Life, 1892-11-10 · page 6 of 16
Life — November 10, 1892 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 264 This page contains three humorous sketches typical of early 20th-century Life magazine satire: 1. **Top left**: A man struggling with a large hot-air balloon, captioned with dialogue about being "attached" to it—a visual pun on the difficulty of letting go of something unwieldy. 2. **"His Terrible Revenge"**: A club scene where a rejected man named Dickey plots revenge by proposing to his ex-girlfriend—forcing her into marriage as punishment rather than seeking actual reconciliation. The satire mocks masculine pride and the twisted logic of romantic "revenge." 3. **"They Hadn't Discovered It Yet"**: A New Orleans anecdote about racial tensions, referencing the "big fights" (likely boxing matches). The dialogue criticizes casual racist speech among sporting gentlemen. The page satirizes male vanity, romantic absurdity, and social prejudices of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SAY, MISTER, YOU SEEM ATTACHED TO THAT BALLOON.” “OH, YES, I'M JUST CARRIED AWAY BY IT.” HIS TERRIBLE REVENGE. ICKEY tumbled into his chair at the club window with a sigh that was heard clear out in the billiard room. “Ah,” said a voice from the next chair (the men are so small and the chairs so large at Dickey’s club that it always seems as though the chairs were talking and not their occupants). “ Ah,” re- peated the voice, “I observe, me deah boy, that you have been wejected.” “ Yaas,” answered Dickey, dreamily. “Did she let you down easy or—or was it in the nachure of a cyclone?" “ Both,” answered Dickey, “but, O, Iam going to have sweet revenge. I will not be cheated out of my revenge.” “ Tell me about it, deah boy.” “ Well, I have loved her ever since we were babies, old chap —terribly romantic. We were born on the same day, you know, and she lived next door to us; used to go riding in the same baby carriage—been riding with her ever since. But you know girls get about five years older than a fellah of the same age when they are seventeen, and about five years THE SENSATION WAS SO Customer ; DiD YOU GET IT OUT? Barber: Htex ; How's THAT ? Customer : OW, PARDON ME; I THOUGHT I WAS AT THE DENTIST'S, SIMILAR, younger than a fellah of the same age when they are twenty- three. Well, day after to-morrow is our cighteenth birthday, but she thinks I am a mere boy, don’t you know, and that she is a mature young lady. So when I proposed she actually laughed at me, old chap, and told me to go back to my nurse.” “ Gwacious,” said the voice from the chair, “ But I am going to have my revenge,” said Dickey. “ What's it going to be?" asked the voice. “ Well, I am going to have a swell birthday party. Every one knows that she and I were born on the same day. But instead of its being my eighteenth birthday, old chappie, it’s going to be my twenty-eighth birthday—see? And I just bet she'll tear her hair out when she hears about it. By the way, it's awfully pretty hair.” * Gwacious,” said the horrified voice from the chair. Tom Halt. THEY HADN’T DISCOVERED IT YET. T was in New Orleans at the time of the recent “ big fights.” The night the colored pugilist vanquished the white man a party of well-known sporting-men from the Metropolis and the Hub were sounding the black champion’s praises in the office of the Hotel, when the proprietor, himself per- haps the best known sporting character in the South, ex- claimed : * Great heavens, gentlemen, don’t talk so loud! If the niggers hear you talking like that they'll think they've got a right to vote!” [Parrett weare all servants of the Lord—but we would- n't dare to disobey any other boss as we disobey Him. comicbooks.com