Life, 1890-02-20 · page 12 of 18
Life — February 20, 1890 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 112: Victorian Satire and Social Commentary This page from *Life* magazine contains several brief satirical sketches mocking Victorian society: **The Zodiac joke** ridicules astrology by suggesting fish wouldn't venture out in February without proper clothing—absurdist humor questioning the logic of zodiac signs. **"A Simple Problem in Heredity"** features Colonel George and Charley Dudekins debating whether a man can be "effeminate." The satire targets both masculine posturing and the era's anxieties about inherited traits, with Dudekins's retort that the boy's mother was a woman serving as absurdist commentary on biological determinism. **"A Merited Punishment"** mocks poet Rose Hartwicke Thorpe, suggesting her famous poem "Curfew Must Not Ring To-night" (published when young) has now embarrassingly revealed she's nearly forty. The remaining sketches involve romantic/social embarrassments typical of *Life's* humor: a rejected suitor's romantic failure spreading quickly, and a hired team masquerading as owned horses. All target Victorian vanity, social pretension, and the gap between appearance and reality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: [OOKED at from a North American point of view, the Zo- diakers were certainly insane. The idea of adopting The Fishes as a sign for the month of February is preposter- ous. Every one knows that in that month all sensible fish have gone into complete retirement and are passing their time in the pri- vacy of their domestic firesides. Any fish who would venture out in February without his overcoat and mittens would certainly be frozen to death. We would respectfully suggest that a committee of modern astronomers be appointed to revise the work of the Zodiakers. Judged by results, they were a thoroughly incompetent crowd. Rejected Suitor: FOR Dk. LAN'S SAKE! ERBERYRODY SEEMS TO KNOW DERE'S BEEN AN ONPLEASANTNESS ATWEEN ME AN’ DINAH, AN’ IT ON'Y HAPPENED TWENTY MINUTES AGO. I WUNNER HOW IT 18? A SIMPLE PROBLEM IN HEREDITY. OLONEL GEORGE: That boy Mincin’s father was my old comrade, and a manlier fellow 1 never knew. I don’t see how a boy of his can be so effeminate. CHARLEY DUDEKINS (laking up for his friend vigorously): I don’t know who has a bettah wight to be effeminate. You forget that his mother was a woman, don’t you know. Millionairess: | WEAR THAT YOU HAVE ACCEPTED JACK Pott. Why, I ReruseD HIM THREE TIMES! Jack's Fiancée: Ou, ves, JACK TOLD ME THAT WHEN- EVER HE WAS SHORT OF FUNDS HE PROPOSED TO You, A MERITED PUNISHMENT. ANGLE: Here is one woman badly punished for writing a poem. Cumso: Who? FANGLE: Rose Hartwicke Thorpe. If she had not written “Curfew Must Not Ring To-night" when she was seventeen years old the newspapers would not Mr. Byrnes (to Mrs, Byrnes): BRACE UP, SARAH, BRACE UP, LOOK tell everybody that she is nearly forty now. HIGH-TONED, AND DON'T LET PEOPLE KNOW THIS IS A HIRED TEAM, comicbooks.com