Life, 1886-08-26 · page 3 of 16
Life — August 26, 1886 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "A Pardonable Error" - Life Magazine, Page 115 The cartoon shows two nearly identical garden scenes with a woman and two men. The caption explains the joke: a man with defective eyesight mistakes an old man for his wife, greeting him enthusiastically ("Hello, old man; how are you?"). The "pardonable error" is the visual confusion caused by poor eyesight. The accompanying content includes a sentimental poem "A Song of Four Seasons" by R.O. Fowler about romantic gifts through the year, and a "Foreign Items" section with brief satirical news snippets about international politics (the Pope, Mexico, Ireland, Austria). Below is "A Hopeless Lack of Faith"—a humorous dialogue between two sports fans pessimistic about the Metropolitans baseball team's season prospects. The page represents typical Life magazine content: light humor, verse, and sports commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A PARDONABLE ERROR. Jack (who sees with difficulty when he has his eyeglass on): My HUSBAND WILL BE HERE IN A MOMENT, SIR, AND HELLO, OLD MAN; HOW ARE You? HAVE You A MATCH? PERHAPS HE— (but Jack didn't wait). A SONG OF FOUR SEASONS. HE gave me when the bud-burst Spring Was at its fullest, loveliest tide— She gave me—’twas a little thing For which I long had sought and sighed, The measure of a moment's bliss, A shy, sweet, artless maiden’s kiss. She gave me when the many-leaved And rose encrownéd Summer came, A fair flower-gift wherein were weaved The letters of her darling name ; Sweet gift, it brought our hearts anear, And made her presence doubly dear. And when the Autumn grasped its fair Reward of valiant gold and red, A cunning lock of sunny hair, She gave me from her own dear head, With face flush-burnt, and eyes divine Half shyly lifted up to mine. Stern Winter came with snow and hoar, And with it came another fellow, Whose pile was double mine, and more, Although his face was sharp and yellow, And then— alas, ’twere ever written ! My darling gave me— Gad !— the mitten ! —R. 0. Fowler. FOREIGN ITEMS. Ts Pope has fulminated against cremation. He formerly fulminated against the rotundity of the earth, but fin- ally concluded to recant his imperial boycott. * * * RESIDENT DIAZ claims that Mexico has a law by which an American can be punished in England for an offense committed in France. * * * HE Irish will not be satisfied with any Home Rule scheme that will not allow them to send delegates to the next Democrat convention in the United States. * * * T the Heidelberg celebration several professors’ jokes that were over 400 years old walked in the procession. * * * N Austrian miner had half of his brains knocked out and is still alive. The Bavarians want to get him for a king. * * * O*’ tick —The telegraph operator. A HOPELESS LACK OF FAITH. IRST SPORT : How do you think the Metropolitans will! stand at the end of the season? SECOND Sport: I'll bet money they finish at the tail-end. First Sport (sorrowfully) : You've got more faith in ’em than I have. I don’t think they'll even get that far. comicbooks.com