Life, 1887-03-17 · page 12 of 16
Life — March 17, 1887 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "At the Eden Musée" & "A Fish Story" **Top Cartoon:** A couple visits a wax museum (Eden Musée was a real NYC attraction). The joke turns on the husband's crude observation that a wax figure is indistinguishable from a real person—except its nose is unnaturally red and shiny. The wife's shocked reaction ("O!—LUTHER!!") suggests he's made an embarrassing or inappropriate comment, likely comparing the figure to a real woman they know. **"A Fish Story":** Political allegory about trade disputes. "Britannia" (Britain) monopolizes fish supplies. A French "cock" protests loudly and wins concessions from the government's bureaucratic "Tape and Bundle Office," while an American "eagle" watches helplessly. The eagle, old and tired, contemplates building a "Retaliatory Bill" but remains uncertain—satirizing American reluctance to challenge British economic dominance through protective tariffs.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AT THE EDEN MUSEE. She: WaL Now, LUTHER, COULD ANYTHING BE MORE NATERAL? He: BODY COULDN'T TELL IT FROM REAL IF THEY DIDN’T KNOW IT WUZ MADE 0’ WAX, 'CEPT THE NOSE IS RUTHER RED AND SHINEY FUR LIFE. She: AND HIS EYES MOVE, TOO, EH!—WuHAT? O!—LUTHER!! A FISH STORY. N eagle and a cock were prowling around together one rainy day in Lent, ' looking for some fish. It happened that about all the available supply in the market had been cornered by a sly old dame named Britannia. As the two birds approached, she flatly refused to let them have any. “What are we going to do about it?” said the eagle. i “T'll tell you,” said the cock, who was a French bird, and full of vim. ‘She | knows I am game; and I’ve got twenty-inch armor on my spurs, and plenty more | where that came from; so I'll enter a strong protest.” And he protested. | After a little delay the old dame appeared and said\that the Secretary of the | Tape and Bundle Office informed her that “the Government was not justified in | disregarding the strong protests of France ;"” so the cock was allowed to take as | much fish as he liked. The eagle looked on. “I'm getting to be a pretty old fellow,” he said, “going on to a hundred and | twelve. I was a good fighter twenty-five years ago, but I’m getting out of repair. Wish I could make a strong protest.” Then he began thoughtfully to sharpen his bill against a tree; and at the time | we last saw him it had grown into a great Retaliatory Bill; but just what he is | going to do with it we are unable yet to state. | G. E. Hanson. | PROOF OF INNOCENCE. \ IR CHARLES DILKE has just inherited $700,000. That man guilty? Never! THE FREAK OF A MARCH WIND. comicbooks.com