Life, 1889-06-06 · page 13 of 20
Life — June 6, 1889 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 337 Explanation This page contains three satirical pieces typical of 1880s-90s Life magazine: **"Probably Climatic"**: A New York businessman mocks Boston for having only homely women, then realizes the attractive woman he noticed came from New York on the train—suggesting New York women are superior, implying Boston's "homeliness" is environmental rather than genetic. The joke plays on regional rivalries. **"Help for the Friendless"**: A man refuses to sign a petition for a imprisoned thief until learning the prisoner's father was Grindem, a wealthy grocer who "failed for a million" (went bankrupt). He immediately agrees to sign, satirizing how the wealthy receive mercy through social connections while the poor face justice—the father's financial ruin is deemed reason enough to pardon the son's criminality. **"Concerning a Vacant Field"**: An editorial comment critiquing why America lacks female humorists, arguing women lack the freedom to develop humor because they haven't experienced crime or rough human experience, and must be "limited" to protect children's morality. This is satirizing Victorian restrictions on women.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
PROBABLY CLIMATIC. Jones (of Boston): YOU SAY YOU HAVE SEEN NOTHING RUT HOMELY GIRLS SINCE YOU CAME TO BosToN, LOOK AT THAT ONE. ‘Smith (of Gotham): YES, SHE'S NOT HOMELY; BUT SHE CAME ON THE TRAIN WITH ME FROM NEW York. HELP FOR THE FRIENDLESS. AWKINS: I can’t see, madame, why you wish me to sign this petition. The prisoner is nothing but a common thief, and doesn’t deserve pardon. Mrs. P.: You wrong him, sir; he belongs to a most respectable family. His father |_ was Grindem, the great wholesale grocer. JAWKINS (wth recollections): Oh—um! The fellow who failed for a million. Well, | I'll sign it. If the old man’s at liberty, surely 4e should be. ONCERNING A VACANT FIELD. We have a swarm of great American humorists; but how are we to account for the fact that there is not a female humorist among them ?— The Sun. Feminine life is not yet free enough for the evo- lution of female humorists. Occasionally a woman has the’sense of humor, but she is not permitted to engraft upon it that large human experience, in- cluding some experience of crime, which is the privilege of the male. It has been found necessary to limit the privileges of women so that the man- ners of little children, who are prone to associate with them, may not be contaminated. A SPRING FRESHET. Boy: Say, Missus JACKSING, MY OLE WOMAN SAYS. AS WILL YO’ LEND HER YO’ GUM OBERSHOES FO’ *BOUT HALF AN HOUR; SHE WANTS TER GO DOWN TER DE STORE.