Life, 1888-10-18 · page 12 of 14
Life — October 18, 1888 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 222: Satirical Humor and Social Commentary This page from *Life* magazine (a satirical publication, not the photo magazine) contains several disconnected jokes typical of the era's humor format: **"Run Short"** jokes about a baker waiting for pie bottoms from a rubber company—a pun on the double meaning of "bottoms." **"Playing House"** depicts a child seeking lodging; the landlady refuses because she won't rent to children, satirizing harsh boarding practices. **"Never Forgot Himself"** portrays a man named Paperwater confessing to gambling, drinking, and insulting women, yet insisting he remained "a gentleman"—mocking the contradiction between behavior and claimed respectability. **"Small Experience"** features a newly hired policeman (two weeks on force) asked about the Harrison-Cleveland election, unable to answer. This likely references an actual contemporary political race. The page also includes short illustrated gags about street-car conductors and near-sighted men. The humor relies on social class observations, puns, and absurdist situations typical of early American satirical magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
RUN SHORT. AKER (fo foreman): Are the pies in yet, Fritz? FOREMAN: No, sir; I'm waiting for the boy. He’s gone around to the Rubber Belt- ing and Packing Company for a few more bottoms. EAVES OF ABSENCE—The lost books of Livy. NEVER FORGOT HIMSELF. $¢ 7 ADMIT, boys,” remarked Paperwate, “that I haven't always led the life I should. I've gambled some, drunk whiskey more 'r less, an’ at times perhaps I'm a trifle profane an’ abusive, an’ have called men liars, which I have generally regretted after- wards, an’ have passed a night at the sta- tion-house at odd intervals, an’ insulted ladies, an’—an’ that sort o’ thing; but, boys (and here his eyes filled with tears), \'ve al- PLAYING HOUSE. ways been a gentleman, No man can say Madge (supposed to be in search of board): CAN 1 GET ROOMS HERE? that Marble F. Paperwate ever forgot that Jenny (landlady): 18 THAT CHILD Yours? he was a gentleman!" Madge: Yess. —— = Jenny: Vt SORRY, BUT WE DON'T TAKE CHILDREN HERE. then half a turn back to the left, and if we make progress either way it is mixed with so much retrogression as to be barely perceptible. But when a being seems to have ripped out the backstays of his humanity alto- gether and goes buzzing along without let to the Utterly Bad, he becomes an instructive spectacle and throws light on the possibilities of humans for good or for bad. . . . ene pendulum does not swing one way farther than the other. There must be an existing heroism to offset this Whitechapel depravity. If there are demons which enslave men to their ruin, there must be counter influences which tend to pull him the other way. There must be a glorified Near-Sighted Man: Great Casart Wat Dr. Jekyl as well as a Mr. Hyde, and somehow mankind must have the a sustie! choice of which way it will tend. E.S.M. POPULARITY. R. SMALL: That man over there makes half a dozen trips down- town every day, and scores of women he don’t know nod to him and try to stop him. THE Victim: Is he an actor? MR. SMALL: No, a street-car conductor. SMALL EXPERIENCE. ITIZEN (¢0 policeman): Officer, which do you think is likely to get there, Harrison or Cleveland? POLICEMAN: Oi don’t know, sorr; Oi've only been on the foorce two wakes, A NEARER VIEW, comicbooks.com