Life, 1890-10-09 · page 12 of 14
Life — October 9, 1890 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 194 This page contains three satirical pieces: **"Some Pertinent Questions"** presents a child's innocent but absurd questions about a Sound steamer voyage—mixing genuine curiosity ("Is that water wetter?") with nonsensical ones ("Do clams get malaria?"). The humor targets both childhood logic and adult pretension. **"Weary Traveler"** shows a drunk man pontificating about cosmic philosophy, mocking both intoxicated rambling and pseudo-intellectual discourse. **"Extract from a Speech"** features a Southern brigadier general's complaint about post-Civil War pension legislation. He sardonically notes that recent pension claims suggest rebels killed or disabled virtually every Northern male—implying the North is fraudulently inflating pension applications. This satirizes Reconstruction-era tensions over veteran benefits and questions the legitimacy of Northern pension claims. The "Wit of a Deep-Veined Humanity" caption suggests these pieces celebrate human nature's quirky wisdom, even in foolishness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
194 SOME PERTINENT QUESTIONS. I TOOK my boy off for a sail on a Sound steamer a short time ago. Here is what he asked me in the course of the day : “Do they call this a Sound steamer because it makes a noise?” “Ts that water down there any wetter than the water in the Atlan- tic Ocean ?” “What makes the water wet, anyhow?" “How many men could be drowned in water as deep as that?” “Tf a mamma fish couldn't get any worms in the water for the little fish would she go ashore and * dig for them?” “Suppose a whale came along and sat for three days on an oyster so that he couldn't open his shell would it suffocate the oyster?” “ Doesn't the dampness ever give clams malaria?" “ Does it hurt to get drowned ?” “Is that big man with the gold buttons on his coat the papa of all those men who do whatever he tells. them to?” Weary Traveler: LOVeSM NOT ON'Y THINK WHASH MAKES WORLD—HIC—GO “ROUND, WIT OF A DEEP-VEINED HUMANITY. Aunt Kat. 1 DO WISH YOU WOULD GIVE HIM MORE ENCOURAGEMENT, Lucy. He May RE A LITTLE CONCEITED, BUT HIS WIT NEVER MAKES YOU ANGRY WITH HIM. Lucy: No, Iv JUST MAKES YOU FEEL SORRY FOR HIM. “Who are those men up there in the little house on the roof playing with the bicycle?” “Where do all those soap-suds behind the boat come from ? “Could a locomotive go as fast on the water as this boat ? 1 recommend this paper to the Civil Service Examiners. Carlyle Smith. EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH. OUTHERN BRIGADIER: When the war was over we of the South were willing to admit that one rebel couldn't lick ten Yankees, but from the recent Pension legislation it would appear that the rebels have either killed, maimed, or given a chronic disease to every male adult north of Mason and Dixon’s Line. comicbooks.com