Life, 1886-02-25 · page 12 of 16
Life — February 25, 1886 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Satirical Railroad Cars (circa 1880s-1890s) This satirical piece imagines absurd specialized railroad cars for future transcontinental travel. The humor targets both emerging technology and contemporary social anxieties. The "Lyceum Car" mocks earnest self-improvement culture by mixing lectures with frivolous entertainment (dog fights, roller skating). The "Laundry Car" references anti-Chinese sentiment—"Un Hung" is a racial caricature of Chinese laborers—while joking about the desert heat drying clothes instantly. The "Yankee-Notion Car" plays on American entrepreneurship and women's shopping habits. The "Divorce Drawing-Room Car" satirizes the growing "divorce belt" (permissive western states like Nevada and Dakota), suggesting the train itself becomes a legal mechanism for dissolution. The closing argument—that rail travel is statistically safer than houses—suggests this piece defends railroad expansion against public fear of accidents, a major concern of the era. Bylined Wallace Peck; author/publication date unclear from image alone.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
124 be found NS THE LYCEUM CAR, which will be used for lectures, stereopticons, theatricals, ratification meetings, raffles, dog fights, fairs, roller skating, and the many other modes of evening amusement. Some one can always be found to occupy the stage, even for Wednesday matinees ; and if any ticket speculator presents himself, he can be transferred to a slow freight train going the other way. We call attention to the sunset gun, on the roof. This, fired amid the reverbrating Rockies, will make timid travelers think that not only the sun, but the whole solar system has set. Following these will be coupled THE LAUNDRY CAR, conducted by Un Hung, or some other Yangste Yankee. Each passenger can, if he chooses, change his linen every half hour (tunnels excepted), and. have his washing dried in the g/o-rious climate of Califor'ny! A coupon laundry-book will accompany each R. R. ticket, allowing for shirts between New York and Hoboken; and one between Chicago and San Francisco. N as BARGAIN COL ‘tramirnianttom him a i THE YANKEE-NOTION CAR will remove the ennué of the lady passengers, by enabling them to shop while en route; and purchase remnants on the prairies, or among the caiions, - LIFE: with necessary adjuncts for its proper use by travelers, will THE LAWN TENNIS CAR will enable the young to while away the hours, and get the benefit of outdoor exercise among the Sierras. Rate, per game, $15.18. Games played while passing through tunnels, Snow storm games, 13c. 75¢. each. THE BATHING CAR will afford a chance to remove the soot and cinders that have sifted through to the bones. A clean skin will make the passenger feel so frisky that he will be permitted to jump off and on the rushing train to exercise his renewed vitality. inte. THE DIVORCE DRAWING-ROOM CAR. Finally we will have the above, for the special seclusion and comfort of mis-mated mates, en route to the great divorce belt of the Northwest. This car will be dropped at Chicago, and switched on to a turntable. It will then be made to revolve three times, which act, according to Blackstone in “Every Man His Own Judge” (see 9, pp. 1,317) shall constitute a legal separation for all the passengers within. A complete law library (on divorce rulings, etc.), will be found over the water cooler, A telephone will connect with the engineer, thus enabling timid dames to frequently ask if a cow can be seen on the track, Unkind reader, what does all this mean ? It means that, if you are alive at the close of the next century, you will have witnessed strange things! A thousand die in houses to one that meets death by rail- road accident. Which mode of living is safer? Wallace Peck. comicbooks.com