Life, 1893-02-16 · page 13 of 16
Life — February 16, 1893 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This single-panel cartoon satirizes Victorian courtship conventions and masculine vanity. A well-dressed man attempts to romantically impress Miss Edgerly by sending her a Valentine, but hires another man (likely a servant or club associate) to deliver it, hoping to appear charmingly indirect or mysterious. The joke's punchline: Miss Edgerly immediately suspects deception because the handwriting is masculine—revealing the man's scheme. The satire targets upper-class male pretense and the elaborate social games surrounding romance in this era. The ornate interior setting emphasizes the wealthy, leisured context where such frivolous romantic posturing occurs. The cartoon mocks both the man's transparent attempt at sophistication and the period's rigid gender expectations around courtship.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“| DID YOU—AW—WECEIVE A VALENTINE FROM ME, Miss EDGERLY?? ‘ YES—BUT I NEVER SUSPECTED THAT YOU SENT IT." “Ba Jove, THAT'S GOOD! Ya-as, I HAD A FELLAH AT THE CLUB DIWECT IT, YE KNOW." “THAT'S WHAT DECEIVED ME, IT WAS IN A MAN'S HANDWRITING " comicbooks.com