Life, 1889-11-14 · page 11 of 16
Life — November 14, 1889 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Satire on New York Newspaper Culture This page satirizes New York newspaper operations and social etiquette. **"Between Our Ribs"** mocks a city editor demanding reporters gather donations for a World's Fair Committee while claiming absolute rest is needed—absurd hypocrisy. The satire critiques how newspapers exploit their staff for charitable causes while working them exhaustively. **"Lines on Etiquette"** jokes about avoiding slang in conversation, quoting poet Carlyle Smith. The illustration shows two figures in a doorway, captioned as a humorous domestic scene about someone named Barney who "died a year ago." **"For Posterity"** and subsequent sections contain brief witty anecdotes about life insurance, speechmaking, and newspaper management—typical Life magazine humor targeting New York's professional classes and their pretensions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
BETWEEN OUR RIBS. HE Arkansaw Traveller had the au- dacity to make sport of the great city of New York in this wise: Absolute Rest.—In a New York newspaper office. City Editor (fo reporter): Billings, you are overworked. Billings: I fearso, sir. City Editor: You need absolute rest, Billings, and must have it. Go out and report the donations made to the World’s Fair Committee. None could better appreciate the wit and satire of this than ourselves, dear Traveller, but you must remember that every dollar we subscribe is a dollar toward destroying our Park. We are with you every time in your views of the gifted patriots who compose the committee. And, moreover, when it is a question as to the generosity of our citizens do not forget the headlong enthusiasm with which we erected that magnificent monument to General Grant. It is true we cannot raise money enough for a marble arch in Fifth Avenue, but we had a wooden one there for a little while. LINES ON ETIQUETTE, Y dearest girl, I beg you ‘ll not Begin your sentences * Oh, say Eschew likewise ‘the soup,” “' Great Scott!" For slang, my love, is not ax fait. Carlyle Smith, se OW is George getting on?” “Not very well. He’s a detective you know, and they never get on. “ DINNIS, DARLINT, I HAD HIM SHTRIPED IN REMIMBRANCE OF OUR BOY BaRNey, WHO DIED A YEAR AGO THIS BLISSID D)¥ IN Srxe-Sino, Mfr, H.: CONGRATULATIONS, OLD FELLOW, Mfr, B. (sorrowfully): BOTH, Boy oR GIRL? FOR POSTERITY. GAsson JOBBONE: Better let me write you a life pol- icy in the Gaza Mutual. You ought to be providing for your children. Stupps (weardly ): Oh, they areall fixed. I have several articles accepted by magazines that pay on publication. A PRUDENT SPELLBINDER. R. GOODHEART (0 old friend at a banguet): Say, Colonel, it's getting late. Why don’t you make a speech? Shall I propose a toast for you to— COL, SILVERTONGUE ( soled after-dinner speaker ): For mercy sake, not yet. It will ruin my reputation, The au- dience isn’t half drunk enough. i D” you say your son was one of the Directors in a newspaper corporation?” “Yes; he directs all the wrappers for the city subscribers.”” OLD saws are filed in a Dictionary of Proverbs. comicbooks.com