Life, 1888-09-13 · page 3 of 14
Life — September 13, 1888 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 143 Analysis This page contains five brief humorous sketches typical of early 20th-century Life magazine satire: 1. **"A Blessed Affliction"**: A poem about love being blind, illustrated with cherubs. 2. **"That Explains It"**: A physician jokes that half his patient's medicine was left out—explaining the patient's continued illness. 3. **"A Careful Mother"**: A boy asks his mother's permission to play ball; she refuses, fearing he'll associate with "bad boys." 4. **"That Explained It"**: A surgeon questions how a patient reached such poor condition, learning they were helped by an incompetent "First Aid" volunteer. 5. **"A Bare Possibility"** and **"Its Day Out"**: Brief social comedies about marital and service situations. The humor relies on wordplay, situational irony, and gentle satire of contemporary social conventions rather than political commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HO! Love is blind and lovers cannot see, The loss is hardly what it seems to be; For each can tell the clink of yellow gold, And count a million of it—so I'm told. Nor is that all, for through the loss of sight, Age and beauty play no part; ‘tis fancy’s flight Which makes each lover queen or king, And sense of touch which brings the diamond ring. THAT EXPLAINS IT. H, HA!” said the physician, “ fifty per cent. less deaths last week than l expected. By the way, how much medicine did I leave?” “ About half as much as usual, sir,” replied the attendant. THAT EXPLAINED IT. T the New York Hospital. SURGEON: What brought you to this dreadful condition? Were you run over by a street- car? PATIENT: No, sir; I fainted, and was brought to by a member of the “Society of First Aid to the Injured.” A BARE POSSIBILITY. UMLEY (40 whom Brown has just related a somewhat incredible story): 1 don’t believe, Brown, that such a thing could happen ! Brown: Happen? Why my wife saw it happen only this morn- ing! DuMLEy (apologetically) : Oh, I beg pardon; if Mrs. Brown saw it happen, and told you the story herself, why of course there is a possibility of its being true. ITS DAY OUT. USTOMER (fo waster): Some cheese, please ? Walter: Beg pardon, sir. Very sorry, sir. out, sir. CusTOMER: That so? Cheese When do you expect it back ? B. MeV. A, A CAREFUL MOTHER. B* LITTLE BOY (to good Jittle boy): Hey, Johnny, does yer wan’ ter take a hand in de ball game? Goop LittLe Boy: No, I thank you; my mamma doesn't allow me to play with bad boys. Bap LITTLE Boy: What's de matter—does yer ma tink you'll make de bad boys wuss? Emma (who has over $20,000 @ year of her own): DO YOU THINK, FANNY, THAT HE LOVES ME FOR MYSELF ALONE? Fanny (who has had experience): Yes, 1NDEED! OF COURSE HE CANNOT MARRY YOUR MONEY WITHOUT VOU, AND I REALLY THINK HE WOULD AS SOON LOVE YOU WITH IT; AND THAT IS A VERY PASSIONATE SORT OF LOVE—FOR A MAN, comicbooks.com