Life, 1885-08-13 · page 3 of 16
Life — August 13, 1885 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "That Birthday" - Life Magazine, Page 87 The cartoon depicts three women discussing age in a humorous domestic scene. Miss Bettie complains she can't remember if she's twenty-five or twenty-six. Auntie corrects her: Uncle Joe says Bessie was born in twenty-six and is only thirty-five; Jane shouldn't claim to be crazy since she's also thirty-five; and Bettie wasn't born until fifty—making her only thirty-five as well. The joke satirizes women's tendency to lie about their ages and the contradictions that arise when multiple women claim the same age. It reflects early-twentieth-century social anxiety about aging and women's vanity regarding appearance, a common theme in period humor. The cartoon mocks the absurdity of women's coordinated deception about birthdays.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THAT BIRTHDAY. Miss Besste: TELL ME, AUNTIE, AM I TWENTY-FIVE OR TWENTY-SIX TO-DAY. I NEVER CAN REMEMBER. Auntie: WHY, BESSIE, YOU OUGHT N’T TO FORGET WHEN YOU WERE BORN—YOU ARE TWENTY-SIX. BESSIE BORN IN TWENTY-SIX! Uncle Joe (who ts a Itttle deaf): WAS N’T BORN TILL FIFTY: SHE IS ONLY THIRTY-FIVE. IT 1S FUNNY ENOUGH BUT WHY JANE YOU ARE CRAZY; SHE MIHI SATIS. ‘* Liege of all loiterers and malcontents."—Love's Labor Lost. F loitering be sign manual of love, And ill-content with exercise another, Then write me down field corporal thereof ; Let who will be in indolence my brother. Beneath the shade I lie in prone idlesse, Deaf as a post to call for oar or tennis, Though Naiads don bewitching boating-dress And Dryads drape in webs like point de Venice. To rival Jehu I have no desire, Or galop like Guy Livingstone to cover, And with old maids on ant-hills to perspire On pic-nic fare—thank you, my day is over ! A gun? I'd rather wait for autumn’s feet And game that one can possibly put salt on ; The only pastime that agrees with heat Is that approved by dear old Izaak Walton! Let Amaryllis come—I "Il bait her hook While Chloe cools the claret in the sedges ; Phyllis can read from Keats‘or some such book And Daphne rifle wild blooms from the hedges. Content with all or one I pass the time— Stay, add a pipe, the chicken and crisp salad ; If these be not fit themes for summer rhyme I'll take to drink and—never print this ballad. John Moran. HE President has appointed a Mr. Chinn to a Custodian- ship in Baton Rouge. It seems to us that Chinn would find a more appropriate place in Congress. THE cup that inebriates but don’t cheer—Hiccup. | THE most striking thing in the way of bronze mantel | ornaments—A clock. comicbooks.com