Life, 1890-02-27 · page 10 of 18
Life — February 27, 1890 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "A Wild Success" - Life Magazine Page This page combines a poem "The Japanese Doll" by Kate Masterson with a four-panel comic strip depicting what appears to be a baseball game. The comic shows two teams competing, with players in period dress (early 20th century) engaged in baseball action—batting, pitching, and fielding. The poem describes a Japanese doll with supernatural qualities that unsettles the narrator, suggesting unease about Japanese culture or influence. The comic's title "A Wild Success" appears ironic, showing chaotic, poorly-executed baseball play rather than actual success. Together, these likely reflect early 20th-century American attitudes toward Japan—a mixture of fascination and anxiety about Japanese presence or influence during a period of increasing U.S.-Japan tension.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
(PANES Dou HERE'S a Japanese doll on her cabinet shelf, With a weird, supernatural eye, He peers from amid peacock feathers and delf With a glance that is knowing and sly. And oft, in the dim little room, as I wait For the sound of her step in the hall, His face seems to change by some fanciful fate, And he doesn’t look pleasant at all. Her greeting is soft, with a smile in her eyes, That are blue as the blossoms I bring, Her voice is as sweet as the summer breeze sighs, Her eyes like a promise of spring. But as lowly I bend o'er her welcoming hand, I tremble—I'm sure that she sees, For I happen to glance at the curio stand And there is that imp Japanese ! He sneers when I'm silent, he glares when I'm gay, He winks when I whisper my love, It drives all the peace of her presence away, When I catch his slim eye up above. She seems not to notice the impudent elf, As she daintily pours out my tea, And she'd think it a joke that a doll on a shelf Could leer in derision at me. Yet he does— but, confound it—I'll laugh at his wiles And his narrow, impertinent gaze, For she told me—last night—I might bask in her smiles For the rest of my natural days. “Ina dear little home—where the roses will sway,” She shall have it—I worship her so! A dog-cart, a pug dog and Huyler’s each day, But that Japanese demon must go! Kate Masterson. A WILD SUCCESS. comicbooks.com