Life, 1888-01-05 · page 12 of 16
Life — January 5, 1888 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page Analysis This page contains three distinct satirical pieces mocking Victorian social pretension and literary culture: **"A Stern Rebuke"** (top cartoon): Two fashionably dressed men critique each other's appearance with exaggerated upper-class affectation. The joke satirizes the obsessive concern with perfect dress codes among the wealthy—one man faints upon realizing he forgot his walking stick, treating this minor omission as social catastrophe. **"Topsical"** (middle): A classroom scene where a student recites a memorized physiology answer perfectly, then hilariously fails when asked to think independently, confusing "organic" and "inorganic." This mocks rote memorization in education. **Literary section**: Humorous observations about famous American and British writers (Holmes, Lowell, Howells, Tennyson, etc.), exaggerating their quirks—using magazines as paperweights, reviewing books while half-asleep, etc. The final anecdote about tea-induced hysteria satirizes women's social obligations and nervous exhaustion from endless afternoon social calls. The overall theme: mocking Victorian society's superficiality, pretension, and rigid social conventions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A STERN REBUKE. WIGLEY: Haw, Wigley, a word with you (whispering), Don’t you know you're making a dweadful exhibition of yourself? You've only half-dwessed ! WIGLEY (amazed): But I don’t see anything the mattah, deah boy. TWIGLEY: Why, you must be cwazy! You've left your walking-stick at home, Wigley faints. aG ARADISE LOST,” says a recent writ- er, “was sold for a song.” The man who bought it for a song must have considered himself badly TOPSICAL. sold when he tried to Teacher : CLASS IN PHYSIOLOGY, STAND UP, BODKINS, HOW DO YOU DISTINGUISH ORGANIC sing it. _ re podbing (glbly, having committed the answer to memory): IX THE ORGANIC WORLD EVERY A SEHONY COM- INDIVIDUAL SPRINGS FROM SOME PARENT, WHILE INORGANIC SUBSTANCES ARE FORMED BY STOCK is about CHEMICAL LAWS. to bring suit against a Teacher: VERY GooD, GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF AN IN NIC SUBST. prominent N. Y. butcher Bodkins (usually slow at these things, but for once inspired): AN ORPHA for selling undressed beef. INTERESTING ITEMS ABOUT LITERARY PEOPLE. T is said that Dr. Holmes uses the Pedantic Monthly for a paper-weight. The Editor of the Century Magazine can read three,war papers in seven minutes with his eyes shut. The two jokes that Noah had with him in the Ark, will shortly appear suitably illustrated in the Editor's Drawer department of Harper's Monthly. Mr. James Russell Lowell wrote his poem ‘ The Secret,” in the last issue of the Pedantic Monthly, while in a comatose state after the Authors’ Readings. His Royal Highness, Mr. Thomas Baily Aldrich, is said to believe the ‘Story of a Bad-Boy” the best story for children ever written. Some excitement was caused the other day in Boston, by the announcement that Mr. Howells was in a critical condition, but when it was remembered that it is Mr. Howells's professional duty to be so, prayers of thanks were offered up, because his state was not hyper-critical. Mr. Fawcett’s remarks on Thackeray, together with the Fable of the Live Jackass and the Dead Lion, bound in half-calf, make a suitable and acceptable present to the library of a Blind or Lunatic Asylum. The Book-Reviewer of the /ndependent, we hear, can review ten volumes in less time than it takes to read one. Frank R. Stockton writes with a stub pen. Edgar Fawcett writes with a lead- pencil and aneraser. His best work is done with the eraser. Charles Egbert Crad- dock writes with the feather end of a quill. Robert Browning has a pet spider that does all his writing for him. Lord Tennyson uses a private secretary. Mr. Howells plays his novels on a type-writer. Dr. Holmes uses a patent safety razor to get his THE CUP THAT CHEERS. airy fancies into shape and Mr. Lowell's Dictatorial habits enable him to throw off dainty nothings with a stenographer, at two dollars a day. Rider Haggard’s best ‘\F-p-FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, DOCTOR, GIVE ME work is done with a few old books and a pair of scissors; and Robert Louis Stevenson A p-D-DOSE OF BROMIDE. I'VE BEEN TO FIVE uses a steel pen in honor of the Publishers who steal its products. AFTERNOON TEAS, AND I'M ALMOST C-C-CRAZY.” comicbooks.com