Life, 1889-02-21 · page 3 of 14
Life — February 21, 1889 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Page 103 from Life Magazine **"A Legal Secret"** is a poem about a love letter ("If you love me as I love you") dated 1894, discovered in old legal documents. The satire suggests lawyers guard such romantic secrets for decades—the humor lies in imagining century-old love letters surfacing in dusty legal files. **"Taking a Base Advantage"** shows two cartoon panels with an oyster vendor. The visual joke appears to be a pun: a vendor selling oysters uses their stand as a "base" for some advantage (possibly romantic or commercial—unclear exactly). **"A Shorn Adonis"** depicts a woman scolding a man about his appearance ("shaved off the bangs"), with dialogue in exaggerated working-class dialect, suggesting social commentary on changing grooming fashions and domestic conflict.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
* LIFE: A LEGAL ’ WIXT two dull legal leaves it lies, An old unfinished valentine ; “Tf you love meas I love you"— That's all—one tender, time-dimmed line. No, not quite all, for here’s the date, “Feb, fourteenth, seventeen ninety-three ;"" And just above is faintly traced In faded ink, ‘* Zo Dorothy. SECRET. O dusty tome! you've guarded well The secret of this billet doux ; You're near a century older since Some love-lorn lawyer trusted you. Was it the longed-for client's knock, When he this single line had traced, That made him start in sudden shame And hide his rhyme with guilty haste? “If you love me as I love you"— I wonder if she did or no; I wonder was she false or true, This ‘ Dorothy” of long ago. Ah, well! it cannot -matter now, And yet, above earth's busy stir, Perhaps, who knows, somewhere, somehow, She still loves him as he loves her. Jennie P. Betts, HE mirror, unlike many of its adherents, doesn’t force its reflections upon us. A PRIME MINISTER—A missionary not underdone. ONESTY is the best policy. The reason we don't hear more about it is probably because it has expired. CuRRENT LITERATURE—The Theory of the Tides. A CoLpD DEAL—The Ice Trust. A BLACK INGRATE—Coal. TAKING A BASE ADVANTAGE, i i ean A SHORN ADONIS, Mrs, Fairfax: \'S GOT TIRED TRYIN’ FER TER BRUNG YO’ UP LAIK A JONNLEM'N, CALE FaiRFAX! Cale: Wuap's I DONE Now? Mrs. Fairfax: Wwav's. yO' DONE! WHap's YO’ DONE, YO’ BRACK TRASH! YO'S WENT AN’ SHAVED OFF DEM BANGS I’S ALLUS BEEN SO P'TIC’LAR 'BOUT, SO YO’ KIN GIT YO’ POP's HAT ON! Da’s WHAD YO'S DONE,