Life, 1887-09-01 · page 11 of 16
Life — September 1, 1887 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 123 Analysis **"A Trying Moment"** depicts a young man frustrated by theater dating costs—not the ticket price, but the expensive treats (candy, refreshments) that follow. The humor targets both male expense and female expectations in courtship. **"The Changing Year"** is a romantic poem with ironic twist: a man wastes his wealth courting a woman he believed wealthy, only to discover she's merely her aunt's poor relation. The satire mocks both masculine romantic foolishness and the social importance placed on female wealth/status. **"A New Argument for Shakespeare"** ridicules the Omaha World's theory attributing Shakespeare's "vulgar" plays to Lord Bacon rather than Shakespeare himself. Life's counterargument: if Bacon were a boot-black (shoe shiner) rather than a nobleman, vulgarity and commerce would be perfectly compatible. The piece satirizes pretentious literary criticism and class snobbery about what constitutes "refined" authorship. **"It Might Have Been"** (dialogue): An Irish immigrant (Mike) quit his powder factory job; Pat asks if it was dangerous. Mike replies he'd be dead by now had he stayed—dark humor about industrial labor hazards and worker mortality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A TRYING MOMENT. Young Cavalier: 1 WaS IN HOPES SHE WOULDN'T SEE THAT SIGN, IT ISN'T THE TAKING A GIRL TO A MATINEE THAT'S SO EXPENSIVE, IT’S THE CONFOUNDED TREATS THAT FOLLOW! THE CHANGING YEAR. ER lips were ripened cherries, her hair a fleece of gold, And everybody told me she owned a million, cold. So while the leaves were turning beneath the autumn skies, I watched my dumb devotion reflected in her eyes. As fast the snow was falling in winter's icy days, I wasted half my substance in sending her bouquets. When all the birds were mating and carolling for spring, I spent what was remaining on an engagement ring. And now that through the woodland the summer sunteams slant, I find the million’s owner to be her ma‘den aunt. S. St. G. Lawrence, A NEW ARGUMENT FOR SHAKESPEARE. HE Omaha World advances an entirely new and original theory on the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. Says our esteemed contemporary : Shakespeare's plays are full of vulgarity, evidently put in to please the mob whose pennies helped support the theatre, Would Lord Bacon have written such stuff ? Yet Pope, in his essay on man, writes: “If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shin‘d,” leaving us in much doubt as to whether Bacon really began life as a Knight of the Brush or a Peer of the Realm. What did Bacon shine, is now the question. If boots, as we strongly suspect from Pope's allusion, the Omaha Wor/d's theory is as empty as the wind, because boot-blacks, vulgarity and pennies are not an impossible combination. This matter must be settled before the controversy can proceed. 123 PROVERBLETS. L LABOR conquers.everything except the walking delegate. TELL me what you think you eat, and I will tell you what the vendors of adul- | terated food think you are. | ARROGANCE is next of kin to ignorance. Iv. | Ir is always too late to be mendacious. ¥. A FRIEND in need will “bleed” you indeed. Vi. FINE words butter no parsnips, but are often palatable when spread upon an after- dinner toast. Vit. | ANGLOMANIAC birds of three feathers flock with the Prince of Wales. vill. | THE game when prolonged until early morning is not worth the extra gas bill. GP. L. “IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.” Pat: MOIKE, TH TELLS ME AS YRZ HAVE QUIT WORRUKIN’ IN THE POWDER FACTORY. Was IT Too DANGEROUS? Mike: Daxoerous? WELL, BE Gon! I BELAVE IF I MAD WORRUKED THERE TILL. Now I'D A BE'N DEAD A YEAR AGO. comicbooks.com