Life, 1890-05-08 · page 7 of 18
Life — May 8, 1890 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 269 This page contains three satirical pieces about lawyers and dishonesty: **"A Modern Instance"** (top) parodies the King Midas legend, suggesting a modern equivalent where a lawyer's barber learns secrets—implying lawyers hide scandalous information. **"At the Office, Brown, Lawyer"** (middle) depicts a client meeting a lawyer, with the joke that the client won't hear the lawyer knock due to being distracted—suggesting lawyers are sneaky or unwelcome visitors. **"Unjust Suspicion"** and **"Taking Things Easy"** (bottom) continue lawyer mockery: one depicts a grandfather-grandson exchange about not hitting smaller men, while another references pickpockets—implying lawyers are thieves or dishonest. The overall theme satirizes lawyers as untrustworthy, secretive, and morally questionable figures in American society. This reflects early 20th-century skepticism toward the legal profession.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘LIFE: a most gentlemanly villain—and a heap of money for the hero at the end of the story. In Fable- Land, ‘where hopes and loves crowd thick as Heaven's stars,” it is only right that material and sentimental treasures should be heavily aw, the deserving. If such things are not the rule inthe world we are most familiar with, that is the best reason for having them happen in Fable-Land. A very wise satirist with a gentle heart, who spent * much time in that beautiful country, said, you will remember, “that anything you like happens in Fable-Land.” HE noticeable thing about the “ Recollec- tions" of George W. Childs is the entire absence of anything like animosity, malice or bitter- ness. He seems to remember only what is good and honest in the people he has met. There are very shrewd men who would assert that such a temperament ought to be fatal to success in busi- ness, where the foundation of prosperity lies in distrust of your fellow-men. But Mr. Childs has proved that even a journalist can be generdus to his enemies and just to his friends. Droch. NEW BOOKS. TNE DANVERS JEWELS AND SIR CHARLES DAN- VERS. New York: Harper and Brothers. The Feet of Love. By Anne Reeve Aldrich, Worthington and Company. New York : UNJUST SUSPICION. M®: H—-: Tut, tut, Benny mustn't strike grandpa, Basy MCKEE (¢ndignantly): to. I never hit a man smaller than myself. I wasn't going TAKING THINGS EASY—Pickpockets, 269 A MODERN INSTANCE. ING MIDAS let his barber know His secret; then the whole world heard his fears. Now tell me, do the poets grow Long locks, so they may hide the asses’ cars? CALA c AT THE OFFICE, BROWN, LAWYER. Enter MR. SORREL, @ client. Sorrel (laughing): HA! WAL HAL NO WONDER HE DIDN'T HEAR ME KNOCK ; I WOULDN'T HEAR EITHER UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES, THE*YOUNG Doo! I ENVY nt Five minutes later, Enter BROws. Brown : HALLO, SARREL, 18 THAT YOU ? COME INTO THE PRIVATE OFFICE; YOUR WIFE'S BEEN WAITING OVER AN HOUR TO SEE YOU, comicbooks.com