Life, 1891-01-08 · page 9 of 20
Life — January 8, 1891 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page from *Life* magazine features a domestic comedy scene. The main illustration shows a woman asking a man to hold her wrap, with his response: "Certainly. Shall I put it around you first?" The humor derives from deliberate misunderstanding—the woman's request is ambiguous, and the man feigns confusion to make an innuendo-laden joke about putting the wrap "around" her (implying physical closeness or intimacy) rather than simply holding it. The two small cartoon vignettes below ("Ma, what's inside that?" and "Wind, my son, wine") appear to be separate jokes, likely playing on homophones or double meanings. The page also includes book advertisements for titles on British Empire, Victorian literature, and other works, typical of *Life*'s mixed editorial and advertising content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
She: PLEASE HOLD MY He: CERTAINLY. The Dectone and Fall cf the British Empire. Minerva Publishing Cempany, The Philosophy of Fiction in Literature. leaf Thompson. New York and London: Company. Wiliam. Ry Marguerite Rouvet. McClurg and Company. Dr. Le Parow and His Dang'ters. By Jane G. Austin, Boston ‘and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. A History of Greek Literature, Wy Thomas Sergeant Perry. New Vork: Henry Holt and Company. The Franklin Square Song Collection. McCaskey. New Yerk: Harper and Brothers The Elixir, and ether Tales. By George Ebers by Mrs, Edward Hamilton Bell. New York: W. and Company. New York: By Daniel Greer- Longmans, Gren and Chicago: A.C, Selected by J. P. Translation S. Gottsberger Suatt 1 pur it wrap. AROUND YOU FIRST? ‘Ma, WHtaT’s INSIDE OF THAT?” + WIND, MY sox; WIND." comicbooks.com