Life, 1887-11-24 · page 8 of 20
Life — November 24, 1887 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 290 **The Cartoon "Quite Knowing":** This sketch depicts a social scene where a woman sits while men stand around her. The dialogue suggests she is attractive ("pretty") but intellectually uninformed. The humor targets gendered stereotypes about women's education and awareness. **"How About Anthony Comstock":** This article attacks Anthony Comstock, a real historical figure who served as a postal inspector and led anti-obscenity campaigns. The text accuses him of hypocrisy—specifically of forcing inappropriate art into the public sphere while claiming moral authority. The piece criticizes his tactics of purchasing "improper pictures" and using them to charge artists with trafficking obscene materials, suggesting his crusades may be motivated by his own questionable judgment rather than genuine moral concern.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
QUITE KNOWING. Charles: SUBS PRETTY, BUT SHE DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING. Evelyn: OM, YES SHE DOES: SHE KNOWS SHE'S PRETTY. we are all desirous of making some new discovery to startle the world, and it is a mighty poor piece of whalebone or cipher that will not prove anything we wish it to. ‘The writer of this article is prepared to wager, that by means of a sheet of paper, a bottle of ink, Lord Bacon’s cipher, and one hundred and thirty arbitrary assumptions, he can prove that Governor Foraker discovered America, and that Moses stood in the Tribune building when he viewed the promised land, I fear the Bishop is suffering from a severe case of the prevailing Malaria Iconoclastica. Carlyle Smith, THE CABINET ROW T scems altogether likely that by the time this writing is set in type and laid before the reader, the General Land Oilice will be conspicuous for the absence of Commissioner Sparks. ‘The Commissioner enjoys the reputation of an honest man and an enemy to thieves of public land. He lacks that element of greatness which consists in get- ting on with one’s boss. That is why. HOW ABOUT ANTHONY COMSTOCK. Js there no asylum for persons with his tendencies ? Causing works of art to suggest indecent ideas to other people, has always been one of his favorite freaks. Not satisfied with the filth of his own mind he persists in forcing others to look at things from the same point of view. The other day an agent of this intelligent gentleman visited a well-known Art establishment on Fifth Avenue and selected 117 photographs of original paintings, by such artists as Cabanel, Bougereau, Gerome, Le Fevre, Henner, and others of the modern French school. He paid for them and had a receipted bill given him for them by the firm. Upon these Mr. Comstock based a charge of trafficking in improper pictures. This man would put trowsers on Apollo. That a biped of Mr. Comstock's calibre should be allowed authority in matters of art is a standing joke upon the City of New York. The licentiousness of his own mind seems to bubble over and pollute every work of art with which he comes in contact. comicbooks.com