Life, 1889-07-25 · page 3 of 16
Life — July 25, 1889 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page (Volume XIV, No. 343) **"The Impressionable Age"** (top cartoon) depicts a social scandal: a young woman is criticized for accepting attention from a "dissipated, unprincipled brute." The joke's irony is that she previously rejected him, but now that she's discovered he's actually a rake, she finds him fascinating—suggesting young women are attracted to dissolute men rather than respectable suitors. **"En Route"** (bottom) is a romantic poem about shipboard romance, describing a brief maritime encounter between the narrator and a woman. The mermaid illustration and "Going to Waist" drawing are decorative elements. The poem's tone is wistful nostalgia for a fleeting romance that couldn't develop into real engagement. Both pieces satirize courtship conventions and female attraction to morally questionable men—typical turn-of-century social commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SS THE IMPRESSIONABLE AGE. She: WHAT A SHAME SUCH A NICE GIRL SHOULD ACCEPT THE ATTENTIONS OF THAT DISSIPATED, UNPRINCIPLED BRUTE ! He: UNTIL. RECENTLY, YOU KNOW, SHE WOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM, She: AND WHY DOES SHE NOW ? He: SWE HAS RECENTLY DISCOVERED THAT HE IS REALLY A DISSIPATED, UNPRINCIPLED BRUTE, AND THE FASCINATION 18 MUCH FOR HER. EN ROUTE. HE was slender and tall, azure-eyed, with a cheek That paled or grew pink with each passing emotion, And the siren ensnared me in one little week When we met on the Servia, crossing the ocean. It's the old simple story. From lashing her chair In the morning and stopping to talk of the weather To the last turn on deck in the cool evening air, There was always a something to throw us together; She practised adroitly before land was sighted, I had fallen a prey to her glances and smiles, And tenderly, truly, our troth had been plighted. But the promise she gave me she promptly took back When she reached ferra firma, and wrote me from Dover : ~~ ‘Our engagement, of course, doesn't count, dearest Jack, For you know when ‘twas made we were both half seas over!" MEL WwW. GOING TO WAIST. comicbooks.com