Life, 1892-12-22 · page 7 of 16
Life — December 22, 1892 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page contains four satirical comic sketches about a man in a hurry attempting to call the Boston Public Library by phone. The humor works on multiple levels: 1. **The absurdity of phone communication**: The man's escalating frustration illustrates early telephone technology's limitations—difficulty hearing, confusion about connections, and the challenge of conducting serious business remotely. 2. **Impatience vs. civility**: The harried man repeatedly demands information rudely, while the clerk politely attempts to help. His exasperation at being asked to speak clearly or follow procedures mocks modern impatience. 3. **Visual comedy**: The sketches show the man's increasingly agitated physical state—contorting, jumping, and gesticulating wildly while on the phone. The satire targets both technological frustration and the clash between rushed modern life and institutional formality, likely dating to the early telephone era when this technology was still novel and unreliable.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
> LIFE: MAN IN A HURRY: All right. Ring up Boston and get me the Public Library. Whirr-r-r-r, CLERK (¢2 ‘phone): Hello! Give me Boston. (Pause.) Hello! Bos- ton? IT want the Public Library. (Pause.) Hello! Public Library? Here you are, sir. MAN IN A HURRY (77 ‘Phone): VOICE IN ‘PHO! Ma NIN A HURRY: eXcErt-—— Hello! Is this Boston ? Of course. 1 know that. I didn’t think I was talking to the whole city. Where are you at? VOICE IN "PHONE: MAN IN A HURRY? Confound your impudence ! I didn't ask you anything about ending sentences with prepositions. | want the Public Library. VOICE IN "PHONE: MAN IN A HURRY: Well, why didn't you say so, at first? We haven't got no time in New York for prep- ositions, Tell—What's that ? VOICE IN ‘PHONE: MAN IN A HURRY (shouting at the top of his votce): Jumping Jupiter! Do you suppose I'm going to y-four dollars an you teach me through a tele- grammar phoni CLERK (énterposing): M you talk in an ordinary tone of voice, sir, you will be heard much better. MAN IN A HURRY: Con- found you, let me alone! I'm talking to an idiot two hun- dred miles out of my reach. CLERK (afpologetically): Excuse me, sir. MAN INAHURRY: Hello! Boston Public Library! 1 want to talk on a matter of great importance with Mr. Smith, VOICE IN “PHONE? MAN IN AHURR S-M-I-T-H, Smith! Voice PHON MAN IN A Hurry: By all that's—excuse me! 1 don’t care whether he spells his name with a Y or an 1, VOICE IN "PHON IN A HURRY (epéleptically): M 363 IS HE IN? Then why in thunder and all the elements didn't you say so at first? you here 'd— Geewillikins! If 1 had Five minutes are up, sir. EH, Graham Dewey. ALLEGATION. comicbooks.com