Life, 1889-08-15 · page 12 of 16
Life — August 15, 1889 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 96: Satirical Comedy This page contains multiple humorous sketches lampooning romantic and social situations of the era. **"Comedy of Love"** (top): A satirical playlet by Morgan MacKnight mocking romantic conventions—showing how love progresses from misunderstanding to tears to kisses to marriage, with a cynical closing line that "Worth makes the woman; Poole makes the man" (likely referencing a contemporary tailor or fashion figure). **The gun-robbery sketches** (middle): Two parallel scenes where a robber threatens victims with a gun, but misunderstandings arise—one victim thinks it's a joke about baseball umpires; another thinks the robber wants his watch rather than his money. **"From the Shades"** (lower left): A brief domestic joke about a Bostonian guest complaining the room is too hot. **Samoa naval joke**: A brief editorial comment about inadequate naval forces. **"Tail-Bearers"** (right): A sketch mocking artistic pretension, suggesting an African American woman prepares to pose for expensive portraits rather than pay for them herself. The humor reflects period attitudes and social stereotypes typical of 1890s American satirical magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
COMEDY OF LOVE. ACT I, SCENE I. GLADE, some shade, A man, A maid, A pout, some doubt, Misunderstood. SCENE I. ‘Tear shedding. ACT II, SCENE I. Same glade, more shade, Same man, Same maid, A kiss, some bliss, Miss understood. SCENE Il. A wedding. [curtatn.] Morgan MacKnight. T is a mistake to suppose that worth makes the man. Worth makes the woman; Poole makes the “\Now THEN YOUNG FELLER, YER WANT 'ER HAND OUT YER POCKET BOOK AN’ WATCH PURTY QUICK ‘ER I'LL BLOW THE WHOLE TOP OF YER MEAD OFF, DO YER SEE?” “WELL, MY FRIEND, AWARE THAT I HAVE FOR THREE YEA—" I juDGR- YoU ARE NOT REN A BASEBALL UMPIRE “FoR HEVVINS SAKE, PARD, LEMME GO THIS Time! TWAS ONLY A JoKIN.| I DIDN'T WANT YER WATCH?” mt {il il l : wari Rest Ne NO) y FROM His Majesty: Wevr, Mr. De Bea! Bt) i iif i ea] REGSTERM Reqs ter VPP moe | E No fo 407 67 fia. yo 7040702 wo7049 7 i fwh 5 THE (S)HADES. N, WHAT IS IT Now ? Mr, De Bean (from Boston): 1 CARN'T SLEEP, YOU KEEP THE PLACE SO BEASTLY HOT! T is stated that our naval force at Samoa “consists of one Admiral, two officers and five men.” The Navy Department should send on two more officers, so that in case of mutiny the forces will be equally divided. TAIL-BEARERS.— Our ancestors. Afiss Bifins (preparing for the surf): W'at's DE USE OB GOIN' TO DE EXPENSE OB STOC! W'EN YO' BRUDER HAB SUCH ARTISTIC ERBILITY AS DAT? comicbooks.com