Life, 1889-02-14 · page 3 of 20
Life — February 14, 1889 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine, February 14, 1889 This page contains three separate pieces of satirical humor typical of the period: 1. **"Semper Idem"** (top): A Valentine's Day poem by W. J. Daggett about romantic constancy, illustrated with a whimsical sketch of figures in winter weather. 2. **"The Acute Sophomore"** (center): A joke about a lovelorn college student. A telegraph arrives with news that his beloved "Charles Maxwell" has been executed—he misinterprets it as bad news about his romance. The humor relies on the contrast between his emotional turmoil and the mundane reality (the name similarity is coincidental). The illustration shows the president consoling the distraught young man. 3. **"On a Southern Railroad"** (bottom): A brief dialogue joke where a woman mistakes railroad tracks for snakes—a simple sight-gag reflecting period attitudes about rural/Southern settings.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VotumMeE XIII. ] F E ri FEBRUARY 14TH, No. 320. 1889. SEMPER IDEM. “ OVE, my love, wilt thou be mine? Wilt thou be my Valentine?” Now the February breezes, From the northland bleak and cold, Come and make love's heart the warmer ; Make the old tale new, retold. Some have words of finest fancy, Others speak in language plain ; But all lovers, loving truly, Chant the same old, dear refrain : “Love, my love, wilt thou be mine? Wilt thou be my Valentine?” W. J. Duggett. THE ACUTE SOPHOMORE. E was only a Sophomore, but he had a large head. He was undergoing the agony of a Sophomoric love, and he pined for his adored one at home. All his “cuts” had been used, and he could see no way to fly to her side. Suddenly an idea seized him from behind, and he, overpowering it, grasped it and hung on. The next day he knocked at the office-door of the president of the faculty, and his eyes were filled with tears. In his hand he held a telegram, yellow and foreboding. This he gave to Prex, who opened it and read: “HARTFORD, CONN. “Mk. E, J. B—, AMHERST COLLEGE, Amherst : “Charles is not expected to live. Come home at once. “FATHER.” The good-hearted president spoke a few kindly words to the grief-striken lad and told him to remain away as long as necessary. The next day he sat with Alice on the sofa, and as he read in the paper of the execution of Charles Maxwell, who was hung for murder that morning, he knew that the dispatch had not lied. His sopho- moric conscience was at ease, and Alice and he were happy. W.R, Sill. ON A SOUTHERN RAILROAD. “HE (much excited): Oh! Just look at those two horrid snakes wriggling along beside the train. HE (contemptuously): That's not snakes! It’s the other track. THE SITUATION AS WE GO TO comicbooks.com