Life, 1887-10-06 · page 3 of 16
Life — October 6, 1887 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 185 **"A Slight Difference"** (top cartoon): A woman confronts a man named Charlie about a pile of letters, calling them "billets doux" (love letters). He protests they're "billies over-due"—a pun playing on the homophone between romantic letters and overdue bills. The satire mocks domestic nagging about unpaid debts. **"A Lasting Fashion"** and **"A New Baseball Union"** (articles below): These discuss baseball league organization and propose reforms including: standardized rules across teams, a "Sinking or Insurance Fund" for injured umpires, and pension protections for players. The text advocates for Life's support of these labor improvements in professional baseball. The page combines light domestic humor with serious sports labor advocacy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
il A SLIGHT DIFFERENCE. She: Wry, CHARLIE, WHAT A PILE OF LETTERS! Aillets doux, 1 SUPPOSE? He: Not aT MY TIME OF LIFE, MY DEAR, BILLIES OVER-DUE. A LASTING FASHION. N olden days it was the rule For cap and bells to grace the fool : His cap is gone, but Fashion tells Me that the foo! still goes with belles. Maude A, Andrews. A NEW UNION, HE baseball players have organized themselves into a brotherhood with the captain of the Giants at their head. What the Giants’ claim to this distinction may be is not apparent. Connoisseurs in ball have frequently asserted that the Giants do not play baseball, and our own observa- tion of their vacillation as regards the second, third and fourth places in the League, convinces us that the connoisseurs are not far out of the way. However this may be, we trust the Brotherhood will accomplish one or two reforms, which are briefly as follows: First. Make the various members of the League adopt titles more indicative of their peculiarities and less hard of comprehension. “ The Giants” should be the Pigmies. “The Maroons” may convey some idea as to the make-up of the Detroits to those who observe that maroon is red, that beets are likewise red, and that Detroit always beats; but it takes too long a time and too much of a strain on the average intellect to reach this conclusion. The Philadelphians are called “ Phillies,” yet sportsmen frequently refer to fast horses as fillies, and everyone who knows anything is aware that no Philadelphian could ever be called fast. Second. The Brotherhood should strike for more ball and less talk at the big games. Third and Last. A Sinking or Insurance Fund for Um- pires should be founded. The Umpire wins as many games as he loses by his errors, and in the long run it will be seen that he does fully as much good in the world as he does bad, and is worthy of a pension in case his neck or legs get broken in the service. If the Brotherhood will do these things it may count on LiFe’s unqualified support. comicbooks.com