Life, 1891-01-22 · page 7 of 18
Life — January 22, 1891 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis: Life Magazine, Issue 55 This page contains three distinct satirical pieces: 1. **"Home Ties"** (top left): A simple caricature joke about domestic life, showing two rotund figures. 2. **"A Mere Caricature"** (center): A dialogue mocking homeopathic medicine, where a doctor prescribes only a "wine-glassful a day" for an invalid patient—essentially useless treatment. The satire targets ineffective medical practices popular in that era. 3. **"Art in Oklahoma"** (bottom): This piece ridicules both incompetent photographers and overprotective mothers. A photographer cannot make an unhappy baby smile for a portrait, so the "fond mother" suggests the baby's paw (likely a dog) was whipped to make it smile—implying both animal cruelty and absurd parenting. The caption "Too many cooks spoil the broth" suggests meddlesome interference ruins results. The page satirizes medical quackery, amateur artistry, and misguided parenting.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Home Ties.” A MERE CARICATURE. YMPATHIZING FRIEND: Well, old man, what sized dose of whiskey did the doctor pre- scribe? DISGUSTED INVALID: Humph! Only half a wine-glassful a day. S. F.: Too bad, too bad; rather a homeopathic dose, isn’t it ? D.1.: Humph! More like the Faith Cure. FELL TO WORK.—Adam., S'xs asong of sixpence, a pocket full of rye, Four and twenty key-holes dance be- fore his eye; When the door is opened His wife begins to chin, “*Isn’t this a pretty hour to let a fel- low in.” ELS. Aunt Abigail (before she has heard of the betrothal): MY DEAR, DON'T YOU THINK You'D * BE MORE AT EASE WITH YOUR RIDING HABIT ON? ART IN OKLAHOMA, Att exhausting every means known to the craft without dispelling the fune- real expression from the baby’s countenance, the photographer turned in despair to the mother. “Madam, can’t you do something to make him look a little more cheerful?” Fonp MoTHER: I reckon so, Azberry, (fo the baby) yer paw whipped a claim= jumper last night, an’ then run him four miles. The baby smiled like an angel. TOO MANY COOKS spoil the broth and everything else. comicbooks.com