Life, 1890-08-21 · page 10 of 16
Life — August 21, 1890 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 94 This page contains several brief humor items typical of early 20th-century Life magazine: **"My Billet Doux"** is a poem about finding a love letter in the mail, with the punchline being a bill instead. **"The Wonders of Science"** shows mechanical or scientific apparatus—the drawings appear to illustrate physics demonstrations, possibly related to leverage or motion. **"In a Chicago Nursery"** jokes about ancestry: a child claims to have "four fathers" who are all living, likely playing on a misunderstanding about biology or paternity. **"A Distinction with a Difference"** is a classroom scene where a student confuses the definite and indefinite articles through examples about specific people's head sizes. The remaining items are brief one-liners about marriage, honesty, and a news item about a prohibitionist's death from drinking cold water. These are standard satirical commentary on contemporary social issues.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MY BILLET DOUX. HIS morning in my mail I found A dainty envelope and fair, Addressed in writing neat and round— A note from some fair maid, I'd swear. To break the scal, I trembling sped, My heart almost stood still ; I glanced, I swore, for there I read "Enclosed please find your bill.” LW. H. THE WONDERS OF SCIENCE. o, WORKMAN OY A BUSY WIFE. OBWIGGER: Boscawan is very good to his wife. He keeps two nurse girls to look after the children, Brown: He has to. His wife keeps three dogs. AY GOULD says honesty is the best policy. Jay Gould is an observing individual. She (a visitor from Philadelphia); YOU WAVEN'T ANY ANCESTORS! : Mayse [ ain't, BUT I'VE GOT FOUR FATHERS, AND A DISTINCTION WITH A DIFFERENCE. a [PEASEER Can any member of the class give examples illustrating the difference between the definite article and the indefinite article? JOHNNY (at foot of class): Yes'm; I kin. TEACHER: Johnny may give the example. JOHNN Xample of indefinite article: Grover Cleveland has a big head. ‘Xample of definite article: Benjamin Harrison has the big head. TEACHER: Correct. ID your husband die happily?” “Yes, he died, happily.” DEATH FROM DRINK. PROMINENT local prohibitionist died suddenly in Lewis County, Kentucky, last week, and the evidence before the Coroner's jury was that he had drank a great deal of cold water while very warm. The verdict of the jury was that “ he drank himself to death.” comicbooks.com