Life, 1886-01-28 · page 12 of 16
Life — January 28, 1886 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Old Grief" and Related Satire **"The Old Grief"** depicts a gentleman confronting a boy named Jakey outside a church. The boy admits he's stopped attending Sunday school because "there's no fun there for me since you have stolen her"—suggesting the gentleman has either married or courted away Jakey's romantic interest, leaving the boy heartbroken and unable to enjoy wholesome activities. The page also includes **"The Aspiring Frog,"** a political fable mocking candidates who rely on bombastic rhetoric ("wind and gas and bluster") to win elections, then lose interest in actual governance once elected. The moral satirizes politicians' empty campaign promises. The **"Sportsmen's Vocabulary"** is wordplay humor—mock definitions where hunting and fishing terms have social commentary (e.g., "An awful miss—Anna Dickinson"; "The place for suckers—Wall street"). All three pieces target human vanity, broken promises, and romantic disappointment with gentle satirical humor typical of Life magazine's approach.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE OLD GRIEF. Gentleman with umbrella: WHY DON'T YOU COME TO SUNDAY SCHOOL ANY MORE, JAKEY ? Solitary One: OU, THERE'S NO FUN THERE FOR ME SINCE YOU HAVE STOLEN HER, SPORTSMEN’S VOCABU- LARY. HUNTING, ULL COCK—An intoxicated rooster. Half cocked—Six Manhattan cocktails. Dangerous game—Welch rare- bits. Well bored—A call from a poet. A good pointer—Buy “ Life.” An awful miss—Anna Dickin- son, A narrow miss—Sarah Bern- hardt. FISHING, Reeling in—Coming home after the “ Arion.” A big catch—A rich widow. A big bite—A Newark dog. A white perch—On top of asnow drift. To catch pouts—Chaff a pretty girl. The place for suckers—Wall street. Clarence Stetson. HE last that was by no means least is held by St. Louis men to have been made for a Chicago girl's boot. FABLES FOR THE TIMES. THE ASPIRING FROG. N old Frog went fishing one day and left her | young ones at home. During the day a Texas steer passed near the little creatures and nearly fright- ened them to death. At night when their mother re- turned they vainly attempted to give her some idea of the enormous monster which they had seen. “ Was it as large as this ?” asked the mother Frog, inflating herself to an unnatural size. “Oh, a great deal larger than that!” exclaimed the children. The old Frog then continued to inhale air and to inflate herself until she got as large as a circus bal- loon, when she suddenly discovered that she had lost | the combination and could not reduce her size when she tried. At this critical moment a gust of wind came along, and the old Frog was blown away like a soap bubble, and was never seen or heard of after- wards. Morac: This Fable teaches that the candidate who relies on rhetorical wind and gas and bluster to carry- ing him through is not apt to take much interest in the red paint market the day after election. NEXT MORNING. Fullboy (waking up): BY JIM'NY! FEEL KIN'ER SHTIFF AFFER ER RACKET. GUESSH GERRUP AN’ GE’ DRESHT. B-R-R-R! M’RIA MUSHT A TURNED OFF'ER HEAT. comicbooks.com