Life, 1887-08-18 · page 11 of 16
Life — August 18, 1887 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 95: Satirical Humor and Social Commentary This page from *Life* magazine contains several discrete humorous pieces mocking Victorian-era conventions and American society: **The cartoon "Perhaps We Are Slack in These Things"** depicts an English aristocrat ("Lord Mumbieham") complaining about wolves on his ranch, suggesting the government should "muzzle" or pen them. The satire targets European nobility's entitlement and cluelessness about practical frontier problems—he expects government intervention for minor inconveniences rather than accepting natural hazards. **"New Definitions"** is a satirical lexicon redefining common terms with cynical inversions—for example, defining "engagement" as "something easily broken" and "religion" as self-righteousness tied to financial obligation ("pew-rent"). This mocks hypocrisy in social institutions. **The poetry and other sketches** (the farmer/boarder dialogue, romantic verses) use gentle irony about courtship, class differences, and rural life. The overall tone is *Life*'s characteristic late-19th/early-20th-century satirical style: urbane mockery of pretension, social convention, and human folly across class lines.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
PRAOWAATHY TIME 4:30 A. M. Farmer Host: Hev, MISTek, YOU'D BETTER HURRY AN’ GIT UP; THE FAMILY 18 SETTIN' DOWN TO THE TABLE. Boarder (wearily); THANKS; I NEVER EAT DURING THE NIGHT. NEW DEFINITIONS. NCOME: The sum of one's debts; a mental hypothesis for esti- mating future prospects on a basis of current expenditures. WIT: The word was originally applied to the residuary estate of Heirodes, an ancient Jester; hence, a legacy of the dead contested by false claimants. AGNOSTICISM: A religious sentiment associated with an excess of emotion in contemplating human perfection. Wire: A domestic arrangement for sewing on shirt buttons. ENGAGEMENT: A popular means of diversion that grows out of an impression beauty makes on the mind. (Synonym for PROMISE, 4, é., something easily broken.) PHILOSOPHER: Any mortal who triumphs over his environment by the art of self-deception; a savant who derives pleasure from shaving with a blunt razor and discovers less solace in a pot of honey - than in the poisonous inoculation of a wasp. FALSEHOOD: A logically demonstrable proposition in -behalf of spiritual liberty, or material progress. RELIGION: That faith or self-trust which convinces a man that he is right and all the rest of the world wrong; a sense of moral obligation enjoining above other duties a liberal contribution to foreign missions and a prompt payment of pew-rent. SERVANT: The proud survivors of a royal race whose life is spent in humiliating servitude, or in exacting obedience from his employer. OpporRTUNITY: An interval of time which the mind ignores between two dormant states of consciousness; a hole in a circus tent. TRUTH: A supercilious attitude of the human.mind and avowed hostility to the dictates of human reason; a sacrifice of the interests of life-to the laws of logic. Harold van Santvoord, HOW COULD I GUESS? SUMMER fancy—that was all, No serious thoughts, no Cupid's thrall, For she was rich, a noted belle ; No danger there, I knew full well. And so one night I let our boat Upon the waters idly float, And watched the moon play hide-and-seek, And kiss her gently on the cheek. She was so near, what could I do But take her hand like lover true, And ask her if she'd be my wife, To brighten and to fill my life? I did not love her, but was sure ‘That she, with countenance demure, Would say me nay. How could I guess That she would whisper softly—"* Ves?” A FLOURISHING INDUSTRY — Penmanship. A QUARTET. HADRACH, MESHACH and ABEDNEGO: We hear, brother, that you, too, have been through a fiery furnace. NEW-COMER: Yes; I lived in New York last July. PERHAPS WE ARE SLACK IN THESE THINGS. Lord Mumbieham (just stepping over to see a ranch in which he is interested has a slight difficulty with wolves) : “W'y Don'T THE GOOVERMENT MOOZLE THE BLAASTED THINGS OR PEN THEM HOOP?” comicbooks.com