Life, 1887-04-07 · page 3 of 20
Life — April 7, 1887 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Romance of To-Day" & "Repartee" **Top poem**: This satirizes modern romance's decline. Cupid encounters a man using a cigarette to light his heart—reversing traditional romance. The verses lament that love's passion has been replaced by mundane cigarette-lighting. It's Victorian-era social commentary mocking how industrial/consumer culture has trivialized romantic love and masculine passion. **Bottom cartoon ("Repartee")**: Shows a street scene where an S.P.C.A. (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) member confronts someone about striking a horse. The angry cartman responds with working-class dialect, sarcastically suggesting the member arrest his mother instead—implying the activist is naive about actual street life. It's satire of animal-welfare reformers perceived as out-of-touch busybodies.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Votume IX. . APRIL 7TH, No. 223. 1887. THE ROMANCE OF TO-DAY. S I was walking out one day, Sir Cupid by the way I met, Who held a flickering heart, wherefrom He strove to light—a cigarette! O tempora ! has it come to this? “* Deuce take this heart of a coquette ; O mores ! is the end not yet? The flame’s too fickle, I declare, When Love has ta’en the fire of Love To even light a cigarette!" To light a passing cigarette ! And as I passed I heard him say, When hearts designed alone to make Such matches as from heaven we get, Are turned by this outrageous boy To matches for a cigarette! 0.1. REPARTEE, Excited Member of the S.P.C.A,: SEE WERE, I'LL ARREST YOU IF YOU STRIKE THAT POOR HORSE AGAIN! L&T ME REMIND YOU THAT “HE WHO MADE THEE, MADE THE OTHER BRUTE,” Angry Cartman: ARREST ME, 1S 1T? YE'D BETTER ARREST YER MITHER FUR TAYCHIN' YE TER WALK ABOUT ON YER MIND LEGS! comicbooks.com