Life, 1885-09-17 · page 7 of 16
Life — September 17, 1885 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page from *Life* magazine contains a single cartoon depicting a classroom scene. A teacher points to two circular diagrams on a blackboard while five students sit on a bench. The joke plays on a child's misunderstanding of evolutionary hierarchy. **The Humor:** The teacher asks what comes next to man on a scale of creatures. A small boy answers "his shirt," misinterpreting the question as asking about clothing rather than biological classification. This is a simple pun-based joke rather than political satire. **Context:** This reflects early 20th-century classroom instruction about evolution and biological hierarchies, presented through a child's innocent wordplay. The cartoon requires no specialized knowledge of current events—it's purely comedic, relying on the contrast between the teacher's scientific intent and the child's literal misreading.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Ss aM saad 2a Teacher: YES, MAN COMES HIGHEST IN THE SCALE, Small Boy: Teacher: WELL, WHAT 1S IT? Small Boy: His SHIRT! WHAT COMES NEXT TO MAN? UT wearied with what is new in fiction we still can turn with ever increasing pleasure to the masters. A new, popular edition of “ The Scarlet Letter” (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), is sure to receive an appreciative welcome. Itis printed from comparatively new plates and substantially bound as befits the greatest romance which our country has pro- duced, If the people once become thoroughly inoculated with Hawthorne they will be proof against cheap and worthless literature. The same firm have issued a similar popular edition of “Uncle Tom's Cabin,” from entirely new plates. * . * R. STEDMAN, in his essay on “The Twilight of the Poets,” says: “One of the finest elegiac poems of recent years, ‘ The North Shore Watch,’ is privately printed by Mr. Woodberry, who thus far has permitted the ordinary reader to know him only as a biographer and critical essay- ist." The author referred to is Mr. G. E. Woodberry, whose Life of Poe” was so successful last winter. He is a young Harvard man, who has written a great deal for the Nation and Afantic. His critical abilities are of the highest order and those who know him expect much from his future liter- ary work. HE short stories of Mr. Brander Matthews give sure promise that his novel, “ The Last Meeting” (soon to be published by the Scribner's in this country, and Unwin in London), will be skilfully wrought and admirably finished. Droch, BOOKS RECEIVED. Ad FAMILY AFFAIR, by Hugh Conway. New York: Henry Holt & Co. gg Zi Rite of Silas Lapham, by W. W. Howells. Boston: Ticknor Co. a Ai Bar # novel, by Mrs. Alexander, New York: Henry Holt | 0. A Social Experiment, by A. E. P. Searing. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, Memoirs of Caroline Bauer, from the German. Boston: Roberts Bros. Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. New Edition. Boston : Houghton, Mifflin & Co, } The Poems of Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Household Edition, with IWustrations. ston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Healey, a novel, by Jessie Fothergill. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Report of the Fire Department of the City of New York, 1884. AN EARLY RISER—Yeast. | comicbooks.com