Life, 1892-10-20 · page 5 of 16
Life — October 20, 1892 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 217 This page contains three satirical pieces about social class and respectability: 1. **"Ups and Downs of Western Life"**: A cartoon mocking a rancher who abandons his wife to chase a cyclone, prioritizing adventure over domestic responsibility. 2. **"Beneath Their Notice"**: A dialogue between two young men discussing a well-dressed man they've encountered. One reveals he saw this man eating at a cheap restaurant and kicking the cook—behavior they view as disreputable. The satire targets men who maintain appearances of wealth and respectability while treating working-class people poorly. It's social commentary on hypocrisy and class consciousness. 3. **"Too Thin"**: A brief sketch of a poor woman begging for bread, adding to the page's theme of economic hardship and social inequality. The page satirizes both Western excess and urban class pretension.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
UPS AND DOWNS OF WESTERN LIFE. Mr. Rancher (as his wife fetches up in a neighbor's cyclone fit): ALL RIGHT, S'MANTHY, YOU STAY HERE, AND I'LL GO ON WITH THE HOUSE AND GET DINNER READY. BENEATH THEIR NOTICE. E was a well dressed, distinguished looking man, and had the air of one who generally got what he wanted. One would have said instinctively that he was a man whom it would be an honor to know. Both of the young men recognized him at the same moment, and one of them started forward to greet him. “Don't speak to him,” protested the other. “ You can’t afford to.” “ Why, what has he done?” “He has sunk below the level of self-respecting men,” replied the second young man solemnly, “I saw him in a cheap restaurant yesterday.” “O, well, | have had to patronize cheap restaurants myself at times. Force of circumstances you know.” TOO THIN. Small Youth: LaDy, WON'T YOU PLEASE GIVE ME A QUARTER TOWARDS GETTIN’ 'R LOAF ER,BREAD, MY MOTHER AN! TEN SISTERS IS STARVIN’ TER DEATH. She: MUST YOU GO SO SOON, DARLING? IT 1S ONLY TEN O'CLOCK, AND FATHER WON'T OBJECT IF YOU STAY UNTIL TWELVE, He: TRUE, MY OWN, BUT THAT ONLY GIVES ME TWO WHICH TO SAY GOOD-NIGHT. HOURS IN ‘0 have I, so have I,”" admitted the second young man. But when I do, I order something simple and make the best urally, That's what anyone would do.” That's what any self-respecting man would do when obliged to patronize a cheap restaurant. But this man—this man who you were about to greet as an equal—" “ Well, what has he done ?” “He has sunk to the lowest depths. I saw him order a fancy dish in a cheap restaurant, and kick on the cooking and the service.” Elliot Flower. I remember the first fish I ever caught. What was it; an Ichthyosaurus ? R. OLDBOY: Miss Pert: comicbooks.com