Life, 1887-06-09 · page 12 of 16
Life — June 9, 1887 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 326 - Satire Explained **Main Cartoon ("Alas!")**: Shows a man instructing a woman in tennis. Her naive comment—"love don't mean nothin'"—is funny because she's misunderstanding tennis terminology ("love" = zero score) as romantic sentiment, suggesting innocent misinterpretation of courtship signals. **"A Fable for Economists"**: A sophisticated political satire mocking labor economics and monopolies. An ant works honestly; a mouse brags about forming a "syndicate" to corner the grain market through a hole in the bin, making profits through manipulation rather than labor. The satire attacks wealthy industrialists and "trusts" (monopolies) that were controversial political issues in this era, suggesting their schemes are legally permissible but morally questionable—the mouse profits while the honest worker struggles. **Other Items**: Brief humorous snippets about tobacco, fashion, and social pretension typical of Life's satirical style. The page reflects early-20th-century American anxieties about labor, wealth inequality, and corporate power.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
KON RRS xR ee, RG ‘x OS INS Harry has been teaching the farmer's daughter how to play tennts. She (after half an hour's instruction): AND love DON'T MEAN NOTHIN’; HOW FUNNY ! AKE SHARP strongly disapproves of the poetic fantasy about leaving “ foot-prints on the sands of time.” He says that the foot-prints and the surface-tracks caused all his trouble. A FABLE FOR ECONOMISTS. N ant, which was painfully toiling across the road with a grain of corn, observed a mouse scamper out of a hole under the door of the grain elevator near by. “ At your old tricks, I suppose,” said the ant scornfully, “ why don’t you work for your living as I do, instead of stealing what you eat.” “Poor drudge,” said the mouse in pitying tone, “you are only fit for a life of labor. You have not the far-seeing genius that grasps great combinations and ensures enormous profits. But know this—that myself and two or three other mice have formed a syndicate and bored a hole through the bottom of the grain bin. We have established a corner in corn, and are making more in a day than you can in your natural life. Do not complain of this, for it is perfectly legal—the corn, following the laws of gravitation, must fall into our pockets.” The mouse stalked away with the air of one owning the earth, and the poor ant wondered why the laws of gravitation were so arranged that 4e never could find an easy way of making his living. This is respectfully dedicated to the sages who are wrestling with the labor problem. G. E. Hanson. MAKES THEM FAT. EW YORKER (éo Jerseyman): mosquitos ? JERSEYMAN (with pardonable pride): No deleterious effect. I've known Rahway ‘skeeters to smoke two packages of cigarettes a day an’ grow fat on ‘em. Has tobacco smoke any effect upon your local | A GOOD HOTEL. | Oe KAPIOLANT has | been informed that she will be royally received and en- tertained at Buckingham Palace at the moderate charge of nine dollars a day. Her Hawaiian Majesty is assured that the Pal- ace has been thoroughly repaired, renovated and repainted. Board- ers entertained at summer prices and satisfaction guaranteed. Money refunded to guests who are not pleased. HERE may be room at the top, but this is not the view taken by the small boy who climbs to the highest limb of a cherry tree and accidentally kicks the gable-end off a densely pop- ulated hornets’-nest. S clothes to a large extent make the man, the term “lineage” is to be enlarged and renovated. A man’s clothes-lineage is now the all important question in “ Sassiety.”” HE TURFITES FAVORITE Gop — Bacchus. Tue HEIGHT OF FASHION. comicbooks.com