Life, 1889-05-30 · page 1 of 20
Life — May 30, 1889 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine, May 30, 1889 This page contains a visual joke about a lighthouse disaster. The photograph shows two figures with an umbrella in heavy rain or storm conditions. Below, a brief comedic dialogue appears: **She:** "It must have been an awful storm to blow away the lighthouse." **Charley:** "Terrible, my dear; but it could only have been through carelessness that there was a lighthouse in such an exposed place." The satire mocks absurd reasoning—Charley's suggestion that a lighthouse shouldn't be built in an exposed location is nonsensical, since lighthouses *must* be positioned on dangerous coasts to warn ships. The joke ridicules backwards thinking: blaming the placement of a safety structure rather than acknowledging genuine storm danger. The caption "AN OPINION" emphasizes the foolishness of this illogical commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
NEW YORK, MAY 30,1889. NUMBER 335. Entered at the New,York Post Office as Second-Class*Mail Matter. Copyright, 1889, by Mircuety & MILLER. pwhicanys gi SVM. AN OPINION. She: \T MUST HAVE BEEN AN AWFUL STORM TO BLOW AWAY THE LIGHTHOUSE, Cholly: TERRIBLE, MY DEAR; BUT IT COULD ONLY HAVE BEEN THROUGH CARELESSNESS THAT THERE WAS A LIGHTHOUSE IN SUCH AN EXPOSED PLACE, comicbooks.com