Life, 1886-04-15 · page 4 of 16
Life — April 15, 1886 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# An Infallible Remedy The cartoon depicts two men in top hats and overcoats. One asks the other about his cold; the exchange is: **Tom:** "How's that cold of yours?" **Bert:** "Oh! I got rid of it." **Tom:** "What did you take?" **Bert:** "A fresh one." This is a simple, timeless joke playing on the ambiguity of "take"—Bert claims to have cured his cold by contracting a fresh one instead, implying that deliberately catching a new illness somehow resolves the original ailment. The satire targets folk remedies and superstitious medical thinking, suggesting absurd logic persisted in treating common ailments. The joke requires no specific historical context to land with modern readers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SUB ROSA. A” Spring advances (and the little bills For sweets and flowers come in—quarter-yearly), With thoughts of fairest Rose my fancy fills, And much I feel, alas, I love her dearly / HELW. * . * T was a Vassar graduate who wanted to know if the muzzle of a gun was to prevent it from going off pre- maturely. ° . * NEW MEXICO obituary closes with the words: “ Her tired spirit was reteased from the pain-racked body and soared aloft to eternal rest in the realms of celestial glory at 4.30, Denver time.” * . * FASHION item says that great discretion must be used by wearers of striped goods, as they are not be- coming to any but very tall and slender figures, Our Alder- men should cut this out and paste it in their hats. INFALLIBLE REMEDY. : How’s THAT COLD OF youRS? ¢ Ox! I Gor Rip oF rr. ¢ WHAT DID You TaKE? : A FRESH ONE, “cs FTER Life, What ?” is the heading of a religious ar- ticle. A glance at our subscription books awakens within us a suspicion that the whole people are after LIFE. . . * RESIDENT CLEVELAND has not yet been com- manded to send to the Senate his shaving cup and razor- strap, which are supposed to be on file somewhere about the White House. . * . CHICAGO dime museum is exhibiting an arm-chair with six legs. . * ’ “UMOR says that Henry Irving is sensitive about his small legs. It is a pity that such a great actor should not be properly supported. . * . if is thought that Geronimo wants to buy a steam yacht for use on the Rio Grande. A FEW MOMENTS AT THE ACADEMY. HAT strikes one more forcibly than anything else at the Academy is the art displayed in the selection of subjects. “Something easy to paint” seems to have been the prevailing motto, and this is why the building is full of compositions where no knowledge of drawing, values or per- spective is necessary. Technical skill we have long since ceased to look for in pictures that are well hung. Messrs. Cropsey, Tait, Woods, Beard, and other Academicians of similar calibre occupy, as usual, much of the “line.” It is idle to criticise seriously such saddening efforts. They are prob- ably much less harmful than is generally supposed, as even the youngest beginners in art invariably “‘ catch on” to them. It is with a sincere regret that we observe Mr. F. S. Church's inclination to march in the same direction. His “ Pegasus Captured" is one of the emptiest canvases on the walls, and this is saying a great deal. Pegasus is too much like the ghost of a $75 omnibus horse to excite much en- thusiasm. He is not only badly drawn, but he is badly drawn for avery bad Horse. And why have him a ghost ? “In the Woods,” by George Inness, occupies the place of honor in the South Gallery. Aside from its being un- pleasant in color, wholly wanting in values, and strikingly uninteresting, it well merits the place it occupies. More work such as Mr. F. D. Millet’s “Cosey Corner” would raise the general tone of the exhibition immensely. How comes it that this painting, which is worth a gross of “In the Woods,” is hung in almost as good a place? The hanging committee are forgetting their traditions. Mr. H. Bolton Jones also has an excellent picture along- side, “ September” by name. comicbooks.com