Life, 1885-06-25 · page 11 of 17
Life — June 25, 1885 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 361 **The Main Cartoon ("No Imitation"):** depicts Aunt Dorothy scolding young George for mimicking Deacon Sprowl. The humor lies in the irony: she's angrily correcting him *while he's mimicking her*—she doesn't realize the person she's addressing isn't actually George but Deacon Sprowl doing an impression. It's a classic setup for mistaken identity comedy common to turn-of-century humor magazines. **The Poetry and Fables:** The page includes satirical verse ("Man's Advantage") mocking gender dynamics, and "Fables for the Times"—mock-serious tales with absurd morals. "The Discontented Crow" parodies Aesop's fables with a deliberately nonsensical conclusion. These appear designed to gently mock contemporary social pretensions and self-help culture through exaggerated, pointless "wisdom." The advertisements scattered throughout are part of Life's satirical format, sometimes poking fun at advertising itself.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
NO IMITATION. Aunt Dorothy, who did not see the Deacon come in: Now, GEORGE, YOU JUST STOP MIMICKING DEACON SPROWL. YOU AND THE CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS DOIN’ IT AND IT'S A BAD EXAMPLE FOR 'EM. Advertisers will at once see the advantage of our system (copyrighted in the office of the Village Librarian, at Wayback Junction) when reminded that our reports appear regularly in 108302} newspapers. A few copies of that interesting holiday book— The Weather Reports of 1876 "—can still be obtained at this Bureau. Price $2.84 each. Wallace Peck, 23d Asst. Weathermaster General. MAN'S ADVANTAGE, AN’S fondest, purest love on earth Can find fit object for its worth; To woman he may turn his art, And worship her with all his heart, And image her, complete and whole, A lovely goddess in his soul ! While she, poor thing, as best she can A patch-work god must make of man ! FABLES FOR THE TIMES. THE DISCONTENTED CROW. CROW that was dissatisfied with his natural com- plexion consulted the oracle at Delphi as to the best means of making himself white. The oracle advised him to bathe twice a day for ten years. The crow had not taken a bath for fifteen years, and on that account had become rather dirty and. disreputable;.but his daily ablutions soon made him clean and respectable; and though he never became white, he was regarded as an ornament to society. He lived to a green old age, and died full of years and honors and amusing anecdotes. MorRAL: This Fable teaches. that a man who digs into a mountain side after silver and finds nothing but gold, should not weep over his disappointment. THE FOX AND THE STEER, FOX once decided to go into the cattle business, and bought a Texas Steer; and in order to secure his property, tied the Steer’s tail tohis own. The Texas animal comicbooks.com