Life, 1886-05-13 · page 4 of 16
Life — May 13, 1886 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 270 The page contains a poem titled "Mater Sava Cupidinum" by Horace, followed by satirical notes under "Barnum's Latest Acquisitions"—mockingly listing unusual people Barnum might display. The illustration shows a domestic scene with a woman standing and a seated man, captioned with dialogue about Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. The joke appears satirical about marriage or domestic life, suggesting wives impede their husbands' spiritual or personal progress—a common Victorian-era marital joke. The right column contains brief satirical items: criticism of Irving's *Mephistopheles*, Ferdinand Ward being sued by his mother-in-law, references to ex-aldermen frequenting bars, and a lynching in Texas. The "Cablegrams" section discusses Greek military innovations. Overall, the page mixes literary satire, domestic humor, and brief topical commentary typical of late 19th-century satirical magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘**MATER SAVA CUPIDINUM.” (RONDFAU.) HORACE, BOOK 1, ODE 15. Y heart reverts to its old dreams, Now Spring has quickened buds and streams: Away ! ye sapless, marrowless, ¢ Dull progeny of legal press ! My thoughts now ran on sweeter themes. To one slim country-cousin Bess, Whose snowy shoulder dimly gleams Beneath her dotted muslin dress, My heart reverts. I'll take a week—or more—or less ; Go tell her—(ah, how nice it seems ! A hammock 'twixt two leafy beams— A cigarette—a B. and S.—), To whom, mid city life's excess, My heart reverts. G. A, Hall, . . . HE British Parliament having taken hold of the matter, the Oregon disaster has become a greater mystery than ever. Book Agent : RESS, Aunt Susan: No, SAR, I' SE GOT TWO BUNIONS ALREADY AND DEY'S NEVER BEEN NO HELP TO DIS YER PILORIM'S PROGRESS, Now, THEN, HERE 1S Bunyan's PiLorim's PROG- BARNUM'’S LATEST ACQUISITIONS. KENTUCKIAN without a title. A Bostonian who is not a snob. An interesting Philadelphian. A gentleman from Chicago, and a New Yorker who would not sell his soul for $. . . . HE highest compliment that one can pay to Irving's Mephistopheles is that he looks like the devil in it. * * . ERDINAND WARD is being sued by his mother-in- law. Poor Ward. Thus his best friends throw him over, one by one. N. B.—We call attention to the entirely novel and original sentiment contained in the above paragragh. . . . HIS is not the first season that some of our ex-Aldermen have spent behind the Bar, . * . UT in Texas a man named Tennyson was lynched by masked men. The lynchers should not be too hardly condemned. They probably thought they had the Poet. . . . CABLEGRAMS. BY THE BACKPAY-SENDIT CABLE. (Foreign contributors of cablegrams will please enclose stamps to cover postage on rejected despatches. Such despatches will be destroyed, but the stamps will be confiscated to pay for the trouble of reading them.) HE Greek disarmament is progressing splendidly, and several officers have been promoted for gallantry in performing the work. The old camp skillets and coffee-pots captured by the ancient Greeks from the Persians have been put away in a stable loft, and the Krupp guns wrapped up in horse blankets and backed into a tobacco warehouse. The ultimatum was received by the Greeks with great respect. They rolled it up in a flannel petticoat and dropped it into a well. THE Khedive of Egypt has invented a submarine battery to operate against hostile fleets. His plan is to train a num- ber of tame hippopotami to draw cannon and take the place of artillery horses. These animals will then be hitched up and the cannon can be drawn along the bottom of the ocean. The gunners will have their heads in glass cases connected with the upper air by rubber tubes attached to corks. Dyna- mite will be used in the gun as an explosive and the guns will be discharged vertically against the bottom of the enemy's ships. comicbooks.com