Life, 1888-12-27 · page 31 of 43
Life — December 27, 1888 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate satirical pieces typical of early Life magazine humor: 1. **"In the Haunted Chamber"** — An illustration accompanying a poem about a failed marriage. A housemaid announces her departure to the master, who replies he envies her ability to leave. The satire targets unhappy marriages where both parties are trapped, treating the domestic situation as mutually miserable rather than romantic. 2. **"Where Marriage Was a Failure"** — A poem by Frank I. Stauffer depicting marital discord, where a husband and housemaid discuss leaving a household. 3. **Brief witticisms** including: - A joke about self-defense and mosquitoes - "A Rebuke": A woman scolds a man (Mortimer) for ignoring her when poor but now showing interest after she acquired skates and her father gained a milk route—satirizing social climbing and mercenary courtship based on improved financial circumstances. The overall theme mocks marriage failures, class consciousness, and romantic hypocrisy among the period's middle class.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
2) aR \ a eH, WSS be: IN THE HAUNTED CHAMBER. WHERE MARRIAGE WAS A FAILURE. 6 PRAY, tell your wife,” the housemaid said, Needless palaver scorning, ** That I intend to leave to-day, And so, please, give her warning.” ““T envy you,” the brute replied, “ The right to thus give warning ; Like you, O Maid, I'd pack my trunk, And leave this very morning !” Frank I, Stauffer. HEN does a man shed his own blood in self-defense ? When he kills a feasting mosquito. A GaS-MEETER—The lighted match, A REBUKE. She: Fie, FtE, MORTIMER! WHEN I Was POOR YOU SCARCELY RECKERNIZED ME; NOW THAT I OWN A PAIR OF SKATES, AN’ MY FATHER HAS A MILK ROUTE, YOUR CONDUCK HAS CHANGED. comicbooks.com