Life, 1892-02-18 · page 6 of 18
Life — February 18, 1892 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 100 **Main Cartoon - "Our Chamber of Horrors":** This depicts a chaotic Fifth Avenue street scene with an overturned horse-drawn cart labeled "Central Park" and pedestrians in disarray. The caption quotes Psalms about sorrows and death, suggesting satirical commentary on urban transportation accidents or street chaos in New York City during the era of horse-drawn carriages. **"To a Valentine" & "To Ladies Who Entertain":** These are satirical pieces about romantic disappointment and dinner etiquette. The valentine poem mocks a failed courtship, while the prose section critiques ostentatious, overly-complex dinner parties among wealthy Americans, arguing that simpler meals demonstrate better taste than pretentious "vulgar" displays. **"The War Cloud":** A brief dialogue between Primus and Secundus referencing severed U.S.-Chilean diplomatic relations, likely referencing a specific historical incident.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OUR CHAMBER OF HORRORS. A FIFTH AVE. STAGE. * He delighteth not in the strength of the horse." “The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains Palms, of Hell gat hold upon me." Fare, 5 cents. TO A VALENTINE. THOUGHT When I bought You That you would fix the thing forever. She would be mine. 1 thought When I paid four dollars For you That I would reap my reward In marriage. T thought When I sent -you That I was as good as ac- cepted. Alas! And ah me! And other exclamations. When I mailed you I forgot to put Any stamps upon your milk white Envelope. Her papa, therefore, TO LADIES WHO ENTERTAIN. HE next time you give a dinner, give a good one. Do not feel that because you can afford it your dinner must consist of complex, mysterious, rich, indigestible dishes. No one wants them. All men hate them. When a man goes to a restaurant he never orders such a medley for him- self. He never wishes them on his own table. Few women care for them and not one person in fifty can digest them with comfort. Although such dinners are very common in New York, they are not given because we desire or respect them but because we are a rich and vulgar people without the ability to realize our vulgarity. There are many people in this city, and happily the class is growing, who have the good taste and the courage to offer a simpler dinner to their guests. Such dinners can be as long and as dainty as the most fastidious may desire, and they are infinitely more satisfying. Try to bear in mind that a dinner consisting of complex and mysterious dishes is only a development of American vulgarity. When a woman gives such a dinner you are correct in supposing that either her own taste is vitiated and false or that she does it because she thinks it “ the proper thing.” In either case it indicates the presence of more money than intelligence. THE WAR CLOUD. RIMUS: You say our government has severed diploma- tic relations with Chili? I hadn't heard that. When did it happen ? Secunpus: Why, when it sent Egan there. HE: You say this valentine is $1 and this $2. Why, 1 see very little difference. CLER : The $2 one, miss, has no poetry in it, “THAT YOUNG PRE. PULPIT ORATOR, WASN'T HE?” “YES, IF HE COULD ONLY TWICE DURING THE SERMON. CONTROL MIS VOICE, CHER WE HEARD TO-DAY Was [A FINE He woxerne comicbooks.com