Life, 1891-07-16 · page 11 of 16
Life — July 16, 1891 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 25 This page contains satirical sketches and humorous writing typical of early Life magazine's social commentary. **"Magazine Verse of the Popular School"** is a poem mocking sentimental, overwrought Victorian poetry—the kind that dominated popular publications. The satirical target is the pretentious, melodramatic style itself. **"The Summer Girl's Diary"** humorously documents a woman's daily activities (tennis, lunch, dancing, napping) centered entirely around finding and pursuing men, satirizing the leisure activities and romantic preoccupations of upper-class women of the era. The sketch at bottom left shows a couple, with the caption "Isn't your husband a little bald?" / "Bald!—there isn't a bald hair on his head!"—likely mocking either vanity or marital disputes over appearance. The Egyptian mummy discussion is a brief antiquarian note, unrelated to the satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE-: MAGAZINE VERSE OF THE POPULAR SCHOOL.* T starry eve, to souls of earnest men, As fitful flights of half-imagined dreams, And whirling wings of things past human ken; Wraiths of the shapes that haunt the Stygian streams :— So to my spirit comes a clamoring sense Of futile effort in a fruitless field; A shuddering swan-song, passionate, intense ! The shadowy dirge of longings long concealed. * As this poem has been declined by several magazines, whose editors stated that it was not pedantic or mysterious enough, the author modestly refuses to allow his name to be published, THE SUMMER GIRL’S DIARY. g:00 A.M. Ate breakfast—won- dered where the men were. 10:00, Went to see where the men were, 10:30, Found the men playing ten- nis—wished I were a man. 11:30, Talked with the other girls about the men, and wondered what I would do if | were a man. 12:30 P, M, Went toluncheon with the men—wondered why there are not more men. 2:00, Took a nap and dreamed about the men, s:00. Played tennis with one of the men, 8:00to 11:00 Danced with the men. 11:30. Engaged to one of the men at last, 11:45. Went to bed after saying “* A-men.” Tom Hall, “ISN'T YOUR HUSBAND A LITTLE BALD?” * BALD I—THERE ISN'T A BALD HAIR ON HIS HEAD!" SWEETNESS AND LIGHT. Mr. C. Archibald Sharpe: Newror’s LITTLE BOY 18 DEAD. Mrs, S.: 1 pivon'T KNOW HE HAD A BOY, “He wasn’t, I TELL YOU THE BOY 18 DEAD,” “T MEAN I DIDN'T KNOW HE HAD THE ROY BEFORE HE piED.” ““WHO IN THUNDER sard HE WAS DEAD? THAT DIED, STUPID!” It was THE boy T appears that there has has been an over-issue of Egyptian mummies, and it behooves people who are accumulating these pictur- esque and pleasing objects to look into the genuineness of their possessions. It is even stated that for many years none but counterfeit mum- mies have been shipped from Egypt. They are made of prepared jackass hide, and it is extremely difficult to dis- tinguish between a XXX V. 5. O. P. mummy of the Psattie dynasty and one whose im- mediate progenitor is a modern mule. HE cabin lists of the departing European steamers are sprinkled to an unusual extent with the names of clergymen and their families. This has been a hard Spring for the clergy, and their mental exertions in defending their respective doxies have doubtless had a debilitating effect. comicbooks.com