Life, 1887-01-06 · page 11 of 16
Life — January 6, 1887 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 439: Satirical Humor and Social Commentary This page contains multiple short satirical jokes typical of *Life* magazine's humor format: **"Learning a Trade"** mocks college football players' intellectual pretensions—a young man claims football experience qualifies him as a blacksmith, prompting the blacksmith to note the job requires "brains as well as strength." **"Of Rare Literary Merit"** ridicules both poetry appreciation and museum culture: a man acquired poetry at a dime museum, supposedly written by someone using their toes. **"The Last Stages of Starvation"** satirizes exaggeration—a beggar claims starvation while having eaten a fifty-cent dinner (a respectable meal), suggesting false poverty claims. **"Then and Now"** uses a poem to joke about aging and romance: a woman who rejected the narrator's youthful advances now courts him, but he's lost interest. **Other brief jokes** include jabs at Mrs. Wayback's multiple marriages, Henry Watterson's complaint about economic surplus, and a clerk's insulting implication about an elderly woman's hand size. The cartoon illustrates the "Tom" domestic scene.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LEARNING A TRADE. LACKSMITH (¢o young man): You think you possess the necessary quali- fications for a blacksmith ? YOUNG Man: Yes, sir. I was a member of the foot-ball team at college. BLACKSMITH (dudzously): You may be strong enough, young man, but this business demands brains as well as strength. IR GARNET WOLSELEY wha, it will be remembered, fell off a camel a year or two ago in Egypt, gets $13,500 a year. OF RARE LITERARY MERIT. M RS. WAYBACK (to husband, who has brought. home a verse of poetry with the author's signature attached) : \s this fust class poetry, John? Mr. WAYBACK (enthusiastically): Fust class poetry? I should say it was. I got that in a dime museum, Mariar. The feller wrote it with his toes. THE’ LAST STAGES OF STARVATION. “cc ILL you please give me a few pen- : nies to buy something to eat| with?” he begged, “I’m starving.” f “I can't see a man starve,” replied the kind-hearted man. “Haven't you had any- thing to eat to-day ?” “Nothing but a fifty-cent ‘adle d'héte dinner,” was the starving man’s mournful reply. Mrs. B. (who, though still young, has been three times:married): OW, 1F 1 WERE A MAN, J WOULD MAKE A NAME FOR MYSELF! Tom (who ts number three): MY DEAR. THIS IS THE THIRD YOU HAVE MADE. STRIKES ME YOU'VE DONE PRETTY WELL AS IT IS, THEN AND Now. “‘ Thus times do shift ;-each thing his turn does hold.” — R. Herrick. HEN she was a little maiden ; Dimpled cheeks and laughter-laden Eyes, that thrilled my soul — But she scoffed my boyish passion, While I, in true love fashion, Languished in that rdle. Now she isan older maiden ; * Eyes less bright and wrinkle-laden Brow, that years infer— ‘And she smiles upon me sweetly, While I've changed my mind completely, Single life prefer ! ENRY WATTERSON shouts frantically “ What shall we do, we are being glutted with gold?” Our advice is, let her glut. THE OLDEST ON RECORD. UNDAY School teacher : now, children, can any of you tell me who Methuselah was? SMALL SCHOLAR: He was a chestnut. Te books that Bacon said should be digested, are prob- ably those which have been devoured. A COMPLETE STOCK. oO”. LADY (to clerk): Have you gentlemen's gloves ? CLERK (glancing at the old lady's hands): Yes, ma’am, but I think we have ladies’ gloves large enough to fit you. comicbooks.com