Life — September 23, 1886 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Two of a Kind" - Life Magazine, September 23, 1886 This cartoon by Albert E. Sterner depicts a flirtation between a man and woman at what appears to be a lawn party or social gathering. The dialogue reveals the joke's point: the man claims the woman is "the only college girl I ever liked," and when she asks why, he responds that "the others all know so much." The satire targets educated women of the era. The joke mocks both the man's preference for an ignorant woman and, implicitly, contemporary anxieties about women's education and independence. The "two of a kind" title suggests they're equally foolish or shallow—she for accepting such a backhanded compliment, he for valuing ignorance in a romantic partner. It reflects late-19th-century gender tensions regarding women's intellectual aspirations.