Life, 1886-10-14 · page 11 of 20
Life — October 14, 1886 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 231 The page contains three satirical pieces: **Top cartoon**: "Mrs. Brown" depicts a man (Brown) preparing to hide evidence of infidelity from his wife, with exaggerated drunken speech ("guesch," "brashe"). The joke mocks men caught cheating attempting obvious deception. **"Cynicism: A Duo"**: A poem by S. Decatur Smith, Jr. presents a cynical dialogue between an older man and a twenty-year-old. The elder warns that women serially manipulate men for revenge after romantic disappointment. The humor lies in the irony: this supposed wisdom comes from someone barely adult, satirizing youthful overconfidence in pronouncing cynical "truths." **Bottom pieces**: "Died Too Soon" jokes that Jack the Giant-Killer (the folk tale hero) died prematurely—implying the home baseball club's poor performance needed such a miracle worker. "Bad Outlook" features a farmer lamenting livestock disease while regretting refusing $100 each for sick animals, highlighting rural hardship and poor judgment. All pieces target human folly: infidelity, romantic cynicism, and agricultural misfortune.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OH, NO; MRS. BROWN DIDN'T SUSPECT ANYTHING. Brown (soliloguizing): GUESCH YER BETTER BRASHE UP, OLE MAN; MRS. BROWN MIGHS 'SPECT SOMSHINGS. ‘Lio, MRSH. BROWN, YER UP's'LATE. GOT A MATSCH IN YOUR POCKET? CYNICISM. A DUO. “Le duvet du coeur, ah ! quel douaire ! Heureux qui l'a —sot qui 'espere !”” Cynical Frenchman, “cc APPY the man who wins a heart Untouched by passion, But let him hide himself apart, He's not in fashion. “And you, O too confiding youth, When you would marry, Where is the maid whose bosom’s truth Her lips do carry ? “You think her heart has just been won And yours the glory; But— maids were maids since A.D. I, And here's her story :— “At ten her childish love she gave Unto her cousin ; A youngster tender, handsome. brave ; His years a dozen. ** A quarrel over toy or game, And then they parted — Tle to illume some other flame — She, broken-hearted. “* Love’s wounds at ten last but a day ; Another lover (Like unto like, physicians say) Her hurt did cover. “ And so, to take revenge on men For her delusion, She traps, then sets thent free again, In great profusion. * And I, a victim of its wiles, Would give you warning That love in all its various styles, You'd best be scorning.” * * * * “And, in return, my cynic friend, Of counsel plenty, What age does all this wisdom lend?” “Oh!... Tm... just twenty.” S. Decatur Smith, Jr. DIED TOO SOON. 6“ HERE is one untimely death,” remarked a gentleman as he left the Polo grounds after another disastrous | defeat of the home club, “that I shall never cease to mourn.” “Whose death is that!” asked a friend. “Jack the giant-killer’s; he died too soon !” CountTrRY time of rising —In dew time. BAD OUTLOOK. ITIZEN (¢o farmer): How are things out your way, Mr. Hayseed ? MR. HAYSEED (g/oomily): They couldn’t be much wuss. My wife and three cows are down with pleuro-pneumonia. I refused a hundred dollars apiece for ’em only last week. comicbooks.com