Life, 1889-09-26 · page 11 of 16
Life — September 26, 1889 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 179 This page contains several satirical dialogues and illustrations typical of early 20th-century American humor: 1. **"A Misjudged Art Student"**: Old Groggs defends spending money on viewing art in saloons rather than drinking alcohol—a joke about prioritizing culture over vice. 2. **"Tuition for George"**: A speculator questions whether a George Washington monument figure is actually Washington, with the punchline that he's been placed there by real estate agents to boost property values—satirizing commercial exploitation of patriotic symbols. 3. **"Reasonable Grief"**: A widow mourns her late husband while a clergyman consoles her, illustrating sentimental Victorian grief conventions. The illustrations use period pen-and-ink style typical of Life's visual humor, mocking American materialism, pretension, and social conventions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
* LIFE: A MISJUDGED ART STUDENT. LD GROGGS (severely): Harry, I am sorry you have deceived me so. I followed you from your studio to the house, and noticed that you entered four saloons on the way home. You can’t have spent less than a dollar for rum, YOUNG GROG Father, you wrong me, Whiskey is only $1.16 a gallon, and I'm sure I didn’t drink more than eight cents worth. The balance went for the privilege of viewing examples of the beautiful in art. TUITION FOR GEORGE. ASTERN SPECULATOR: Who is that man on the monument ? CITIZEN (of Mudville, Northern Dakota): Why, that's George Washington, the man who couldn't tell a lie, you know. EASTERN SPECULATOR: Ah, I see, and they put him up there to get some pointers from real estate agents. REASONABLE GRIEF. EV. DR. ELITE (after the funeral): Come, cheer up, my dear Mrs. Bon Ton. Your husband is now in a better land. Mrs. Bon Ton: Yes, I know that, doctor, and mourn- ing becomes me charmingly. But (dursting into a deluge of tears), when shall I ever find a man to whom dear Fido will be so attached as he was to Charlie ? tay-School Teacher: WHY NO, MY DEAR, HA QUESTION? Jehunie: Coz, WE ALWAYS SAYS “YE.” Why bo you A MOMENT OF ANGUISH. “OOF DOT COW COMES ANY FURDER DOT WAY I OM A LOSHT MAN FOR SURE, UNT I VOS TO HAF A SETTLEMENT MIT DER FIRE ADAPTED ADAGES. “pHeRs is plenty of room underground. It's a x// wind that does not blow at all. It is better to give advice than to receive medicine. A rolling-pin gathers no moss. The game is never won until the umpire has spoken. A run in time may save the nine. Blessed are the peace-makers, but not by those between whom they mediate. It is better to have two beaux to one’s string. Little pitchers sometimes command big salaries. Talk is cheap, if you don’t do it through the telephone. What is one man's food is another man's luxury, The pensioner is mightier than the sword-wielder in re- ducing the surplus. Necessity is the mother of conventions. Honor among aldermen. None but the suave conductor deserve the fare. Mules are stubborn facts,