Life, 1888-03-01 · page 3 of 16
Life — March 1, 1888 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 117 The top cartoon satirizes Irish-American bomb-throwing anarchists. A well-dressed man (labeled "Pilot," likely a Boston newspaper editor) and a woman stand on a cliff, pointing at a dog in the distance. The accompanying text mocks the *Boston Pilot's* complaint that dynamite-wielding radicals give Irish immigrants a bad reputation. The satire suggests the *Pilot* hypocritically sympathizes with bomb-throwers while condemning their methods as damaging to Irish respectability. The lower cartoon features Father Time as a winged creature carrying a basket labeled "AS TIME CARRIES VITA BREVIS" (life is short). This illustrates the adage that time flies quickly. The page reflects late 19th-century American anxiety about anarchist violence and Irish immigrant criminality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
117 BOMB-THROWERS. HE Boston Prot com- plains because, in the postponed British treaty, bomb-throwing is made an extraditable offense. Now, Mr. O'Reilly, you should go too. You are a good poet, and a superb ex- ponent of the manly art, but as a sympathizer with bomb- throwers you are not a suc- cess. The whole world should be leagued together to stamp out the vermin whose weapon is dynamite, be they French, Dutch, Rus- sian, English, Irish or Chi- nese. We even believe, Mr. O'R., that should Queen Vic- toria or Lord Salisbury visit this country, and throw a bomb at you, you would be the first to clamor for pro- tection. No, no, Mr. P2/ot, your point is not well taken, and we think if you could make up your mind to drop Rid- dlebergerish methods your popularity would increase, for in “other respects you f are doing quite well.” Montmorency Griddle (of Philadelphia): Heavens! SRE THE > —— SPHINX GET UP AND YAWN! 5, T was so cold in Orange Smith (of New York, absently): 1 SUPPOSE SHE THOUGHT YOU a County last week that WERE GOING TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE ANTIQUITY OF Seas . all the milk had ice-cream on YOUR FAMILY. irs surface. THE COMING FAD. TIME CROWNING COMSTOCK. CHANCED to pass her on the street, A modest maiden, blushing fair ; he intelligent With laughing eyes and lips so sweet, reader will per- A bee might seek its honey there. ceive at once that Father Time is cloth- ed as befits the sub- Alas, those lips! I could but stare, ject. Were shaped to ruby circle true; And on the crisp and willing air Familiar notes she softly blew. The letters on the crown might mislead the intelligent reader, unless he were in- formed that they -are the initials of the Associatic. for the Suppression of Sug- Desmond Fitzgerald. gestion. Once cooking was the proper thing, Then Browning drove the women mad ; Poor Buddha's gone to fold his wing— But whistling is the coming fad. comicbooks.com