Life, 1892-12-08 · page 9 of 16
Life — December 8, 1892 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This page contains three separate satirical pieces from *Life* magazine: 1. **Top illustration**: A dialogue about a young man from Bar Harbor (an elite coastal resort) seeking marriage. The joke turns on whether his engagement is "final and irrevocable"—the woman wants to ensure he won't change his mind, suggesting wealthy men were known for romantic fickleness. 2. **"A Fortuitous Circumstance"**: A poem mocking romantic declarations of devotion, suggesting the speaker's love is convenient rather than genuine. 3. **"Was Indeed Healthy"**: A brief comic dialogue where a resident brags that only one death occurred in ten years—until revealing it was from starvation, undercutting the health claim with dark irony. 4. **"Tubal Cain" anecdote**: A brief joke about Southern architecture and class (cupolas used as chicken coops) with an accompanying cartoon of someone slipping on his pants.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Young Man of Bar Harbor experience: THEN THERE 18 XO HOPE FOR ME? She: 1 AM AFRAID Not. ¥.M.: 18 THAT OFFICIAL, FINAL AND IRREVOCABLE ? She: IT 18. VL Mo: THEN WE CAN HAVE A GOOD TIME BEING ENGAGED ! A FORTUITOUS CIRCUMSTANCE, oe SEE a great many houses in the South are built with cupolas,” said How very lucky for us two Jawhens. That she and I have met. “Yes, we have to build ‘em that way,” said the Colonel. “We use ‘em for chicken A LOVER, handsome, brave and true She says she'd like to get, WAS INDEED HEALTHY. ESIDENT: Healthy? I should say it was. Why there's only been one death here in ten years. UBAL CAIN, worker in VistToR: Who was it died ? metals, was the founder RESIDENT: Dr. Barker; died of starvation. of one of our oldest famities. “TRYING ON IIS PANTS.” coops at night.” comicbooks.com