Life, 1890-07-31 · page 10 of 16
Life — July 31, 1890 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 52: Educational Primers and Social Commentary This page combines children's educational content with adult satire. The top section ("Life's Primer") uses wordplay and illustrations to teach simple concepts—"A Oak" / "A Oak-um," "But Butter" / "Kid Kidney"—employing puns typical of Victorian educational materials. The right side contains two separate satirical pieces. "Only Work for One" depicts a clerk and messenger, with dialogue mocking bureaucratic inefficiency and time-wasting. "Casting Pearls" presents a dialogue between a philosopher and young dude, satirizing class assumptions. The philosopher defends a shabby-dressed scholar as a "profound Greek and Latin scholar," while the dude judges by appearance alone—ridiculing superficial social judgment based on clothing rather than intellect.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
52 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, ue A Oak-um. Bur Bur-rer. Kip Kip-ney. Is it a goat and a kid ? It isa goat and a kid. Will the goat play with the kid ? Oh, yes; the goat will play with the kid. See the goat play with the kid. Hor. Hose, ONLY WORK FOR ONE. Clerk: DOES 1v TAKE YOU AN HOUR TO GO AROUND THE CORNER 2 Boy: A MAN DROPPED & QUARTER DOWN A HOLE IN THE SIDE- WALK. Clerk: AND IT TOOK YOU ALL THIS TIME TO GET IT OUT? Boy: Ves, ik, 1 MAD TO WALT TILL THE MAN WENT AWAY, CASTING PEARLS. LD PHILOSOPHER (reprovingly): I see you have a habit of judging men by their clothes. YouNG pe DUDE: Aw, yaas; that’s th’ only way, don’t y' know, PHILOSOPHER: Do you see that shabby looking man ahead? He is not quite in rags and tatters, but his clothes are terribly threadbare, and doubtless were the cheapest kind See the girl. She is hoe-ing in the gar-den. of ready-made garments when they were new. That man How many hoes has the girl ? is a profound Greek and Latin scholar. The girl has three hoes, but two of them De Dupe: Yaas; he looks it. are stri-ped hose. — Run, girl, run! A MAN is known by the company his wife keeps. comicbooks.com