Life, 1886-09-02 · page 5 of 16
Life — September 2, 1886 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 131 The cartoon at top depicts a social etiquette scenario. A woman and man sit together in an interior setting; the accompanying caption presents a humorous "Bostonienne" (Boston woman) offering advice about discretion: if you have a headache, don't mention it to companions, and if your ear pains, make no complaint. The joke satirizes upper-class Boston social conventions—specifically the expectation that women should maintain composure and avoid discussing physical discomforts in polite company, as doing so might burden one's companions. This reflects early 20th-century attitudes about feminine propriety and emotional restraint among the elite. The remainder of the page contains "Life's Archives of Anecdote," a section compiling amusing stories and observations. The anecdotes reference figures like Richard Brinsley Sheridan (18th-century playwright) and various social situations, but lack clear political significance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Icy Bostonienne (quoting) : YOU, DON’T MAKE A COMPLAIN’ He (from New York): Is THAT FROM ‘‘ Don’T 2” Icy Bostonienne : No, 1T 18 FROM EPICTETUS. LIFE’S ARCHIVES OF ANECDOTE. COMPILED BY OUR OWN SPECIAL BOSWELL. HERE is an indefinable quality in the simplest utterances of ge- nius that distinguishes them from the words of others. We have collected a few seasonable gems of anecdote that have, as we believe, never before been printed, and offer them without further comment. * * * ICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN'’S keen wit is proverbial. | But it is not generally known that beneath a gay and debonair exterior there was concealed a more serious vein of scientific enthusi- asm, His love for meteorology amounted to a passion, and none were so happy as he in describing the varying phases of climatic change. Meeting a lady of rank one broiling afternoon in Hyde Park, he said: “So glad to see you. Zounds! Madam, I protest you are looking mighty well this afternoon.” A slight pause followed, during which the lady coughed slightly and made marks on the pathway with her parasol. Observing this, Sheri- dan said with that spontaneity that always distinguished his utter- ances: ‘ Well, is it hot enough for you ?” * * * STORY is told of the late William Shakspeare, which illustrates his keen insight into nature, and his felicitous way of formu- lating his impressions of natural phenomena. Coming out of the “Globe Theatre” one sultry morning, arm in arm with an advance agent, -he met a ladifriend. If YOU HAVE HEADACHE, DON'T SPEAK OF IT TO DISTRESS YOUR COMPANIONS. i IF YOUR EAR PAINS “So glad to see you,” he said; “you are looking’ charmingly this morning.” ‘Then, after a pause, which to any one else might have brought a sense of awkwardness, he added : ‘‘ Well, is this hot enough for you ?” * * * N Thursday, 8th July, I dined with him at Mr. Allen Ramsay's, with Lord Blessus and some other company, We talked of the weather. JOHNSON : ‘It is a hot day, sir; the hottest day in years, sir.” Ramsay : ‘ Well, I don’t know—” Jounson : ‘Of course you don’t know. That is your specialty, Then to Mr. Thrale, who entered : ‘‘ Well, is this hot enough for you ? * * * OOK, with all his daring humor, had the soul of a poet. He was in perfect sympathy with Nature, and his mood was often arefiex of her capricious changes, never wholly subduing, but often modifying with a sympathetic touch the lightning flash of his wit. Meeting his landlady one day, shortly after the invention of the phrase ‘‘ heated term,” he said, banteringly: “So glad to see you. You are looking charmingly this morning.” Then, forestalling her usual remarks about her ‘little bill,” he continued, with a characteristic twinkle in his eye : “Well, is this hot enough for you?” Edited by F, B. Chase. comicbooks.com