Life, 1885-07-16 · page 10 of 16
Life — July 16, 1885 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page 38 of Life Magazine - Content Analysis **The Cartoons (top):** Two sequential panels satirize a socialite named Clare attending a tennis party. Panel 1 shows her trespassing through a farmer's turnip field as a shortcut; Panel 2 depicts her fleeing from an angry farmer with a weapon. The humor lies in the contrast between genteel leisure activities and harsh rural reality—the farmer's violent reaction to trespassing undermines her upper-class presumptions. **"Rondeau" Poem:** A satirical poem about wealthy idlers discussing drinking and leisure while claiming poverty, then casually expecting to borrow money from a wealthy uncle. It mocks aristocratic pretense and financial irresponsibility. **"The Old and the New" Essay:** A scathing critique of class inequality, sarcastically arguing that 1776's ideal of equality has been abandoned. The author attacks wealthy society's treatment of poor clerks (like "Thomas Grubb" earning $5/week) as inferior beings, comparing their status to demons versus archangels. The piece condemns this moral hypocrisy in contemporary American society. Together, the page satirizes class privilege and social inequality in late 19th-century America.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
(1.) BEING A TRIFLE LATE FOR THE TENNIS PARTY, CLARE TAKES A SHORT CUT ACROSS FARMER MANGEL- URZEL'S FIELD, “GIT OUT O’ THEM TURNIPS!” (2.) CLARE GETS OUT OF THE “TURNIPS,” BUT IS OBLIGED TO ACT ON THE DEFENSIVE. RONDEAU. PAL of mine, where can we pass An hour or two with foaming Bass, Or some such stuff which softly slips Between a toper's thirsty lips ? The man who labors is an ass. Our wits are not so dull and crass ; We'llsit and fabricate a mass Of mots, while each his nectar sips, O Pal of mine. But stay! Have we the minted brass ? My pocket is quite bare, alas ! One of thy periodic trips Unto my uncle’s will the chips Procure. He’s fond of all thy class, Opal of mine. THE OLD AND THE NEW. HE revisers of the Old Testament are plainly men who appreciate the necessities of the times, and who see that the hereafter should not lag behind while the present is pushing on in the march of advancement. The old idea, prevalent in 1776, that all men, excepting New Jerseymen, were created free and equal has long since been exploded. No one who considers himself any one, and who is admitted into polite society, would now claim that a Bowery clerk on | $5 a week is the equal of Mr. S. Van Rensselaer Fitz-Royon an unlimited income. There is a gulf between these two men which cannot be bridged unless the clerk should hit a capital prize in a big lottery, or unless Mr. Fitz-Roy should try to carry more stock than his margin will cover. Leaving these accidents out of the question, the fact remains that in this world the wealthy man of society is as far above Thomas Grubb, the clerk, as the archangels are above the demons of the lowest hell. To this lowest hell the clerk will go if he misbehaves him- comichooks.