Life, 1886-07-01 · page 7 of 18
Life — July 1, 1886 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 7 This page contains three distinct humor pieces rather than a unified political cartoon. **"The Funny Man"** (poem by Richard Lloyd): A satirical portrait of a newspaper humorist who writes light pieces about domestic mishaps ("Chicago girl's boot," "Young Wife's slack-baked food") and death notices. The accompanying illustration shows a man in an easy chair, suggesting the piece mocks journalists who create humor from everyday tragedies while remaining emotionally detached. **"Any Port in a Storm"**: A brief joke about lightning rod safety during thunderstorms. **"A Trifle Clumsy at It"**: A Sunday school anecdote about a student claiming his father is "out of practice" being Christian. **Bottom item**: A humorous claim that Ignatius Donnelly wrote Shakespeare's works, with Life offering "proofs" upon request—likely mocking contemporary literary conspiracy theories.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE FUNNY MAN.. HE “funny man” sat in his easy chair, But the chair was n’t easy to Aim ; For his eyes were fixed in a vacant glare, And his face was dark and grim. “*T’ve written ’em up, an’ I ’ve written ’em down— The Mother-in-Law and the Dude, Chicago girl’s boot and the Congressman’s loot, And the Young Wife's slack-baked food. TY, la * Jou Den S oF Broon-curny BRUTAL “« My liver is torpid, I’m losing in girth, My brain’s slowly oozing away ; O the ghastliest joke on this whole wide earth Is this being funny for pay !” * * * * * * He sits to-day in his easy chair With a smile on his plump, round cheek, There ’s an unctuous roll in his voice whene’er He laughs or he tries to speak. For he writes the “‘ Death Notices—one line per dime,” And he pens all the elegies sad ; He revels in ‘‘Accidents,” ‘‘ Murders” and ‘‘Crimes,” And ‘‘One More Good Man Gone Bad !” Disqvstine As he writes up the items of ‘* Scalded Child” His ‘‘asides” keep the room in a roar ; For his wit runs riot in fancies wild, Since he’s funny for pay no more. Richard Llyd, ANY PORT IN A STORM. IGHTNING ROD AGENT : It ’s dangerous to be under this tree in a thunder storm. One of us might get killed. - Victim : Well, if you are killed, you won't be able to talk any more; and if / am killed, I can’t hear you. So I guess we ’d better stay. B | A TRIFLE CLUMSY AT IT. «¢ T HOPE, Johnny,” said the Sunday school teacher to her new scholar, “that your parents are good Christians ?” “Well, ma is,” replied Johnny, “‘an’ pa used to be, but I guess he is a little out of practice now.” EXHI@IT 2% JHE PRESS. HE adventurous spirits (not to say f—ls).are not all dead yet. Some more of them are on the brink of expeditions to the vicinity of the North Pole. This time it is the fashion to make the trip by land. It looks as if the natural obstacles devised by the Creator to secure the privacy of the Pole were insufficient. A barbed wire fence may yet be needed for it. M®: IGNATIUS DONNELLY has found out all about it, and is sure that Lord Bacon wrote Shakespere’s complete works. LiF £ is ready to prove that the real author of Ignatius Donnelly is Mark Twain. For proofs.address “Clemens, Hartford, Conn.” t - comicbooks.com