Life, 1889-10-10 · page 3 of 18
Life — October 10, 1889 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page contains three distinct pieces: 1. **"To a Mirror"** (top): A romantic poem about a woman admiring herself in a mirror, with accompanying illustration. The satire is gentle—celebrating female vanity while the accompanying verse by "G. Buchanan Fife" suggests a man's romanticized view of women's self-regard. 2. **"Millions in It"** (middle): A comic dialogue between characters named Poodles and Noodles about getting rich through a scheme involving patent-leather shoes with daily blackings. The humor is in Poodles' absurd business pitch and Noodles' increasingly exasperated responses—satirizing get-rich-quick schemes common in the era. 3. **"One Reason"** (bottom): A street scene with the caption mocking wealthy families' divorce practices, suggesting they stay together primarily to maintain access to luxuries like chicken and ice cream sandwiches—social satire about class and marriage.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XIV. ° |_| F FE ° NUMBER 354. TO A MIRROR, MID satin and perfume reposing Upon a fair maid's dressing-case, A small silver handle disclosing, Lies a mirror entombéd in lace. Into it how often she glances And smiles at the face that she secs. No wonder that men she entrances ; No wonder they love on their knees. But, alas! when the poor glass she places Once more ‘mid its perfume and lace, On its surface there ne‘er remain traces Of the lines and the smiles of that face. t VENVOL. NS/ yu Se In my heart I still see her expression, Like a mirror, caught swift as we pass; Unlike it, 1 hold the impression. O, now, for a heart made of glass! styl - or style G. Buchanan Fife. gely te 7 he fact | = n ofa MILLIONS IN IT, OODLES: I've—aw—stwuck a way to get vewy rich. It figgahs out all wight Y. —and yet—aw—there seems to be something wong somewhere. I wondah if you can see riety of anything—aw—the mattah ? Noopies: What is it, deah boy, what is it? PoopLes: Why,-a yeah ago. I bought a paah of patent-leather shoes which requiah no blacking, and that saves ten cents a day. Ten cents a day is—aw—let me see!—filty dollars a yeah. Noopes: Yes, that’s wight; even fifty. PoopLes: On only one paah, now mind you. And bah Jove! (excéfed/y) one thousand paahs would amount to five million dollars! Nooptes: There is—aw—nothing, ab-so- lute-ly nothing in it. I have been all through that myself, long ago. Pooptes: Why not, [| say, you wude per- son, you? LES: You would be re quiahed—aw— to weah three paahs a day fora thousand yeahs, and the fatigue—aw—of lacing and un- lacing them would—aw—ex—aw—I mean hawst you in half that time. Cawn't you see —aw? ONE REASON, Poop.es: Aw—aw—aw! “T say, TOM, THOSE RICH FOLKS SHOULDN'T WANT NO DIVORCES; JUST THINK —— |G AND THE ICE CREAM THEY CAN ALWAYS HAVE, TO SAY NOTHIN’ Pur up or suut up—Umbrellas. O° SANWICHES! comicbooks.com