Life, 1888-09-27 · page 1 of 14
Life — September 27, 1888 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Very Different By Daylight" This satirical cartoon depicts a social comedy about courtship and deception. The scene shows three figures beneath a pergola: a young woman (Miss Gushynge) stands between two men—one seated and one standing—in what appears to be a daytime garden setting. The title and dialogue suggest a contrast between nighttime romance and daytime reality. Miss Gushynge asks Mr. Masher to repeat "lovely verses" he allegedly composed for her "in the moonlight, last evening," while an impatient older man (likely her father) sits nearby. The joke satirizes the gap between romantic pretense and daylight truth—suggesting the verses were either fabricated or seem far less charming in daylight. It mocks both the suitor's poetic affectations and the young woman's gullibility regarding moonlit romance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XII. perhicanus fe Sve. NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 27, 1888. Entered at the New York Post Office as Second-Class Mail Matter Copyright, 1888, by Mirewait & Mittar, VERY DIFFERENT BY DAYLIGHT. Miss Gushynge: | MAVE SUCH A FAVOR TO ASK OF YOU, MR, MASHEUR. Mr. M. (with his most engaging smile): ANYTHING, anything, MY DEAR Miss GUSHYNGE. Atiss G. (imploringly): DO, do, PLEASE, REPEAT TO PAPA THOSE LOVELY VERSES YoU CoM- POSED—THOSE YOU MURMURED TO ME IN THE MOONLIGHT, LAST EVENING. The verses began in this wise. “Ob, love, love, love! When thou, sweet god, Art from my beart,” ete. comicbooks.com