Life, 1891-12-31 · page 3 of 53
Life — December 31, 1891 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page (Volume XVIII, Number 470) This page contains satirical commentary and illustrations about New Year's resolutions and social behavior. The top image shows Death (depicted as a winged skeleton) holding a clock and a tiny human figure on a string—a memento mori warning about mortality and the passage of time during the new year. The text offers mock "best wishes" for various social types: snobs, hypocrites, bullies, girls seeking theater dates, and domestic tyrants. It's satirizing common character flaws and social pretenses of the era. Two captioned illustrations below depict scenes of romantic courtship ("Les Fiancés") and what appears to be a domestic discipline scenario labeled "Humiliating," mocking gender dynamics and relationship dynamics of the period through dark humor typical of Life's satirical approach.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XVIII. OU have Lire’s best wishes for a Happy New Year. But conditionally. It depends upon who you are If a regular reader of LIFE, you deserve at least one more happy year, as you will unavoidably have reached a state of mental breadth, moral decency and cheerfulness of spirit that renders you a desirable neighbor. But if you are a public just as well if your coming Us bs | LES FIANCES Frederick, who is backward: | WOULD LIKE TIME KNIGHT, TO FIGHT FOR YoU. She: WOULDN'T IT RE BETTER IF YOU WERE A MAN-AT-ARMS? TO BE AN OLD NUMBER 470. year be not so blissful. Perhaps you are a snob, a hypocrite, or a bully; if so, Life will try and bear up if you mect with a few setbacks during the next twelve months. If you are a girl, and wear a high hat to the theatre, you have our best wishes for an carly marriage with an impecuni- ous nobleman ; or anything else that will get you intoa back seat and hold you there for all eternity. HUMILIATING Boy: SAY, YOUNG MAN, GIVE ME YER UP AND CARRY VER A RIT, a: WON'T HAVE TER STOOP EVERY TIME SIE WANTS TER HEAR WHAT IARTER AND T'Lt noost THEN YER YOUNG LADY YER SAVIN’! comicbooks.com