Life, 1886-01-01 · page 7 of 16
Life — January 1, 1886 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of "Life" Magazine Page 7 The main illustration, titled "Making it Pleasant for a Foreigner," depicts what appears to be Native Americans sharing a peace pipe or similar ceremonial object with a European explorer or settler. The sketch style is characteristic of early 20th-century satirical illustration. The accompanying text discusses Henry Hudson's exploration and naming of rivers, including details about his journey up the Hudson River and subsequent disappearance. The satire appears to target the romanticized or comedic portrayal of "civilizing" encounters between Europeans and Native peoples—depicting the interaction as quaint or amusing rather than acknowledging the colonial conquest and displacement involved. The smaller text items below discuss unrelated topics (chiropody, theater, poetry), typical of Life's miscellaneous content format.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: name. This is sometimes corrupted to “North,” a name which is thought in these degenerate days to be a more ex- pressive designation for a river that flows south. Hudson desired to name the East River Hendrick, after a dear friend of his, but he was prevented on ac- count of certain political reasons which we forbear discussing. The ascent of the river was continued until Sep- tember 17th, when the Half- Moon cast anchor off a point which, in accordance with the Captain’s ideas of nomenclature, was chris- tened and is still known as “Hudson.” It is fortunate that the English explorer did not stop more frequent- ly, as his startling original- ity and diversity of nomen- clature might have been ‘ confusing and made his name a drug on the market. In Hudson’s own opin- jon he was now, certainly, in the long sought for pas- sage to India, and he is said to have mistaken the falls at Cohoes for the cataracts of the Ganges. His en- thusiasm amounted almost to lunacy when Troy was seen in the distance, re- nowned to this day for its laundries, and thus easily mistaken by Hudson for the land of the Celestial Empire. Unfortunately, the lateness of the season, and unnavi- gability of the river beyond this point, compelled him to cease further investigation here, and having partaken of the hospitality of the Indians who dwelt in the neighborhood of Albany, which he returned by cheating them out of all they owned, Hudson started once more on his homeward trip, and on the 23d of September left our shores for- ever. MAKINO IT PLEASANT FOR A FOREIGNER. He disappeared from public life some years later, in a row- boat, in which he was placed by a mutinous crew in the Arc- tic regions. Several decades later he was said to have opened a bowling alley in the Catskill Mountains, where, if a certain champion liar, Van Winkle by name, is to be believed, he does a thriving business. Thus was the only genuine discovery of the great metropolis made. SOUTHERN chiropodist is worth $15,000, It is rare that a man amasses such a fortune from achers not hereditary. R. HENRY IRVING is now playing Mephistopheles in London to crowded houses. The walk of the distinguished actor, painfully suggestive of a path strewn with red hot gridirons, should contribute largely to his success. = TERLING has been tested again, and if not virgin ore, yet his “ring” seems to have been found satisfactory upon the second trial. 3 “ HE Secret of the Snow” is a recent poem. The se- cret was discovered long ago by the man who lives in the centre of a block, and awakes to find his own sidewalk covered two feet deep, while his neighbor’s, on : either side, are untouched. comicbooks.com