Life, 1891-03-26 · page 21 of 22
Life — March 26, 1891 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical cartoons plus advertising: **"The Adaptability of Genius"** jokes about an editor named Fakerson who writes scientific articles in a noisy newspaper office. The punchline: he now uses a conveniently indexed encyclopedia instead of struggling with an old one—suggesting he's not truly composing original thought, just rearranging existing information. The satire mocks both editorial laziness and the pretense of "genius." **"The Foundation"** depicts a child described as having "the making of a politician" because he's Irish. This reflects period stereotypes about Irish-Americans in politics, particularly their association with urban machine politics and patronage systems. The joke assumes readers recognize this ethnic-political connection as obvious or self-evident. The remainder is a straightforward advertisement for John H. Pray, Sons & Co.'s spring carpet opening in Boston, emphasizing European and American designs and imported rugs.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE ADAPTABILITY OF GENIYS. Visitor: 1 SHOULD THINK EDITOR FAKERSON WOULD FIND IT VERY DIFFICULT TO COLLECT HIS THOUGHTS FOR WRITING THOSE SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES IN THE DISTRACTING DIN OF THIS NEWSPAPER OFFICE. The Sporting Editor: Weil, We USED TO HAVE DIFFICULTY WITH THE OLD ENCYCLOPEDIA, BUT THE NEW EDITION 18 SO CONVENIENTLY INDEXED THAT HE COLLECTS THEM WITH NO TROUBLE AT ALL. TTR AY THE FOUNDATION. THAT BOY HAS THE MAKING OF A POLITICIAN IN JUS, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK SO? He's Irisn, SPRING OPENING OF NEW CARPETS. JOHN H. PRAY, SONS & CO. In making our selections for the Spring Market, we have paid special attention to the modern style # furnishing, and taken into due consideration the newest ideas in high art decoration, so that all our new all Carpets will harmonize with the latest style of coloring and interior decorations, while many of our clusive patterns are the choicest productions of the best European and American designers. Our agents, both abroad and at home, have secured the latest novelties, so that we can offer the full psortment of English and American AXMINSTERS, WILTONS, BRUSSELS, TAPESTRIES, and other brics. PERSIAN, INDIAN, and other Eastern RUGS we shall continue to make a specialty, and our RIENTAL department will be found to contain a very large and choice stock of every variety of IPORTED RUGS and CARPETS. We invite our friends and the public generally to an early inspection of our new and large stock, cling confident that we offer inducements in style, quality and price that no purchaser can afford to pass. JOHN H. PRAY, SONS & CO.,, CARPETS AND UPHOLSTERY, 558 & 560 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON. comicbooks.com