Life, 1893-04-13 · page 13 of 18
Life — April 13, 1893 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several short satirical jokes typical of early 20th-century Life magazine: **Top cartoon**: Mocks physiognomy (judging character by appearance). A woman guesses an older man is a decorated soldier, but he's actually a grumpy bachelor who got rich editing "Baby: A Magazine for Mothers"—humor lies in the contrast between his stern appearance and his unlikely, domestically-focused business. **"All Laid Bare"**: A cynical joke about a banker suspected of wrongdoing. Police knew his domestic affairs because he employed "the prettiest nurse girl in the city"—implying scandal or the nurse as an informant. **"Uncle Silas on Temperance"**: Uses dialect humor (likely a rural character) to joke about drinking. He argues whiskey is an enemy, and scripture says love your enemies, so drinking is biblically justified—absurdist reasoning for drinking. **Remaining items**: Brief one-liners about theater and practical advice, typical filler content for the era. The page satirizes social pretense, corruption, and moral hypocrisy common to early 20th-century satirical magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SSS How MUCH ONE CAN TELL FROM PHYSIOGNOMY ! : YEs. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY OF THAT OLD FELLOW OVER YONDER ? : OH, HE'S AN OLD SOLDIER WHO HAS SEEN LOTS OF HARD SERVICE. No; HE'S A CRUSTY OLD BACHELOR WHO HAS MADE A FORTUNE EDITING ‘Baby; A Magazine for Mothers.” ALL LAID BARE. OBWIGGER: As nobody” suspected{ the old banker of wrong-doing, how was it the police were so familiar with his domestic affairs ? MERRITT: Why, he employed the prettiest nurse girl in the city. UNCLE SILAS ON TEMPERANCE. “ HY, bruverin, whiskey am yore enemy. Now de good book say as yo mus luv yore enemeny, but it no whar say dat yo is to swadler yore enemy.” HURRIED TO GET OUT. RIZZLE: How long did that new play of yours run? Fizzce: Till it got in the next town. URING a thunder-storm always put your milk in a a smaller refrigerator, so that it will have no room — HAD HE NOT RESEMBLED MY PATHER AS He SLEPT, I HAD to turn, DONE 'T.—AMacbeth. comicbooks.com