Life — August 28, 1890 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Even in Those Days" — Life Magazine, August 28, 1890 This cartoon depicts a domestic scene where children are playing with toys—an elephant and mosquito. The caption presents dialogue between "Mamma" (Mother) and "Noah," referencing the Biblical Noah's Ark narrative. The satire appears to target contemporary anxieties about pest control and animal management. By invoking Noah's story of preserving animal pairs during the flood, the cartoon humorously suggests that even in Biblical times, people faced the practical problem of controlling dangerous creatures like mosquitoes while protecting valuable animals like elephants. The joke likely comments on the difficulty of managing conflicting interests: protecting livestock and property while dealing with disease-carrying insects—a genuine public health concern of the 1890s when mosquito-borne illnesses were poorly understood.