Life, 1886-12-30 · page 2 of 19
Life — December 30, 1886 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine, December 30, 1886 The header cartoon depicts a classical allegorical scene with winged figures and architectural elements, illustrating the motto "While there's Life there's Hope." The main content is an **editorial interview** between the Editor and a young visitor (labeled "Eighty-Seven," likely representing 1887). The satire addresses **late-19th-century political and social controversies**: the Editor defends Life's focus on money as a governing force in American society, dismisses recent immigrant-friendly cultural imports (Boodle Aldermen, German opera, the Statue of Liberty), and criticizes wealthy patrons like Violet Cameron and Lord Lonsdale. The piece ridicules American pretensions while grudgingly acknowledging that immigrants and foreign culture are reshaping the nation—a distinctly xenophobic but resigned tone typical of 1880s elite commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
24 Barclay Street, New York. “While there's Life there's Hope.” VOL. VIII. DECEMBER 30, 1886. No. 209. 1155 BRoaADWAY, NEw YorK. Published every Thursday, $5 a year in advance, postage free. Single copies, 10 cents. Back numbers can be had by applying to this office. Vol. I., $1.50 per number ; Vol. II., 25 cents per number ; Vol. III., IV., V. and VII. at regular rates. Rejected contributions will be destroyed unless accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope. S the editor of LIFE was indulging in a few practice shots on the office billiard table last Saturday after- noon, there came a timid knock upon the door, and in response to the editorial “ Come in,” there entered a small youth, clad in the conventional but unseasonable costume of the God of Love. He presented his card, on which was written “ Eighty-seven,” and seating himself on a a pile of Christmas numbers, asked : “Do you happen to be wanting a New Year ?” EDITOR: Well, that all depends on the kind of a New Year you happen to be. The last one we had, and the one we have now are not the most ideal specimens of years this world has seen. Are you prepared to please the most exacting of masters ? EIGHTY-SEVEN : I don’t suppose I can please everybody in everything, but I am certain that I shan’t displease every one in all things. EpITOR: Oh that’s what the last boy said, and what did he do! afloat. Have you got any Oregons on your list? EIGHTY-SEVEN : I don’t foresee any, please, sir. But you mustn’t be too severe on ’86 about that. There were no lives lost. Not one! EDITOR: Well, that’s just where I quarrel with ’86. had had the sense to save some of the cargo and drown a dozen or two of the passengers who spend their time writing theories on the disaster for the daily papers, he would have shown a level head. _ EGIHTY-SEVEN (wrth a hopeful smtle): Please, sir, I'll try to be more careful, and perhaps I'll help you to rais: the Grant Monument. EpiTor: Oh, thanks. That’s another of those chestnuts the last boy cracked in my presence. He collected about fif- teen dollars and turned the committee into a semi-political organization that doesn’t do much else than collect money enough topayrent. If you’llhelp me to raise that committee out of office I might think of employing you. He started off by sinking one of the biggest ships | If he | | EIGHTY-SEVEN: They seem to need sense as well as dol- lars. EpIToR: Boy, beware. Many a true word is spoken in jest, but when they are such ancient jests, I would prefer you would content yourself with a pure, simple lie. How are you on the Boston financier and strike questions ? EIGHTY-SEVEN : Well, my policy would be to give the Boston financiers more labor and less money, and the laborers less work and more money. Ep1ToR: You seem to be sound there. I rarely tell old jokes, fair youth, but Money is Might and Might is Right in these days, hence Money is Right. EIGHTY-SEVEN: Right you are! EDITOR (sadly): Yes, I am the exception that proves the rule. I am right, but I’m not the U. S. Mint. I almost think I will have to scrape along with that poor old ’86 and let you go. Afterall, he has been a pretty good old fellow. He brought us the Statue of Liberty and a Lady for the White House. EIGHTY-SEVEN: Yes, but he brought you Boodle Alder- men and German opera. EDITOR: No, boy. He inherited the Boodle Aldermen from '85, and he has sent some of them to Sing Sing. As for the German Opera, that is an indirect benefit. While Wagner is at the Opera House the anglomaniac who goes in for everything that’s the style, and the estimable teutons who wax fat in our midst, are all concentrated in an animated mass at the Metropolitan, giving the native born Irish-American citizen a chance to breathe his native air, and walk his native heath without foreign impediments. EIGHTY-SEVEN : Well he made up for it by bringing over such specimens as Aveling, Lord Lonsdale, Violet Cam——. EpiTor: Hold on, boy! The old man must go, and you are engaged. EIGHTY-SEVEN : Well, ah-its—its a delicate question, but how do you stand financially ? EDITOR (ossing him a paper): There’s a statement of our circulation. EIGHTY-SEVEN (reading) : “December 25, 1885: Average weekly circulation, 32,006. December 25, 1886: Average weekly circulation, 175,322.” That’s a superb increase. Sworn to? EpiTor: Certainly. Sworn to by C. A. D-na, Jos—ph P-1-tz-1r, Wh-tel-w Re-d and all the other eminent affi- davitologists of our city. EIGHTY-SEVEN : Please, sir, where is your affidavit ? Ep1Tor: Excuse me, boy, I cannot tell a—an affidavit at this season of the year. Here the interview closed. comicbooks.com