Life, 1893-01-05 · page 7 of 60
Life — January 5, 1893 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Retrospectively Speaking" — Life Magazine, January 1893 This satirical poem reflects on the past decade's impact on "Life" itself—the magazine's ten-year anniversary. The central illustration depicts "Life" as a figure ascending or emerging from a chaotic mass of humanity below. The poem's tone is sardonic about progress: it references social turbulence ("Assured success has gone through bankruptcy"), journalistic proliferation ("New journals, solemn, fiscal, economic"), and the brevity of trends ("Religious, newsy, sporty, spicy, comic"). The crowded base suggests Life's engagement with 1880s-90s American society—depicting various social types and classes. The piece cynically suggests that despite claims of advancement and the magazine's own survival, the underlying condition of life remains fundamentally unchanged, with constant upheaval replacing genuine progress.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUBILEE e JANUARY, NUMBER. 1893. RETROSPECTIVELY SPEAKING. HEN Lire began, experienced persons said : “ Swift move Lachesis’ shears toward that slim thread A line so slender can’t protracted be : Lo Punchinello’s early tomb! and see Yon tumulus whose cut off hump declares. How premature an end was Vanity Fair's. . Brightness and brevity as surely mate As pork and beans. It isn’t chance; it’s fate! A few brief months of corruscation, then LIFE will go out.” So said experienced men. A decade swift since then this Earth has sped, LO ce And every day has turned things on their head. fo th Croakers who moaned “ short Lire!” themselves have’died, Strong banks have bursted ; men whose means defied Val All turns of fortune have been brought to use iriet ‘The surer plan of having naught to lose. “ Assured success” has gone through bankruptcy. illus Merit in partnership with Industry Have somehow failed to justify presumption, SHUN And draw a salary now, employed by Gumption. vDaGy economic, mest | Religious, newsy, s picy, comic, Diurnal, weekly—every kind you take— Have mostly left depression in their wake. Still round this world has spun, nor lost a minute, And Lire—“ brief, fitful LiFe,”—LIFE still is in it. mor) Ten times around the freckled orb of day, unt Hebdomadally blazing out the way, artis What a procession of its blessed self ast | Stalks through that score of volumes on LiFE’s shelf! ent What old, old friends perennially appear ! ] What new ones come and go, to chide or cheer! to b nae : e tr Fair Chloe, both ways drawn, choosing by toss *Twixt Strephon’s ardor and old Bullion’s dross; ident) Lucy and Jack kept single by the curse s the! Of large requirements and a slender purse ; nw hl nan I, with nen | ntinul) f tht A ANT) Ken}) y Or } comicbooks.com