Life, 1891-07-30 · page 7 of 14
Life — July 30, 1891 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 49 The page contains two distinct elements: **Top illustration ("A Midsummer Idyl"):** A decorative border frames a beach scene showing people relaxing and swimming. This appears to be a nostalgic summer leisure image with no apparent satirical intent. **Bottom illustration ("A False Accusation"):** Shows a street vendor and a woman, with a caption about berry prices being "as high as the bottom of the box" and a joke about vendors deceiving customers ("Deed they ain't, Lady, 'Deed they ain't"). This satirizes common marketplace fraud—specifically the deceptive practice of filling the bottom of produce boxes with inferior goods while displaying good fruit on top, a widespread consumer complaint of the era. The text discusses Mr. Hibbard's literary stories about domestic life and morality, unrelated to the illustrations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
eyebrow. They are generally moral Wine, than about the iniquities of a tariff bill. If you were to choose a smoking- men, but not reformers. You can im- toom companion you might take almost any one of them and not regret it—if you agine them showing more indignation always smoked a good brand of cigars. over the wrong temperature of a good ‘The author's elderly men are even better than his young men. They have had ambitions, and h: achieved some of them. You expect to find them dignitied, suave, and mildly assertive. . . . for the women of Mr. Hibbard’s stories, you know that they would be a great help to just his type of men. They are graceful and well-dressed, and love beautiful things. To make their happiness secure they should have liberal dowries, safely invested, and in their own control, With one of them (in the right conditions. of prosperity) a man is sure to find life serene and death decorous. You could always depend upen a touch of sentiment in your home, springing from a gentle heart that has fed itself on decent books and good music. You would also know that your children would have a correct pronunciation and intonation, though you might feel your doubts as to the originality of their ideas. Though you might predict from year to year the exact routine of your even- ings at home, and certainly know what wife and children would say on any subject— you would have the resource of driving away emi by giving more pretentious dinners. Such a woman will always be stately and beautiful at the head of your table, and you will feel proud of her till her hair is snow-white, and your eyes are dim. In a word Mr. Hibbard's stories represent the trials and pleasures of well- regulated people—and fairly prosperous homes—the sort of lives that most men of some education hope to lead when they have passed thirty. There are occasional glimpses of other existences that are distinctly not well ordered—but they only serve to heighten the contrast. FALSE ACCUSATION. Droch, She: THe PRICE OF THE BERRIES 1S AS HIGH AS THE BOTTOM OF THE BOX, NEW BOOKS. FROM SHADOW TO SUNLIGHT. By the Marquis of Lorne. New York: D, Appleton and H F . Company. Vender (earnestly): “DEED THEY AIN'T, Unhappy Loves of Men of Genius, By Thomas Hitchcock. New York: Harper and Brothers. LADY, "DEED THEY AIN'T Vinrikisha Days im Japan, By Eliza Rubamah Scidmore. New York: Harper and Brothers. comicbooks.com