Life, 1888-11-08 · page 3 of 14
Life — November 8, 1888 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 255 The page contains three distinct sections: 1. **"The Manhattan Broker to His Sweetheart"** — A romantic poem about longing to hear foreign songbirds, expressing that nothing compares to one's love. This appears to be sentimental verse without obvious political content. 2. **"Unnecessary"** — A brief dialogue joke about proper French expressions for accepting or declining dinner invitations, showing cultural humor about etiquette differences between Americans and the French. 3. **"Some Definitions"** — Baseball-related humor defining terms like "phenomenal pitcher," "short-stop," and "umpire" in witty, non-literal ways. The accompanying cartoon shows two figures (unclear who specifically) with commentary about a baseball campaign torch. The page primarily contains social satire and sporting humor rather than direct political commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE MANHATTAN BROKER TO HIS SWEETHEART. ON HER LONGING TO HEAR FOREIGN SONGSTERS. HE ¢hrostle-cock and spotted wren, The fard, the tufted crow, The dulbul and the darley-hen, Not one of these we know, My love,— Not one of these we know. They say ‘tis sweet in moonlit park To hear the nightingale, And some prefer the soaring /aré, Who greets the morrow pale, My love,— Who greets the morrow pale. And lush may be the tuneful dinke In Java's spicy bowers, And boon to watch the wh sink Among the cactus flowers, My love,— Among the cactus flowers, UNNECESSARY. All these delight a foreign shore— Cotonel B. (sojourning in Paris): \WWat 1S THE PROPER FRENCH EXPRESSION TO But let them go their way ; BE USED IN ACCEPTING AN INVITATION TO DRINK? For cunning note and steady soar, Mr, Cobalt; YoU SHOULD SAY “AVEC PLAISIR,” MONSIEUR LE CoLoxeL, Oh, what can touch our Jay, Colonel B.: AM, “AVEC PLAISIR.” ALL RIGHT! My love 2— Mfr, Cobalt: AND WHEN YOU DECLINE AN INVITATION YOU SHOULD say, ‘NON, Oh, what can touch our Jay? MERCI," Colonel B.: OW, THAT WOULDN'T BE OF ANY USE TO ME, SOME DEFINITIONS. Which it és hoped will enable the lady admirers of our national game to understand the newspaper reports. A PHENOMENAL PITCHER— One that has often gone to the well without being cracked. A SuHoRT-Stop—Ten minutes for refreshments. A Fou T1p—Information in regard to a cock-fight. A BasE-RUNNER—He who fights and runs away. First BasE—The good looking young man in the choir. Saw THE AtR—An optical illusion, Usually an iron- ical allusion to a man who cannot see the ball. A BaT—A popular amusement of the gilded youth. A DousLeE PLay—Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A STRONG CLuB—The policeman’s, OuT ON STRIKES—The mournful condition of the Amer- ican workingman. THE UMPIRE—A man who sees the fine points of the game. Also the individual responsible for the home club's defeat—a despised and hated character, ‘TWAS EVER THUS WITH REPUBLICS. Campaign Torch (to Baseball): 1 TELL YOU, SIR, WE HAVE HELPED WIN MORE VICTORIES THAN ALL THE ENERALS OF THE Pp N 2 . CENTURY—BUT THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GRATITUDE AMONG O PUBLIC SINGERS: The keynote of success—B A PEOPLE. natural. comicbooks.com