Life, 1889-03-07 · page 3 of 18
Life — March 7, 1889 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine, March 7th, 1889 This page contains three satirical humor pieces: **"A Justification"** mocks Aunt Deborah's remark about "flybelle girls" who don't toil or spin, comparing them to biblical lilies—suggesting idle, ornamental women. **"A Literal Translation"** jokes about a French-American translating his Bible for an American friend, with the punchline about weak "meat" (likely a sexual innuendo). **"Corroboration"** presents a domestic scene where Paddleford boasts women have an "innate, natural, constitutional love of the horrible." His wife sarcastically responds by wishing he'd been a bachelor—implying marriage makes women miserable, inverting his claim. **"A Possibility"** (bottom right) shows a woman apparently throwing a man, captioned to suggest this as a possible outcome of gender conflict. These pieces satirize gender relations and stereotypes about women's nature and domestic roles.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VotumeE XIII. MARCH 7TH, No. 323. 1889. ents A JUSTIFICATION. Aunt Deborah (religiously): \Wok TO THE MAN WHO MARRIES THOSE FLYBELLE GIRLS; FOR THEY TOIL NOT, NEITHER DO THEY SPIN, Miss Daisy: OW, AUNT DEDORAH! YOU WRONG THEM, INDEED YOU DO! I MEET THEM OFTEN AT DANCES. A LITERAL TRANSLATION. Yt Tee Manat | RENCH-AMERICAN (frans- | ae lating his Bible for an Amert- | can friend): The ghost is willing, or but the meat is weak. 2f CORROBORATION. vit i AID Paddleford to his wife on \ A S the way back from the museum, J “1am firmly convinced that women have an innate, natural, constitutional love of the horrible.” “Good thing for you!" she retorted, ‘ “or you might have been a bachelor to your ating, dying day.” A POSSIBILITY. the é ively comicbooks.com