Life, 1890-01-23 · page 7 of 18
Life — January 23, 1890 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 49 This page contains "An Original Belle," a theatrical scene satirizing romantic melodrama. The dialogue depicts Mr. Lightfoot proposing to Miss Summerfield while her guardian or relative objects, claiming she cannot marry without knowing her own heart. The satire mocks Victorian emotional excess—the overwrought declarations of love and the sanctimonious moralizing about duty and sacrifice. Below the main illustration are five small facial caricatures labeled "Droch" with the caption "'Tis but a few stages," suggesting stages of emotional deterioration or aging. The accompanying text discusses social reform regarding children's welfare and education, advocating for practical development over sentimental "renunciation" doctrines promoted by reformers. The page combines theatrical satire with social commentary on idealistic but impractical reform movements.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AN ORIGINAL BELLE. Mr, Lightfoot: Miss SUMMERFIELD, YOU MUST PARDON ME, BUT REALLY I CANNOT LONGER FORBEAR TO TELL YoU How MUCH I LOVE YOU—OH, JULIA, SAY THAT YOU WILL ACCEPT ME! Miss Summerfield: OH—A—MR. LiGhTFOOT! THIS—1s—a—so SUDDEN! YOU—A—MUST GIVE ME TIME Mr, Lightfoot: BUT DO YOU NOT KNOW YOUR OWN HEART? DO NOT TRIFLE WITH ME. SPEAK! SUSPENSE WOULD RE CRUEL. Atiss Summerfield: \~—a—vou—must— THe TRUTH 18 A—— You—a—— WELL, REALLY, MR, LigHTFooT, I—a—MUST SAY THAT— I DON'T KNOW HCW TO DECLINE you. Mr. Lightfoot (about to embrace ker): MY DARLING, 1 KNEW THAT YOU LOVED ME— Miss Summerfield: OW, NO, YOU MISUNDERSTAND. I MEAN TO SAY THAT THIS TELLING A MAN ONE WILL BE HIS SISTER IS SUCH AN AWFUL CHESTNUT THAT I MUST HAVE TIME TO THINK UP SOMETHING ELSE. children and home to work out her own individuality by children by the fireside. The doctrine of renunciation struggling with the “real difficulties of life" in her native and self-sacrifice is always pushed to an extreme by social village. By and by, it is hinted, when Hedmer and Nora reformers, have both found individuality and character by separation, they may have reached that stage of development which will make them man and wife upon an equal moral footing. The remedy is heroic, and a practical man may well doubt its efficiency. He would say that when the eyes of //e/mer and Nora were opened to their false relations the condition was reached which of itself would enable them to work out a better individuality under their own roof-tree with their ‘Tis BUT A FEW STAGES, Droch. comicbooks.com