Life, 1890-09-11 · page 1 of 18
Life — September 11, 1890 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine, September 11, 1890: "Our Reputation" This satirical cartoon depicts a romantic/marital scandal involving an American woman and what appear to be European men (suggested by "The Baron" title). The dialogue reveals the social anxieties of the era: an American girl has broken an engagement to marry foreign aristocrats instead. The Baron justifies this by claiming Americans are accustomed to such behavior ("good luck zen! Zey are accustomed to it!"), suggesting wealthy American women frequently abandoned American suitors for titled European men—a common source of period satire. The joke mocks both American women's perceived social climbing and Europeans' opportunistic marriages to American heiresses, while lamenting America's international reputation for loose morality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XVI. NEW- YORK, SEPTEMBER 11, 1890. NUMBER 402. Entered at the New York Post Office as Second-Class Mail Matter. Copyright, 1890, by Mrrewent. & Miter, OUR REPUTATION. The Baron: BUT EEF YOU REALLY LOVE ME LIKE YoU SAY, I SEE NOT OF REASON FOR THAT WE WOULD NOT MARRY. American Summer Girl: Yes, 1 KNOW ; BUT— IT'S THOSE OTHER TWO MEN THAT I AM ALREADY ENGAGED TO, The Baron: BUT THEY ARE AMERICANS, 18 IT NOT? A. S. G.: On, Yes. The Baron: AM, Z& GOOD LUCK ZEN! ZY ARE ACCUSTOMED To IT! comicbooks.com