Life, 1890-01-30 · page 12 of 16
Life — January 30, 1890 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 68 This page contains three separate satirical pieces: 1. **"Say You, Venus..."** (top left): A dialect-heavy joke about an African American character and an umbrella, using period stereotypes in speech patterns. 2. **"Nipped in the Bud"** (middle): A domestic comedy where a well-meaning wife, trying to help her busy husband "Dolphus," pre-emptively hires a female typewriter operator (secretary) for him. The satire targets both the wife's presumption and the anxiety about women entering the workplace as office workers—a relatively new phenomenon. 3. **"'Tis an Ill Wind"** (right): Shows architectural transformation of "the Physician's Residence" from a modest house to an impressive Victorian mansion, satirizing how disaster (illness/crisis) brings professional prosperity to doctors. The **Editorial Etiquette** section offers humorous office conduct rules, while the final quips mock theatrical economics and make a pun on "Sir Roger De Coverly" (a dance/tune).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Say You, WENUS, WHERE YERS GWINE WID DAT UMBRELLA? Fust TING YERS KNOW YOU'LL 'STROY IT.” NIPPED IN THE BUD. Wife of Bosom (who reads the papers regularly and keeps the run of affairs): YOU SatD, DOLPHUS, DEAR, BEFORE YOU LEFT THE HOUSE THIS MORNING, THAT YOU WOULD BE OBLIGED TO ENGAGE A TYPEWRITER, I KNEW HOW VALUABLE YOUR TIME IS, 80 TO SAVE YOU TROUBLE AND ANXIETY I HAVE ENGAGED ONE FOR YOU, SHE HAS THE BEST OF REF- ERENCES, ‘OTIS AN ILL WIND,” ETC. THE PHYSICIAN'S RESIDENCE BEFORE EDITORIAL ETIQUETTE. HEN the editor is writing, do not bother him with talk ; If you haven't time to take a seat, go out and take a walk ; Do not rudely lean behind him, of his subject making note, Nor stand and view your visage in the shoulders of his coat. ANY an actor begins with big bill-boards and ends with big board bills. OULD the composer of Sir Roger De Coverly be called a Reel author? comicbooks.com