Life, 1890-07-17 · page 12 of 16
Life — July 17, 1890 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 26 This page mixes educational primers with social satire. The top section includes simple lessons ("Life's Primer") teaching children basic vocabulary through images and rhymes—eggs, hay, cows, and animals. The bottom cartoon depicts a **Prison Missionary** visiting an inmate. The prisoner's response—that he's imprisoned for lacking "enough political influence to git me out"—satirizes **political corruption and patronage** in the late 19th/early 20th century. The joke suggests that criminal justice is determined not by guilt or innocence, but by one's political connections. Those with sufficient influence could escape prosecution or imprisonment; the poor and powerless could not. The poem "Isles of the Sea" celebrates American islands (Nantucket, Block Island, Manhattan), with the twist that the poet ultimately prefers Manhattan to scenic alternatives—likely reflecting contemporary urban life and commerce. The page title "Life's Primer" uses educational framing ironically to present cynical social commentary about American institutions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
26 LIFE’S PRIMER. JUDICIOUS use of this book will lighten the toil of the teacher, and at the same time awaken in the pupil a desire for knowledge that will be as far reaching as it is permanent. - LIFE: THE ISLES OF THE SEA. HERE Atlantic waves fall on the echoing strand, Where the rays of the morning first greet our fair land, There, girt by old ocean, the islands abound— Bright gems with whose lustre Columbia is crowned. Isles of the sea! Green isles of the sea! Oh, list while the Muse sings your praises to me! There are islands afar, there are islands anear; There's Fire Isle, to the heart of the fisherman dear ; Shelter Island o’erlooks the calm waves of its bay ; Then there's quaint old Nantucket—Block Island more gay. Isles of the sea! Fair isles of the sea! Sweet dreams of your beauties are coming to me! Mount Desert—ah, she's nature’s most exquisite spot ; Her glories my fecble song compasseth not ; Where are waters so blue, where are forests so green As those that proclaim her of islets the queen? Isles of the sea! Loved isles of the sea! Sweet sirens, your voices are calling to me ! Yet, spite of the pleasures that wait those who roam, I've a fancy (a strange one?) to tarry at home; For here—-and pray what can a mortal want more ?— I find comfort and rest and enjoyment galore. Isles of the sea! Sweet isles of the sea! But the dear little isle of Manhattan for me! RH. Titherington. Mary is milk-ing the cow. The cow is chew-ing hay. Is Mary chew-ing hay, too? No, M y is not chew-ing hay-too; chew-ing to-lu. © Isita rab-bit? No, it is not a rab-bit; it isa Will the girl play with the cat? No, the girl will not play with the cat. It is a pole-cat. Prison Missionary: MY POOR FELLOW, WHAT ARE YOU IN HERE FOR? Prisoner: GIT ME ouT. FOR NOT HAVIN’ ENOUGH POLITICAL INFLUENCE TO comicbooks.com