adapted from the Afelbourne Punch.) roo! THE POLYRAMINOID, HE Polyraminoid is a shaggy little animal confined to a limited range in Central Africa, and has not yet been classified, but will doubtless be fully described by some fu- ture naturalist. The most startling peculiarity of the Poly- raminoid is its mode of defense. When an enemy approaches, it at once turns itself inside out and roars defiantly at the intruder from its improvised fortress. A little Polyraminoid was sauntering leisurely along one day when a tiger suddenly appeared upon the scene. The Polyraminoid instantly in- verted itself, and after giving a defiant yell, communed with itself: “Surely, some kind power watches over me. How lucky it is that Ican thus defy all enemies. I surpass the greatest military leaders of the age, for I carry my redoubts and fortifications with me. A few minutes ago I was ex- posed to danger; now I am entrenched in’ an impregnable position.” The Tiger then came up and remarked: “I have always been a fastidious Tiger, and how lucky for me it is that the hair of this little Polyraminoid happens to be all on the in- side. Some kind fate has prepared me a feast of which I can partake without getting hairs in my teeth.” The Tiger began to work upon his unexpected banquet, and the Polyraminoid soon lapsed into a state of posthumous quietude. Mora: This Fable teaches that phenomena and events can be viewed from various standpoints, and intimates that even gratitude may be carried to excess. A HOST IN HIMSELF—The inn-keeper. WHERE EXTREMES MEET.—Lord & Taylor. *'TWIXT THE CUP AND THE LIP. AST night, at the rink, I made my confession. She had liked me, I think, Till last night at the rink: I felt her form sink— I let go with discretion, Last night at the rink We made an impression. ToL. H..B,: [I* answer to your query as to how the Statue of Liberty is getting on, we would say that she has nothing just at present to get on, but in other respects she is doing quite well, thank you. WLC. B. A Court House—The home of mar- | riageable daughters. comicbooks.com