Life — July 21, 1887 — page 6: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A SUMMER NOVEL BY ARLO BATES. A S a summer novel, to be read by flirting men and maidens within sound of the sea, “A Lad's Love” (Roberts Brothers) is good enough and perfectly harmless. There are a good many spots in it which are intended to be very bright and clever, but lie very near the borderlands of folly. And there are two charming women in the book, drawn with a light touch and yet a good deal of feeling; they are Olive and her daughter Phoebe. The few pages, here and there, which show the tenderly humorous relations of mother and daughter, are worth all the philandering and persiflage of the rest of the book. Perhaps the author should also be given some credit for the skill in which he has pictured, through Gr/bert, “ the flar- ing twinkle of a rushlight, the delusive fervor of a lad’s love.” To this half-baked period, through which even the best of men pass, we look back in later years with a feeling of con- tempt and shame for our consummate folly, It is a kind Fate which does not hold the man responsible for the vows of his youth, . . . HE glimpses we get of the old dowagers who sit around the summer hotel parlors on rainy, afternoons and knit and gossip, and give each other spiteful little digs for the failings of themselves or their families, are true to life, though hardly satirical enough. But Campobello is a beautiful, good-humored, well-bred place, where much of the barbarity of the American summer resort has evidently failed to gain a foothold. TA them all in all, though, what tremendous vulgar- izers these Great American Summer Hotels are! It is pitiful to see hundreds of fair girls taken from the quiet shelter and freedom of good homes and paraded in their finery in the presence of “a Thousand Guests.” If every one of the Thousand Guests was a saint and a gentleman, the experience would still be cruel and against the best instincts of the heart. Yet, one and all, they seem to enjoy it; they face a battery of two thousand eyes as coolly as veterans march up a hill to a frowning fort. It may be nerve and American grit, but it is not woman- liness. What the American girl needs (and, for that matter, the American boy) is the right kind of a home, and a great deal more of it. This is not a lay sermon, but a little solemn Realism of the Howells type. Droch, MASSACHUSETTS inventor has just concluded arrangements with the city fathers of the Quaker City for the purchase of five hundred lawn mowers, to be used in the public streets. ’ A DIFFERENT VINE ALTOGETHER. “ HAT a delicious drink!" said an agriculturally ignorant young woman, who was sipping some kumyss at the cattle show. “Is it made from the product of the grape-vine, George?" “No,” replied George, “it is made from the product of the bovine.” I" must not be forgotten that Satan is always warmed up for work. PROMPT ACTION. 6¢ JOHN,” said his wife on our way home from church to-night, “Mr. Smith’s dog came very near biting mother. As it was he frightened her seriously. 1 think you ought to do something about it.” responded John, promptly, “I'll see Smith the first thing in the morning, and if he doesn’t want too much for the dog I'll buy him.” WHEN you pick your summer resort, try to pick one that won't pick you. OW to be a good anglomaniac and at the same time denounce coercion—that is the question. FROMAGE DE BRIE. FRepoe : I say, Charlie, old fellow, when can a man be said to swallow his clothes ? CHARLIE: Well, now, pon honor I really can't guess, you know. FREDDIE: Give it up, eh? cheese. Well, when he eats his Brie YOUTHFUL COURTESY. New Resident: Can 1 TUM OVER AND PLAY WIS ZOO? Gentleman Addressed: NO, YER CAN'T; AND IF YER DON'T STOP LOOKIN’ AT OUR HOUSE, I'LL THROW A BRICK AT YER. comicbooks.com