Life, 1891-10-15 · page 7 of 16
Life — October 15, 1891 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page contains two distinct pieces: **Top cartoon** ("Those Reliable Horse Advertisements"): A satirical sketch of a chaotic horse-drawn carriage accident, mocking exaggerated claims in period horse/carriage advertisements that promised reliability and control. **Bottom cartoon** ("A New Version"): A dialogue between a man and woman on a bench overlooking water. The woman mentions only one girl admitted to Harvard College, lamenting loneliness. The caption below addresses wealth and religious hypocrisy—the woman claims she "cannot serve God and Mammon" (cannot be both pious and wealthy), to which the man responds they can "serve Mammon and patronize God" instead. This satirizes wealthy Americans' selective morality and charitable pretense masking materialistic values. Both pieces critique contemporary American attitudes toward reliability claims and moral inconsistency among the privileged classes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘LIFE: THOSE RELIABLE HORSE ADVERTISEMENTS. A NEW VERSION. i E sat upon the quarter-deck, And puffed his cares away ; And I sat weeping by his side The total blooming day. For, as the perfumed smo! And bade the world ta-ta, Poor I could not forget that he Puffed on my last cigar. I see that only one girl has been ad- mitted to Harvard College. She'll be awfully lonely, don’t you think ? SHE: O no; there are lots of real nice lady- “WITH EXTRA ALL-AROUND ACTION.” like young men there. She (to recently accepted): 1 AM SINCERELY SORRY YOU ARE SO WEALTHY. VE CANNOT SERVE Gop axp Mason.” He: Noj BUT WE CAN DO AS THE REST OF OUR SET—SERVE MAMMON AND PATRONIZE Goo. comicbooks.com