Life, 1891-07-16 · page 12 of 16
Life — July 16, 1891 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page Analysis This page contains several satirical cartoons mocking social manners and urban life: **Top left**: A well-dressed man rebuffs a lost boy asking directions. The boy retorts that the man IS a "volume on good manners"—sarcastically suggesting the man's rudeness contradicts any claim to civility. The joke targets hypocritical gentlemen who lack actual courtesy. **Bottom left**: "A Wonder of Modern Science" celebrates the transatlantic telegraph cable's ability to send news rapidly across the ocean while keeping it "fresh"—a pun on literal freshness applied metaphorically to news. **Right side**: Two "Society Notes" jokes. One depicts a woman at a beach resort ("Long Branch"—a fashionable New Jersey destination). Another features two Broadway streetcar drivers casually discussing running over pedestrians—an old woman and blind man—as routine occurrences, darkly satirizing urban indifference and the dangers of new mass transportation. The final joke equates music's soothing effect on "savage breasts" with a cannibal eating a trombone-player, mocking both sentimentality and racist stereotypes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SOCIETY NOTES. Boy (who has lost his way): 1 SAY, MISTER, HOW FAR IS IT TO CamPTowN CREEK? Man (surtily): Fix out, 1 atx't xo city pirectoryt Boy (with acute emphasis): No, YOU AIN'T; YOU'RE A WOLUME ON GOOD MAN- NERS, YOU ARE! A FULL DRESS BLOW OUT AT LONG BRANCH. CITY LIFE. IRST BROADWAY CAR-DRIVER . How many've you run over to-day, Mike ? SECOND BROADWAY CAR-DRIVER: No one to spake of; nothin’ but an old woman and a blind man. A WONDER OF MODERN SCIENCE. : SO SHE REACHED Parts YesTERDAY! HOW WONDERFUL IT IS THAT ¢¢ ISIC hath ch heth , AN RE SENT SO SAFELY OVER THE OCEAN CABLE THROUGH SO MANY M ath charms tosoothe the sav- SALT WATER. age breast,” as the cannibal said : YES! AND BE SO FRESH, when he swallowed the trombone-player. comicbooks.com