Life, 1886-08-19 · page 12 of 16
Life — August 19, 1886 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 110: Satire and Social Commentary This page from Life magazine contains several brief satirical items and cartoons mocking contemporary American society: **"An Art Patron"** (bottom cartoon) depicts a wealthy collector showing off an expensive marble sculpture, boasting of its high cost ($1,500) while revealing it's merely standard marble at $10 per pound. The satire targets nouveau-riche collectors who value art primarily by price rather than aesthetic merit. **"Sympathetic"** (top-left illustration) shows what appears to be a domestic scene, accompanying humorous verse about poor behavior. **Scattered brief jokes** mock: a Texas newspaper called "The Gimlet" (implying it "bores" readers), a Denver paper's excessive coverage of a execution, a Washington poet's book needing dark humor on its cover, and schoolmasters breaking rules. The overall tone is typical of Life's late 19th-century satirical style—sharp, class-conscious commentary on American pretension, journalism excess, and social hypocrisy, delivered through brief quips and illustrations targeting recognizable social types and behaviors.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
> LIFE: misdirected letter. In addition to this, the chap who took the part of Tell came near doing for me. Just as the curtain dropped, the arrow, which he held drawn to its head, slipped, and almost put out my nose—and, let me assure you, mine is a style of beauty that does not admit of promiscuous altera- tions. Before I slide for the golden shore I trust I shall have a chance to get square with this Wm. T., Jr., for his care- lessness. . “ Are you at a cottage,.or boarding ?” inquired a man of a friend who was dashing away in a buckboard. “Oh, I’m boarding—buckboarding !” came the answer. I simply give this as a specimen of Mt. Desert recklessness; nobody need feel under any obligations concerning it. My new white flannel suit has just come home from the wash ; it has n’t shrunk, Oh dear no! it has only evaporated ! | Oh! Oh! how I shall look going about town with trousers that do n’t come down to my dear little knees, and the bottom of my coat on a line with my shoulder blades! Oh dear! it’s too bad! 1’m too broken up and disappointed to write any more now, so good-bye for the present. RK. CHOOLMASTERS are the only mortals privileged to break the rules. NEW paper in Texas is called “The Gimlet.” It no doubt bores its readers terribly. AN INTERESTING CARTOON.—The noise made by the “Yas, SAH, BUT YO’ LKIN' T running of the horse cars. WHERE! “ca UT where are the nine?” was the text taken by a Brooklyn minister last Sunday. The chances are, dear brother, that while you were propound- ing the earnest question they were out in some flat and open field trying to wax it to some other nine. DENVER paper devotes twenty-four columns of space to a negro murderer who was hanged there last week. The sheriff let him off with a single line. WASHINGTON man is | about to publish a book entitled “ Hints to Poets.” He should embellish the outside cover with cuts of a rope and a shotgun. A MAN OF PRINCIPLE.—The banker. AN ART PATRON. : — PLE TOE Mr. Kooponkutter (showing distinguished French artist his collection); 1 SET FOR IT 1N A SHINING EXAMPLE TOUN | RoME, GENUINE C’RARRER MARBLE, WEIGHS HUNDRED AND FIFTY POUNDS. CosT ME DOLENT BOYS.—The bootblack. | $1,500.00. Just $10.00 A POUND, EH ? comicbooks.com