Life, 1887-08-25 · page 11 of 16
Life — August 25, 1887 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 109 - Satirical Content Explained This page contains several brief satirical pieces typical of Life magazine's humor: **"Keeping Up with the Times"** depicts two Irish working-class women discussing home improvements, with thick dialect humor. One woman's husband added a story to their building using "Queen Anne style" architecture—satirizing how ordinary people adopt fashionable architectural trends without understanding them. **"At a Wagner Performance"** mocks German immigrants through caricatured dialect and names (Von Blutwurst), joking that they kept time with thunder rather than the conductor during the complex opera. **"A Profitable Scheme"** satirizes wealthy New Yorkers planning to exhibit high-society life as entertainment (like Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show), suggesting even adding "staid" Philadelphians and "cultured Bostonians" for authenticity. The remaining items are brief wordplay jokes about a pin dropped in Philadelphia and naval dress codes. The humor relies on ethnic stereotypes, puns, and social commentary typical of 1880s-90s American satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
KEEPING UP WITH THE TIMES. Mrs, Cass. IT'S & FOINE RISIDINCE YEZ HAS NOW, Missis Mac Dacey. Mrs, McD. : OW, ¥18; | THINK IT'S RATHER AN IMPROVEMENT ON THE OWLD ONE, YEZ SEE, ME HUSBAND FOUND THAT THE QUEEN ANNY STOILE OF ARTYCHECKSHER WAS THE GO, $0 HE JUST RAISED THE OWLD BUILDING A SHTORY AND CHUCKED IN A PRERHAPS YEZ'D LOIKE TO WALK THROUGH THE PRI FOIND ME HUSBANT IN THE LOIBRARY ON THE LEFT INJOYIN' HIS MORNIN’S POIPE. FEW BAY-WINDERS. 109 AN OLD TRUTH UPSET. : SLENDER lieutenant from Skye, Was as thin as a capital I ; He said ** It’s too bad, But then I can pad,” Which shows that figures do lie. HG. ITH Dana, Pulitzer, Blaine, Buffalo Bill, Red-shirt Lowell, Flower, e¢ ai., in Europe, it seems funny they had to fall back on a Coburg for that Bulgarian throne. AT A WAGNER PERFORMANCE, ONDUCTOR: Sh!-schtop! De piece vas gongluded. Von BLuTWurRstT: Ve haf schtopped. You vas geeping time mit dot thunder- storm oudside, ain’t it? ]* this hot weather, if we could have a little cool wind, we would even be willing to let it blow through our whiskers. A PROFITABLE SCHEME. RS, JOHN SHERWOOD and Mrs. James Brown Potter are said to be making arrangements with some of our best known but impecunious society people to present a picture of New York social life as a successor to Buffalo Bill's Wild West in London, next season. If a few staid and respectable Philadel- phians and one or two cultured Bostonians could be added, the Mild East Show could hardly fail to be a most profitable venture. 8; YEZ'LL AN APOLOGY. WE desire to make a most abject apology to the officers of the United States Navy. A gallant captain in the service, whose communication, to judge from his signature, is an initial attempt, chides us be- cause our artist recently represented two naval officers dressed in frock-coats with standing collars, when no self-respecting midshipman, much less an anonymous captain, would be seen in such a garment, We recognize the enormity of our offense, and when our artist, who is now in the Sandwich Islands counting the Prongs on the king's crown for the sake of accuracy in a coming cartoon, returns home, he will be put on half rations for a week. In the meanwhile, Captain L. M. P. of the United States Navy, must not feel hurt if we should depict himself and crew wearing battfig suits and life-preservers on a dress cruise, The bill of dress in the navy may not provide any such garb, but considering the condition of our ships it ought to. LADY dropped a pin on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, the other day, and peop's came running around the corners to learn the cause of the unusual noise. HE SAW A COOL DEED. 6¢ T SAW a cool deed this morning,” remarked Fangle at the supper table. “ What was it?" asked his wife, with deep interest. “ The title to an ice-house,” replied the wretch. T is not surprising that the Vo/unteer should be called a tight little vessel when we consider how deep she is in the cups. comicbooks.com