Life, 1887-09-22 · page 7 of 16
Life — September 22, 1887 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Good Fishing" - Life Magazine, Page 161 This cartoon illustrates a social joke about wealthy women and marriage prospects. Two fashionably dressed women in 1890s attire converse by a scenic riverside. One remarks she's just returned from a fishing excursion in the Adirondacks and had "a lovely time." When asked about her luck, she responds: "Oh my, yes. I caught a Chicago millionaire!" The humor relies on the contemporary understanding that wealthy heiresses and society women engaged in calculated courtship, "fishing" for rich husbands much like anglers pursue fish. The Adirondacks reference indicates an exclusive resort area where such social encounters occurred. The joke satirizes how marriage among the wealthy was frankly transactional, with women viewed as strategically pursuing affluent bachelors.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
want a scientific excuse for having at one time or another “made fools of themselves.” . . . HERE are several orthodox notions about Love which Mr. Finck has delighted to knock over. He courage- ously affirms that first love is zo¢ best—any more than early strawberries or first poems; that true love is transient; rarely surviving more than two or three years; that flirtation is one of the most commendable of woman's accomplishments, and that chaperones are scientifically and morally a bane to society. (Indeed, the author's crusade against chaperones is very bitter.) The first two sentiments will win Mr. Finck the respect of all disappointed bachelors; the last two, the admiration of all flirts. But, take the book all in all, it seems to have been written almost entirely from a masculine point of view. Certainly there will be many women indignant at such sentiments as these: “ Pretty girls are so rare that they are almost sure to be spoiled by flattery.” “Pretty girls are commonly lazy.” “The majority [of wornen] are partial coquettes, to whom Love is known only as a form of Vanity.” “It is only in parental and conjugal feeling that woman surpasses man. In Romantic Love, in all the impersonal feelings for art and nature she is vastly his inferior.” “Woman, in short, is a failure: and let any disappointed lover ask himself, Is it businesslike to begin life with a failure?” In teyalty to the ladies, and with much apprehension for Mr. Finck’s safety, we are compelled to print the above heretical and very cynical opinions. N the other hand, the author has the temerity to indict a very large, respectable and happy class of the community, as follows: “Of all the brutes enumerated in the human branch of zoology the deliberate bachelor is the most unfeasonable and selfish.” This is calculated to excite the indignation of a great many wise men, but we can graciously mollify their wrath by asserting, on trustworthy authority, that Mr. Finck has shown considerable astuteness in himself remaining in the category of “unreasonable and selfish” bachelors. His discretion is, therefore, much better than his logic, and most bachelors will be apt to follow his personal example. NE of the most attractive features of this book is its division into many short sections by pointed and inter- esting cross-heads which keep the logical development of the subject before the reader. It is throughout a skilful piece of book-making, and one that will grow in popularity. © Droch. (( Mi Abe & Sener g psy Dy GOOD FISHING. “I'VE JUST RETURNED FROM A FISHING EXCURSION IN THE ADIRONDACKS, I MAD A LOVELY TIME!” ““You HAD GOOD LUCK, THEN?" “OH MY, YES, I CAUGHT A CHICAGO MILLIONAIRE!” comicbooks.com