Life, 1889-05-02 · page 5 of 20
Life — May 2, 1889 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 253: April Satire This page satirizes spring 1889 events through anthropomorphized seasonal figures. The circular vignettes arranged around "April" reference contemporary news: **"Spring"** features a fairy-like figure dispersing renewal. **"The Exiled Boers"** and **"The Fall of Sarajevo"** appear to reference colonial conflicts. **"Oklahoma"** discusses the Government's land division scheme for settlers—a significant 1889 event. The text mentions **Boulanger** (likely French General Boulanger's political movements), **McAllister's** memorial sacrifice, **Dunraven's cup challenge** (yacht racing), and German/English competition over beer and pigs. **"American Lager Beer"** represents contemporary commercial rivalry. The cartoons use whimsical characters and seasonal personification to comment on these disparate 1889 news stories—a typical Life magazine format combining political satire with humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
of LOVELY Spring brings many events in her train this year, Boulanger is perhaps of first interest in the eyes of the world, and whethér or not he makes an error in choosing discretion before valor remains to be seen. ‘That Consul Knappe made an error in putting aside discretion for bombast, however, that worthy Teuton is probably by this time convinced, * * * HAD it not, been for our great Centennial celebration, Mayor Grant's edict that brought down the poles and wires from overhead might have created even more of a sensation ;_but the sacrifice of McAllister at the foot of the statue of Washington was an event of so much more importance that all else, quite naturally, was of secondary consideration, even Dunraven’s challenge for the cup, that has a fixity of tenure in America. * * * O°, in the wild, free West the sagacious plan whereby the Government divided the promised land of Okla- homa among the claimants, produced the results that might have been expected. Little wonder that Germany stands aghast at the figure of the new Gambrinus who is to cater to the English appetite for beer. We are even with Bismark now on the American pig question. comicbooks.com