Life, 1889-11-21 · page 12 of 20
Life — November 21, 1889 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page 292 of Life Magazine: Content Explanation **Top Section ("The Wonders of Science"):** A whimsical illustration showing cherubs and figures weighing/measuring celestial bodies, satirizing scientific pretension—likely mocking contemporary astronomical or mathematical claims presented as grand discoveries. **"A Public Calamity":** A humorous dialogue between a stranger and resident of Clayville, Kentucky. The joke relies on misplaced priorities: while the church burns, onlookers are entertained. The real "calamity" is that Bill Nogg's saloon burned *afterward*—destroying whiskey. The satire targets rural priorities and drunkenness. **Bottom dialogues:** Two brief satirical exchanges. The first mocks how women fear appearing "literary" (intellectual) as unfeminine and socially damaging. The second ("On General Principles") offers cynical aphorisms mocking poverty relief—suggesting poorhouses offer better conditions than the real alternatives (jails, Ward's Island asylum). The page combines visual and textual satire typical of 19th-century American humor magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WONDERS OF SCIENCE, WEIGHING AND MEASURING THE HEAVENLY Boptes, A PUBLIC CALAMITY. TRANGER (¢x Clayville, Ky.): What makes everybody so solemn here this morning ? RESIDENT: Stranger, a great misfortune has befallen this com- munity. The church got afire last night, and while everybody was standing around, enjoyin’ the spectacle, some miscreant set fire to Bill Nogg’s saloon in the other end o’ town, and before the Fire Department could be got out it burned clean to the ground —whisky and all! “IT WAS VERY CRUEL OF HIM TO SAY I WAS LITERARY.” ‘HE DIDN'T SAY THAT. HE ONLY SAID YOU /ooked LITERARY.” “THAT'S THE WORST OF IT. I1'S THE LOOKING £0 THAT HURTS A GIRL.” A COMPOSITE POEM. By RicnarD HENRY STODDARD AND GEORGE WaASsH- INGTON ME. HE wild November comes at last Beneath a veil of rain; The night wind blows its folds aside, Her face is full of pain. But wait till wild November's gone, When glad Thanksgiving's fare Is eaten, with its pies and cakes, That pain will be elsewhere. ON GENERAL PRINCIPLES IT MAY BE SAID THAT, HOUGH creeds are narrow, humor and trousers are still rather broad. While economy is all very well in its way, there never was a more mendacious proverb than the one that asserts that economy is wealth. While it is often better to go to the poorhouse than to jail, they serve a better table at Ludlow Street than they do on Ward's Island. DID YOU WRITE THI8? comicbooks.com