Life, 1887-08-18 · page 12 of 16
Life — August 18, 1887 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Fido in a New Role" — Life Magazine Satire This page contains four sequential cartoon panels depicting a dog (Fido) pulling a wheeled cart that progressively fills with human passengers and cargo—satirizing how people exploit animals for labor while expanding demands. The surrounding text comprises unrelated short satirical items mocking contemporary institutions and behaviors: - **Political governors** joking about weather flags instead of substantive issues - **New York warehouse owners** who remain indifferent to fires destroying customers' property - **Newport society** suspecting a politician-lawyer of petty theft ("Keep your eye on him") - **French politics**: a reference to President Grévy attempting to calm domestic turmoil - **England's cattle-to-population ratio**, with a pun about "half-calf" bindings - **Boston intellectuals** (the Concord School of Philosophy) portrayed as pretentious and useless The overall tone is cynical, mocking human hypocrisy, corruption, and absurdity across politics, society, and institutions. The humor relies on wordplay, exaggeration, and assumed reader familiarity with contemporary scandals and figures.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘LIFE: FIDO IN A NEW SO SAY WE ALL! “ ALKING about the flags,” said the Governor of North Carolina to the Governor of South Carolina, as they listened to the soft music of the killaloo bird in the palmettos ; “there's only one flag I'd care to see returned.” “ What is that, pray?” “ The cold-wave flag in the Signal Service tower.” 6 Pe only fireproof thing about the average New York storage warehouse is the proprietor, who remains as impervious as a salamander to the flaming indignation of peo- ple who, misled by him, have put their property where it would do the most burning. SOCIETY ITEM. A NEWPORT paper says: “A prominent politician and lawyer of New York, who arrived here yester- day, has taken a cottage.” Is that all he has taken? Keep your eye on him. These New York politicians will take anything; a cottage is a small item. He may have the town yet. HAT is there so excellent as the spectacle of an old man who believes in his fellowmen? asks the Detroit Free Press. We give it up, unless it is the eye- glass of the old woman who doesn’t believe in mankind. A FIRST EXPERIENCE IN A MOS- QUITO DISTRICT. “ARRAH, THIN, YEZ ARE PURTY BIRDS; BUT YEZ HAVE MOIGHTY HOT FEET.” SCRAPS. HE reporter who received a “ lack of attention” from the management of a beach resort, showed so much talent for computing the value of emptiness, that he was pre- sented with a vacancy on the staff of his paper. . . . POURING Grévy on the troubled waters, in France, has not thus far availed to lull the storm. . . . pe NCrAND has one cow to every eightand a half per- sons. The extra semi-individual is supposed to be bound over in half-calf to keep the peace. ECLINING health will hereafter be the regulation plea against the charge of declining to refuse or withhold a bribe. . . . HE starched collar, although white, is the yoke of modern civilization, when placed around the neck in hot weather. The required time for boiling it soft is three and a half minutes. we * . I" 4s said that the Boston people contemplate boring for gas. If they want to save the expense of going down deep, they should tap the Con- cord School of Philosophy. HIGH STRUNG — Telegraph wires. comicbooks.com