Life, 1891-06-18 · page 13 of 16
Life — June 18, 1891 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains multiple short satirical jokes and sketches typical of Life magazine's humor format: **Top section**: A theatrical reference—appears to parody the musical hall song "She's My Girl," with characters lamenting having to come to England and face danger ("be murdered"). **Facial blemishes joke**: A dermatologist joke about removing a patient's nose, playing on the crude appearance of noses. **Anomalous profession**: Dark humor about a doctor charging high fees to treat patients whose lives have little value. **The Lay of the Last Minstrel**: A joke about Briggs courting an older heiress who marries his rival instead. Briggs sends them a congratulatory poem ("epithalamium") set to the tune "Old Hundred"—a somber, slow hymn—making the "gift" mockingly inappropriate. **Other brief jokes** include marriage being mercenary, age guessing, and Irish dialect humor about a hotel where men are being thrown out windows. The humor relies on wordplay, social observations, and absurdist scenarios rather than political commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: “Ah, Jo, these have been happy days of ours. Think of all the festive scenes at which we have been present. But it’s hard, Jo—very hard, isn’t it, to come here to England and be murdered? Listen—listen—" And through the music hall was heard “She's my sweet'art H'Im ‘er beau, She's my Hannie, H'Im ‘er Jo.” Metcalfe. e : aes te “* ARE YOU THE MAN THAT KEMOVES FACIAL BLEMISHES 2?" “T aM, SIR.” “ WELL, THEN, REMOVE ABOUT A THIRD OF THIS NOSE.” ANOMALOUS. What's the most peculiar thing about your SUpEN? : profession ? When I have to charge ten dollars a day for treating a man whose life isn’t worth two cents, Docror: “THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL.” RIMUS:: Briggs has been courting an heiress, who, by the way, was old enough to be his mother, but she married his rival. SECUNDUS: Yes, | know; and yet Briggs sent them an epithalamium he wrote and set to music. Primus: Very generous. Was it sung at the wedding ? SECUNDUS: No. The tune was “ Old Hundred.” BECOMING CLOTHES—Cloth in the tailor'’s hands. AN EQUIVALENT. She: HIS MARRIAGE MERCENARY! Wy, THE GIRL HAD LITTLE OR NOTHING ! He: Yes, BUT HE OWED HER FATHER, THE DEAR GIRLS. Em : Now, how old would you suppose me to be? Maup: I shouldn't like to say, **ARRAH, BUT IT’S FOINE 1OIMES THEY'RE A HAVIN’ DOWN THERE AT THE OPENIN’ OF THE NEW HOTEL, THERE GOES THE FOURTH MAN THEY'VE CHUCKED OUT O° THAT SAME WINDOW INSIDE AN HOUR!" comicbooks.com