Life, 1891-07-02 · page 9 of 18
Life — July 2, 1891 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 415 This page contains book reviews and humorous illustrations unrelated to politics. The top section reviews three volumes of short stories by Mexican-themed writer Janvier, praised for his "melodious, facile style" and depiction of Mexican life. Below are three cartoon vignettes with accompanying jokes about everyday situations: a couple discussing writing/painting, a customer praising silent firecrackers to a clerk, and a woman asking about a toy pistol's safety while a child tests it (resulting in torn clothing and injury). The humor relies on physical comedy, irony, and domestic situations—not political satire. The cartoons illustrate conventional Life magazine humor of their era, focusing on social embarrassment and mishap rather than commentary on current events or public figures.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE : Studies, and A Mexican Campaign” (Scribner's). The last named is a reissue of Mr. Janvier's first collection of short stories with the addition of a long tale, in which all the de- lightful characters of “Color Studies” are taken on a Mexi- can tour in a private car. The three volumes make very evident, what readers of the magazines have long known, that Mr. Janvier has a melodious, facile style of his own in which the imagery of the Romance languages has found a place; that he has a field which is distinctly his province—Mexican life and character ; and that his stories are all tales of sentiment,—delicate, poetic, and fanciful. Droch. NEW BOOKS. [® THE HEART OF THE STORM, By Maxwell Grey. New York: D. Appleton and Company. April Hopes. By W. D, Howells, New York: Harper and Brothers. The Rudder Grangers Abroad, and Other Stories. By Frank R. Stockton. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. David Cox and Peter De Wint. By Gilbert R. Redgrave. New York: Imported by Charles Scribner's Sons. Gray Days and Gold. By William Winter. New York: Macmillan and Company. A Violin Obligate, and Other Stories. By Margaret Crosby. Boston: Roberts Brothers. A Book O'Nine Tales, By Arlo Bates, Boston: Roberts Brothers. A Question of Love. A Story {rom the French of T. Combe. By Annie RERamsey, Boston: Roberts Bros CoM Peeves t= eN\ The Lady: JACK, WHY DON'T YOU WRITE A NOOK, OK PAINT A PICTURE, OR DO SOMETHING CLEVER ? The Gentleman: Becav: SELECTED A MILLIONAIRE FOR A FATHER, AND I THINK THAT WAS CLEVER ENOUGH TO LAST A LIFE- TIME, A GREAT SUCCESS. USTOMER: Those crackers you sold me the other day were the best I ever saw. They worked all right, did they ? You bet they did. My boy fired off ten packs this morning at 4 o'clock, and not one of them made a sound. GUARANTEED. HE: [want to get something to amuse my little boy with on the 4th. CLERK: Yes, madam. What do you think of this pretty little toy pistol ? SHE (anxtously): Am I perfectly safe in getting it? CLERK: Perfectly so, madam. It will kill only the boy. HE lightning had ripped all the buttons off his vest. split his right shoe and taken a piece out of the end of his ear. When he came to he observed : “Wa'al, talk about yer persona’ magnetism! ‘Thet’s too darned personal !"" comicbooks.com