Life, 1890-03-20 · page 5 of 18
Life — March 20, 1890 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 165 This page contains two distinct pieces of satirical content: **"The Duke Gets the Last Word"** (top): A dialogue satirizing British-American relations, where a British Duke defends his borrowing of "legal-tender Americans" from the narrator's brother. The satire targets American social climbing and the British aristocracy's casual appropriation of American wealth and citizens. **"Generally Speaking—Women"** and "At the Reception" (bottom): A multi-panel cartoon sequence mocking social etiquette and gender relations. The scenario involves a woman (Barbara) introducing a gentleman (Mr. Floyd) at a reception, then complaining that he monopolized her car seat without courtesy. The humor centers on satirizing both male rudeness and female social complaints about propriety and age-related respect. The overall page satirizes class pretension and social hypocrisy in Gilded Age America.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE DUKE GETS THE LAST WORD. ss OU always say ‘I guess,’” said the Duke, “and really, I detest your Americanisms—they're so jolly vulgar.” “I noticed you did not object to borrow- ing a few legal-tender Americanisms from my brother last evening.” “True, my dear young lady, but you also might have observed that I got rid of them as fast as I could.” Gamickse is enjoying a sojourn in the Slough of Despond. It is easier to catch your Fair than it is to cook it, even in Cook County. All this arises from an enterpris- ing city's inability to estimate its power of masti- cating in compari- - son with its power of biting off. It remains to be seen whether the people of the United States are willing to put their Treas- ury at the disposal of the enterprising city in order to help it out of its scrape. Before doing this, it might be well to consider whether, if even with the Treasury at its back, Chicago can make ready so soon as 1892 an exhibition which will be a credit to the country and not a national disgrace. GENERALLY SPEAKING —Women. on gee Salesman: TWIS 18 EXCEPTIONALLY FINE; ALL HAND PAINTED, Small Sister (scornfully): THAT'S NOTHING; SO 1S THE BACK OF OUR HOUSE. AT THE RECEPTION. ARBARA: Hulda, that gentleman over yonder is my friend, Mr. Floyd. May I present him? Hutpa: No, you must excuse me. He is the very man who kept his seat in the car the other evening while I stood all the way. BARBARA: Really? Why, 1 am shocked. If he didn’t have any regard for our sex he might at least have shown some consideration for age. “Come, JACK, Jump IT, SHOW HIM WHAT YOU CAN DO," Jack sHows HIM, comicbooks.com