Life, 1886-03-04 · page 5 of 16
Life — March 4, 1886 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "A Toboggan Slide at Pignapoke" This is a humorous personal anecdote rather than political satire. The author describes organizing a toboggan slide for their "Little Culture Society" at a rural location (Pignapoke). The illustration shows the snowy scene where members assembled homemade toboggans using blankets and straw. The humor derives from an incident where a neighbor's bull, Squire Chillinghart's animal, unexpectedly appeared at the top of the slide "with head down and tail high in air, directly in front of us." The author threw their weight sideways to avoid collision, and the bull charged at their red flannel suit. It's essentially a tall tale about rural misadventure—amusing because of the incongruity of civilized leisure activities meeting barnyard chaos. The satire targets genteel culture societies attempting refinement in rustic settings.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘CIT WAS AN AWFUL MOMENT.” A TOBOGGAN SLIDE AT PIGNAPOKE, EDITOR LIFE: IR—It has been some time since I have confided to you the triumphs and trials of our Little Culture Society ; but we are still persevering in our work. It was only last week that the charming Lucretia came into my store with a scheme for a toboggan slide, which was so practical and withal so suited to the limited means of our society that I entered into it enthusiastically. There was a long stack of straw in the Chillinghart barn- yard that extended down the hill from the barn almost to the gateway. This was shaped into a steep slide, starting from the door of the haymow. Uncle Obadiah, Bounaparte Spratt and myself accomplished this work, with the assistance of Lucretia, who handles a pitchfork almost as wellasI. A deep snow came a day or two later, and the slide was complete. Meanwhile we prepared our tobogganing suits and sent to an uncle of Miss Chillinghart’s, a banker who was spending the winter in Canada, for a toboggan. Our costumes, | assure you, were just such as are described in the papers as used at the slide in Saratoga. Lucretia used two of the best pairs of blankets from the spare bed for her suit, and I had a small, single, red blanket made up for myself. Miss Prudence Persymon carried the idea of using bed clothing still further by making a suit out of an old-fashioned patchwork quilt. When the toboggan arrived we gathered as quietly as possible at the slide. We wanted to test our slide before inviting any guests. We had all climbed onto the haymow when Uncle Obadiah called me to one side and whispered that he “was feared dey war gwine to be trebble,” as he had seen Abe Jolly hang- ing around back of the barn. But our little society was not to be frightened by Mr. Jolly, and we all bundled onto the toboggan. I took the post of danger in front, and with Lucretia and our other members behind me and Bounaparte steering, we got under way. We we flying straight and true half way down the straw stack when I saw the huge outline of Squire Chillinghart’s famous bull, with head down and tail high in air, directly in front of us. It was an awful moment. There was only one thing to be done, and with Lucretia’s arm around me, I threw all my weight (and her's) to the right, and over the side of the strawstack we went in a heap. I had no sooner regained my feet than the huge beast, en- raged at my red flannel suit, singled me out and rushed at comicbooks.com