Life, 1892-09-08 · page 3 of 14
Life — September 8, 1892 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page from *Life* magazine contains two distinct items: **Top illustration ("Not a Tale of Love")**: A sketch depicting two men in a rowboat with a woman watching from shore. The accompanying text describes Fred, a handsome but indecisive man, and Bertha, a plainspoken woman. The narrative humorously suggests Fred takes Bertha boating to avoid commitment—he's "not an athlete" and easily bored, so he uses the outing as an escape rather than romance. **Bottom section**: Two brief humorous dialogues. "Love's Labor Lost" mocks a poet's unrequited feelings for a star he'll never know. "Sick Wife" presents a domestic joke about a husband keeping Cleveland cigars, which the wife finds ugly enough to cause her "to die"—playing on the cigar's poor reputation. These are light social humor pieces targeting romantic indecision and consumer products of the era, typical of *Life*'s satirical approach to everyday life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME Xx. NUMBER 5o6. NOT A TALE OF LOVE, Poor Fred! He is having an awkward alternoon. Fred is rather handsome and confident, Bertha is plain and diffident, a year or two older than Fred, but very well off. Fred thought he had a sure thing, and so, altho’ their acquaintance has been very short, he took Bertha in a boat and drifted down the stream, He lost one of the oars which was only a detail ; but she has declined to marry him in a manner so de- cided that there remains no possibility of doubt, even in Fred's mind, as to the utter folly of ever alluding to the subject again. Now, Fred is not an athlete ; he hates work, is sensitive, and is easily bored. Also, the rapid current bas carried them about three miles down the stream, and Fred is going to row back with one oar and Bertha to watch him. LOVE’S LABOR LOST. a ERE! Don't touch those Cleveland cigars.” “ No danger—their looks are enough. But why do you call them Cleveland?" “ Well, | keep them here to give to boras;and I love them for the enemies they have made.” X POET loved a star, we read, But the star could never know it; And she wouldn't have cared much, anyhow, For an impecunious poet. ICK WIFE: I feel that 1 am dying, George. But N ORTHERNER: I am told that the razor-back hogs there is only one regret on my mind. I you have down here are very fast runners. BROKEN-HEARTED HUSBAND: What is it, darling. SOUTHERNER: Fast! Say, I've known some of them SICK WIFE: That it isn’t some other member of the hogs, sah, to outrun—to outrun other razor-back hogs. family. Black is so becoming to me. comicbooks.com