Life, 1891-03-26 · page 11 of 22
Life — March 26, 1891 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This page contains two narrative illustrations from a serialized short story rather than political satire. The top cartoon, titled "CLASHING BELLES," depicts a domestic drama where Rafael encounters his wife Verinda with her cousin. Rafael is emotionally devastated upon recognizing the cousin instead of his wife, triggering a crisis of identity and marital doubt. The bottom illustration, "A SOUND REASON," shows a humorous domestic exchange about newspaper reading habits, with dialogue about who reads the paper and how. The content is social comedy focused on domestic relationships and marital misunderstandings—typical of early-20th-century magazine fiction. There is no apparent political satire or historical reference requiring modern contextualization. This is simply a serialized story page with accompanying illustrations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE: CLASHING BELLES. “MR, ST. JOHN SAYS YOUR COMPLEXION ALWAYS REMINDS HIM OF THE War OF THE Roses.” “Dip ne? How NICELY HE PUTS THINGS!" “Yes, DoEsN'T HE! You KNOW THE RED DROVE THE WHITE ENTIRELY FROM THE FIELD.” But she was very, very pretty; nay, she was ravishingly beautiful—at least Rafael thought so before he had been half an hour in her com- pany. At the end of an hour, it was all up with him ; he was virtually in love. So far from being cured, it was the worst attack he had yet had. As he went homeward, at the end of the day, he was much de- pressed. Plainly, the medicine had failed ; he was incurable! When- ever he tried to think of Verinda, the image of the cousin presented itself. As he let himself into the door of his house, he felt like a criminal. The hallway was dark; Verinda came dancing out of the parlor to meet him. ‘“ What a good boy !” she cried; “you are ten whole min- utes ahead of time! You shall have ten extra kisses! one—two— three—" “ Wait till we get inside,” said the unhappy Rafael, catching his breath,“ Kissing in the dark is no fun.” “ You didn’t use to think so!" returned Verinda, with a little quaver in her voice. “I shall begin to believe you don't care to see me, if you——"" “Verinda!" exclaimed her husband, desperately. They had by this time entered the drawing-room, and the light from the chandelier fell full upon her face and figure as he turned towards her, with the purpose of confessing all, and leaving her to decide what should be done, But, as his glance fell upon her, it became fixed in a rigid 193 stare, his jaw dropped, and his voice died away in his throat. What had happened ? The woman who stood before him, dressed in Verinda’s gown, and whose tones and ways he had but an instant before recognized as his wife's, was not Verinda at all, but—of all people in the world— the beautiful cousin! It was incredible—imposs- ible, of course: and yet, how is a man to reject the evidence of his own senses? She to whom he had lost his too fickle heart was before him :—she, and no longer Verinda—was his wife. There was the slender oval face, the delicate patrician features, the complexion of the magnolia petal, the dark-fringed, languishing Andalusian eye—the cousin, to a hair! He put his trembling hand to his forehead, and gasped with sheer amazement. “Why, what is the matter with you, Rafael?" exclaimed she, advancing, and trying to put her arms round his neck. “ You look as if you didn’t know me. What has happened?" “I—I don’t—feel quite well,” replied Rafael, shrinking away from her touch, “I'll be all right directly.” A SOUND REASON. ‘1 pIDN’ KNOW YO" COULD READ, Bre'R Downey.” Downey (apparently much interested in his paper): OH, Ves, I'SE READ ERBER SINCE I WUZ ER BOY, + DEN HOW COMES IT YOU'SE READIN’ DAT PAPER UP- SIDE DOWN ?” “TL ALWAYS READS DAT Way, BRE'R DOWNEY, DEN I'se GETS AT DE ROTTOM OB DE FAC'S WIDOUT HABING TER READ DOWN DE WHOLE COLUMN.”