Life, 1890-11-06 · page 3 of 18
Life — November 6, 1890 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page (Volume XVI, Number 410) The top cartoon, "An American Clara Vere de Vere," depicts a social-climbing scenario. A woman boasts of aristocratic lineage to Lord Northbury, claiming descent from Dutch traders and nobility. The satire mocks American class pretension—the woman's claims of superior blood are undercut by her great-grandfather's actual occupation as a tradesman buying "lots on Broadway," suggesting new-money vulgarity rather than true aristocracy. The "Boston-Chicago Match" dialogue below jokes about a cross-country marriage between a Boston bride and Chicago groom, with the friend's sarcastic comment about "pork and beans" mocking Chicago's industrial, less refined reputation compared to Boston's cultural prestige. The "Local Color" section is poetry, not satire—a literary contribution to the magazine.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XVI. NUMBER 410. youxe Tut A BOSTON-CHICAGO MATCH. OTEL CLERK: See that couple there? They have just been married, The bride is. AN AMERICAN CLARA VERE DE VERE. from Boston, and the groom from Miss Van Wirt: No, Lono Nonrusuny, 1 COULD NEVER MARRY YoU. You are xor Chicago. MY EQUAL. FRIEND: That so? Sort of Lord Northbury: Nov Your EQUAL! WHY, THE BLOOD OF THE PLANTAGENETS Courses pork and beans as it were, eh? IN MY VEINS! WHEN YOUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER WAS A PETTY DUTCH TRADER, MINE WAS SITTING IN THR Housk oF LoRps. , Miss Van Wirt: Yes, BUT WHEN YOUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER WAS SITTING IN THE HOUSE. OF LORDS, mine WAS BUYING UP TOWN LOTS ON BROADWAY. LOCAL COLOR. NEW form of verse, fitted with adjustable seasons, and specially recommended to magazine contributors: summer) Up in the trees the Totsnieg | wind whistled a little tune, \ autumn { teaarag: weadcre *) sparkling stars of June. ‘ 7 | | January The J heaping snowdrilts + shone beneaththe | Siveryaprit_ | moon, l ‘da J bright October : solt fireflies played hed The air was (Sit, } «the ( Nowgittciay | Over the lily-beds ; katydid And the plaintive note of a { sleeping bird we heard above our heads. lone screech-ow! _ van { Breath of meadow-sweet ; A breeze came climbing up the hill with ( rte ptrga {daisies bent } Upon the lawn the { snow crust cracked | beneath our lingering feet; | dead leaves stirred Down in the vale ( ES a-tinkling past, was frozen fast, a } murmur was where the brook [ soft, cool ; ie! ! I held her ( foratoced } hand in mine, my love! my own ! at last! MR. STANLEY WRITES TO US, SAYING THAT “THE ADVER- Her liquid eyes looked up to me, so calm, so clear and bright— Yio red pg moved Its tegive oldlockt Dear, Dick; de say gona sights CIVILIZATION OF THE FEMALE PORTION OF THE DARK CON- The sagacious reader will observe that the /ina/e fits a// seasons Fred’k Hart Wilson, TINENT."” TISING SIGN PAINTER IS DOING HIS SHARE TOWARDS THE oS comicbooks.com