Life, 1885-09-10 · page 9 of 16
Life — September 10, 1885 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Last Beaux of Summer": A Warning This page presents a poem warning young women about the dangers of summer romance. The illustration shows a group of men and women in late 19th-century dress gathered outdoors—likely a summer social scene. The poem personifies Cupid as worn out ("His arrows, deprived of; his bow, too, unstrung"), suggesting summer love is exhausted and unreliable. The warning addresses "girls of the woodlands"—young women—cautioning them that summer beaux are "as frail as the snow," meaning their affections are temporary and will disappear come winter ("de trop" = excessive/unwanted). The satire mocks the fickleness of summer romance and cautions women against taking seasonal suitors seriously, as their attention inevitably fades when the season ends.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE LAST BEAUX OF SUMMER. A WARNING, A" the last Beaux of summer come wending their way, Thro’ woodland and valley to sirens that slay. Young love lies a sleeping, with dolorous dreams Of how fickle fortune has o’erturned his schemes. His arrows, deprived of ; his bow, too, unstrung, In trouble, he's sleeping ; not needed among . The maidens who 've shattered the head and the heart Of their mates of the summer, now centless, apart. iths heed this warning and turn hence away, girls of the woodlands your senses betray, or the beau of the summer’s as frail as the snow, i n Adgust, exquisite; in winter, de trop. comicbooks.com