Life, 1887-05-26 · page 12 of 18
Life — May 26, 1887 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 296 This page contains several brief satirical jokes typical of 19th-century American humor: **"A Paying Business"** mocks a young man's boasting about purchasing a house through "pluck and perseverance"—he reveals he's actually a "son-in-law," implying he married into money rather than earning it himself. **"Overheard in Boston"** satirizes Boston's intellectual pretensions: a society lady claims indifference to Phillips Brooks (a renowned Boston preacher) but obsesses over Buddhism, suggesting fashionable religiosity over genuine conviction. **"Put Away Until Autumn"** jokes that almanac jokes are so stale they need time to "ripen" before reuse—mocking recycled humor. The **Literary Notes** section contains editorial barbs, including skepticism about Anna Dickinson's claimed background as a schoolteacher, and sarcasm about which fictional characters voters deemed greatest (grouping the detective "Old Sleuth" with Shakespeare). **"Les Fiancés"** depicts an engaged couple where the groom wants to hear a wedding march to preview it; his fiancée begs him not to, fearing she'll "expire with confusion"—gentle humor about wedding anxiety.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
* LIFE = A PAYING BUSINESS. Very Young Man: YOU WOULDN'T THINK IT, BUT I'VE JUST THIS IS THE KIND WE PAY A DALLIAFERRO. ROLAND for your Alliaferro,” Said witty Mr. Talliaferro Concerning one Who made a pone About the famous Balliaferro. “cc OVERHEARD IN BOSTON. IRST LADY: I am surprised at your not caring for Phillips Brooks. SECOND Lapy: Oh, I do care for him! much, but I just dote on Buddha! PUT AWAY UNTIL AUTUMN. I like him very RIEND: Wilkins, why do you keep all these old al- manacs? Waiting for the jokes to ripen for republication. WILKIN: N the bright lexicon of youth there is no such word as faz?, but later on, when the youth gets into business for him- self, then the word shows up in good shape. PAID SEVENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS IN CASH FOR A HOUSE, ALL | MADE BY MY OWN PLUCK AND PERSEVERANCE. Young Lady: REALLY! WHAT BUSINESS ARE YOU IN? Very Young Man: \'M A SON-IN-LAW. LITERARY NOTES. HE scene of E. P. Roe’s new novel will be laid in Southern Cali- fornia, but the book itself will be laid in the lap of every passenger on the Hudson River Railroad by that eternal nuisance, the train-boy. * * * AT A iair in aid of the Chicago Literary Centre, the best characters in fiction were decided by vote to be Old Sleuth, the Detective, Ananias, James G. Blaine, William Shakespeare, and James Russell Lowell. AN Exchange says that Anna Dickinson began life as a schoot- teacher, but we doubt it. It is, of course, very difficult to speak with any certainty concerning what occurred in early times, but we have a most vivid recollection of reading in some old black-letter missal that the lady began life as a little girl baby, and as far as we have been able to find out, Miss Dickinson has not denied the state- ment. In the interests of biography, we feel called upon to question the school-teacher story. * * * LES FIANCES. He: CLARA, SHALL I ASK HIM TO STRIKE UP A WEDDIN’ MARGH, JUST TO HEAR WHAT IT’S LIKE? | Ske: O REGINALD, DO NoT,I BEG OF You! | wrTH conFuston. I SHALL EXPIRE comicbooks.com