Life, 1891-08-13 · page 12 of 14
Life — August 13, 1891 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 82: Social Satire Analysis This page contains multiple unrelated satirical pieces typical of Life magazine's format: **"Our Friends, the Enemy"** mocks Boston's *Transcript* newspaper for criticizing a Life comic's grammar ("will" vs. "shall"). The piece argues the speaker's poor grammar was intentional—fitting her character—and defends New York speech patterns while sarcastically suggesting Boston considers itself the arbiter of proper English. **Geography joke**: A student answers "Where is Wales?" with "In the soup"—a pun on "Wales" sounding like "whales," likely served in soup. **Gordon-Cumming reference**: Appears to reference Sir William Gordon-Cumming, a real British aristocrat involved in a cheating scandal (the 1890s "Baccarat scandal"), making him a social pariah even wealthy clubs wouldn't admit. **Isabella/Columbus quip**: A tongue-in-cheek claim that Queen Isabella was Ireland's greatest benefactor for sponsoring Columbus—absurd since Isabella was Spanish. **Hotel scene**: Contrasts a deadbeat actor trying to avoid paying staff tips against a wealthy "rascally millionaire" who paid his bill but is similarly stingy—satirizing hypocrisy across social classes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A FINAL OFFERING. HE incense smoke is thick and black That rises at her shrine— For I have sent her letters back,® And now am burning mine. *At her request. OUR FRIENDS, THE ENEMY. UR rural contemporary, the Boston 7ranscript, has evidently been wait for us, and has finally sprang. ng will we have to wait for dinner?” says the well dressed and presumably well bred heroine of one of the dialogue comics in this week's Lire. ‘The author did not mean to make the woman speak bad he was simply a New Yorker, and wrote ‘+ will” when he written “shall” because, being a New Yorker, he didn’t any better. It is odd, after all, to what an extent grammar is a matter of geography. The educated New Yorker says * will we” do this and "will we” do that; the uneducated Boston horse-car driver, he is only to the manner born, never mixes his wills and his. shails. If the thing goes much further ‘it will become necessary for rich New Yorkers to send their sons ers to school in New arn where to will” and where to. say Now if the 7ranscript had a little more perception and a little less haste it would have seen that the speaker in the dialogue alluded to was not ‘presumably well bred,” that the whole dialogue is worded to fit the characters. As for there being no education worthy the name beyond the limits of Bost ing to say, That the most ig parrot hasa more thoro n, we of course have noth- orant Boston know! than any cultivated outsider is a fact too sh langua generally admitted by Bostonians But Boston ably upon to bear contradiction, should look more cli the outer darkness. TEACHER (in the Geo- graphy Class): Where is Wales? Bricnt Boy: Inthe soup. Dy RF GS ecrerr a) BETTER LATE 2VER.—Husbands. THAN 2 Wn .s J T’S a great pity, Cholly, that Sir William Gordon-Cum- ming doesn’t belong to our club, deah boy ? “Why “So we could expel him like the English clubs, doncher- at's so. Can't we expel him anyway ? Tis now claimed that Queen Isabella was Ireland’s great- est benefactor. She sent Columbus to discover America. Guest : WANTS THAT 2—SOME STRANDED ACTOR TRYING TO BEAT YOU OUT OF HIS BOARD ? Hotel Proprietor : No; THOSE, FELLOWS DON'T GIVE US ANY TROUBLE. THAT'S ONE OF THOSE * RASCAL MILLIONAIRES ;—PAID H BILL, BUT HE'S TRYING TO SKIP WITHOUT FEEING THE HELP; £ ON TO MIS LITTLE GAME, THOUGH, comicbooks.com