Life, 1891-04-09 · page 1 of 14
Life — April 9, 1891 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "By the Fast Express" - Life Magazine, April 9, 1891 This domestic comedy sketch depicts a woman confronting a man about another visitor. The dialogue reveals the humor: a woman named "Mr. Gillie" visited while the husband was out, and he's now leaving by sending a calling card (P.D.Q. card—period slang for "pretty damn quick"). The joke plays on Victorian social conventions around male visitors and marital suspicion. The woman's confrontation, the man's apparent nervousness, and his hasty departure via the "fast express" suggest comedic infidelity or impropriety. The ornate border and decorative header typical of Life magazine's satirical style frame this domestic farce. The humor relies on period understanding of social calling etiquette and the anxieties surrounding unchaperoned male-female interactions in proper Victorian households.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XVII. NEW YORK, APRIL 9, 1891. NUMBER 432. Entered at the New York Post Office as Second-Class Mail Matter Copyright, 1891, Mrrcuent & Miter. a al ol pi, BY THE FAST EXPRESS. “L SAY, SISTER, MR. GILLIE WAS HERE WHEN YOU WERE OUT, AND YOU WON'T SEE HIM ANY MORE, EITHER,” ‘How bo you Know ?” “CAUSE He's GOING AWAY, HE SAID HE JUST CALLED TO LEAVE A P. D. Q. CARD,” comicbooks.com