Life, 1885-05-14 · page 12 of 16
Life — May 14, 1885 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 278 - Satire & Humor Analysis This page contains several distinct satirical pieces targeting late 19th-century American society: **"A New Cipher"** parodies the scholarly obsession with determining Shakespeare's true authorship. It mocks Mr. Ignatius Donnelly (a real figure who promoted the Bacon-Shakespeare theory) by absurdly proposing that Susan B. Anthony wrote Shakespeare's plays—then "proving" it through deliberately nonsensical mathematical gymnastics. The joke ridicules both pseudoscientific literary analysis and, implicitly, skepticism about women's intellectual capabilities by making the argument deliberately ridiculous. **"No Moral Responsibility"** satirizes Irish-American stereotypes and judicial leniency, depicting a drunk defendant (Murphy) claiming he made his promise while already intoxicated, thus bearing no responsibility. It mocks both alcoholism and legal excuses. **"War Notes"** contains cynical commentary on Russian naval capabilities and American commercial opportunism regarding potential foreign conflicts. The cartoons and poems throughout use humor to critique social pretensions, scientific charlatanism, and contemporary politics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
* LIFE: Prescription Clerk: YOU ARE.TO TAKE A TEASPOON- FUL BEFORE EACH MEAL—THREE TIMES A DAY. Nobody's Darl YA-A-S; BUT, BOSS, WHERE AM I TO GET THE MEAL! WILTING. HE gave the rose upon the spot, Her glowing eyes with love were lit, And life without it were a blot ; But yet 't is wilting bit by bit, And I must sort of wonder what In thunder I shall do with it. M.B. A NEW CIPHER. R. IGNATIUS DONNELLY demonstrates that Shak- speare's plays were written by Bacon, but a fuller investigation of the subject will show that they were written by Susan B. Anthony. The discovery that the author of the plays used a cipher is not at all astonishing. The cipher is the distinguishing badge of poets. It represents their bank accounts, their hoarded bonds, and their other forms of perishable and imperishable property. The cipher is a poet's signet ring, the cycle of his destiny, the rounded expression of his commercial solidity. But to return to Miss Anthony. She was Shakspeare’s private secretary, as is attested by a manuscript found in a sardine box of the period. And now for the cipher: Count up the letters of the first ten pages of Hamlet, raise the sum to the fifteenth power, extract the nineteenth root, cancel the first and last figures of the result ; then take in order the letters of the alphabet indicated by the figures, and the letters thus obtained will spell Susan. If you then find the logarithm of this result, using both whole number and decimals, and take, in order, the letters of the salphabet indicated by the figures, they will spell Anthony. There is one point worthy of notice: Take the first three letters of Susan, and they spell sws, which is Latin for hog, or Bacon. This might lead the superficial to infer that Bacon helped Miss Anthony on the plays; but the above is a mere coincidence that is liable to occur in the best regulated names and families. In any event, it is evident that Mr. Donnelly has touched only the outer rim of the colossal subject that is agitating the storm-centre of his massive and Gothic brain. THE DARK AGES. N those old days, when wrangling men Flung down their clanging gages, There were so many énights—since then They have been called dark ages. M.M.G. NO MORAL RESPONSIBILITY. UDGE—* Murphy, you are drunk again.” M.—“ Yesh, your-ronor.” |.—" Didn’t you solemnly promise me, when I let you off last time, that you would never get drunk again ?” M.—"Yesh, your-ronor, but I wush drunk at the time, your-ronor. I wushn’t ‘sponsible for what I shaid.” WAR NOTES. HE Russian Corvette in this port has no fear of torpe- does. The officers hang the ship's muster roll over the sides and find it more protection than all the netting in the British navy. * . F the Strelok and Garnet get fighting hereabouts, we doubt not some enterprising Yankee will buy up the coast line, and advertise “ Front Seats for the War.” DEDICATED TO THE AMEER OF AFGHANISTAN. comicbooks.com