Life, 1889-09-12 · page 5 of 16
Life — September 12, 1889 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 145 This page contains several short humorous sketches typical of Life's satirical style: **"A Money Making Scheme"** mocks a man (Cawker) who claims to have started a dubious "drop-a-nickel-in-the-slot" machine business, despite being broke. **"A Prize Catch"** jokes about a baseball player earning $5,000 annually—presented as unreasonably high compensation, reflecting early 20th-century attitudes toward sports salaries. **"A Cut and Dried Affair"** (bottom cartoon) depicts hay harvesting, likely satirizing agricultural work or rural life. The page also includes brief comedic exchanges between characters about fighting, sadness, and threats—typical vaudeville-style humor of the era. The cartoons are unsigned except for artist signatures, and target middle-class anxieties about money, social status, and modern commerce.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: “JAMES, YOU HAVE BEEN FIGHTING. I CAN TELL IT BY THE LOOK IN YOUR EYE.” “Yes, puT M OTHER BOY'S EYE.” HER, YOU SHOULD SEE THR LOOK IN THE A PRIZE CATCH. M RS. PRUDENT: But do you think he’s a good catch? Miss EaGer: Well, I should rather think he is! He's the captain of a baseball club and gets $5,000 a season for standing behind the bat. OMMY: I'm going to tell ma you pushed me over- board, LITTLE JOHNNIE: You'd better not. Tommy: She'll lick me if I say I fell over. LITTLE JOHNNIE: That's what you'd better tell her. If you put the blame on me I'll lick you, and I'll hurt you more than your mother will. “A CUT AND DRIED AFFAIR"—A load of hay. 145 A MONEY MAKING SCHEME, “RAS How can you afford to send your family to Saratoga, when you told me only last month that you were broke? CAWKER: Oh, I'm ina new business now. I have started a drop-a-nickel-in-the-slot-and-ascertain-the-machine-is-out- of-order-company. AS one takes a general survey of our adult population he is forced to the conclusion that if the good didn't die young most of them out-grew it. E: Does not the sea always make you sad, Miss Peachblow ? SHE: No, only sick. Elevated R.R, Conductor: SCUWXYZMixsTRISH ! Stranger; WHAT STREET DID You saw?” Elevated R.R. Conductor (soith blood im his eye): SCAWXYZMIX- STRISH, Stranger: THANxs, comicbooks.com