Life, 1891-03-05 · page 12 of 16
Life — March 5, 1891 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 146 Analysis This page contains three distinct satirical pieces: **"Nobody"** reprints an Emily Dickinson poem about the appeal of anonymity versus public prominence—likely included for its thematic irony on the page. **"That Museum"** mocks religious hypocrisy. The Metropolitan Museum's trustees keep it closed Sundays for "religious principles," yet other major institutions (Philadelphia Academy, Albany museums) open freely on the Sabbath. The satire targets the trustees' selective piety—their claim to religious conviction appears false when competitors' morality doesn't prevent them from serving the public. **"A Wily Schemer"** depicts a husband (Mr. Younglove) flattering his wife with flowery romantic language about her beauty and purity, then manipulating her into getting up and lighting the fire while he returns to sleep. The "scheme" is using sentimental talk to avoid his own domestic duties—satire on male manipulation within marriage. The two cartoons below illustrate similar street scenes where men ask to play cards or avoid paying debts.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
146 NOBODY. I "M nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? Then there's a pair ofus. Don'ttell, They'd banish us, you know. How dreary to be somebody ! How public, like a frog To tell your name the livelong day, To an admiring bog ! Emily Dickinson, THAT MUSEUM. HE Philadelphia Press says: The best way for the N. Y. Metropolitan Museum to raise money would be to make the institution more popular by opening it on Sunday. Our own Academy of Fine Arts has been for years open free on Sunday. to the great advantage both of the public and of the Academy. What a shock to our own trus- tees! And what a multitudinous and perpetually recurring sorrow to realize that most of the important museums are wilfully open on the Sabbath. The Albany Argus says: The management of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art appears to YOU'RE A DREADFUL Noa, deserve its unpopularity. This museum Professional Humorist : “ PLay waist?" Twist YoU WOULD LEAVE; with its fine collection of paintings, is os- tensibly closed to the public on Sunday, The reason alleged, the religious princi- ples of the trustees against Sunday ex- ibitions, is a specious one, though not one which many people agree to. A WILY SCHEMER. R. YOUNGLOVE: Are you awake, Alice? Mrs. YOUNGLOVE: Yes, dear. Mr. YOUNGLOVE: Ah, I am sorry; you have disturbed my rev- erie. As you lay there asleep I was drinking in the calm purity of your angelic features, and thinking how happy should be the man who can awaken in the bright sunshine of the morning and find such a fair and radiant young creature by his side. And—I—I—— Mrs. YOUNGLOVE: Go on, George; you do talk so beautifully. MR. YOUNGLOVE: I would like to, but I feel so sleepy that I think I'll take another nap. You won't mind getting up and lighting the fire, will you, darling ? ““NoT TO-PAy, PARD, * comicbooks.com