Life, 1893-05-11 · page 3 of 14
Life — May 11, 1893 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page **Top Cartoon - "Railroading in Darkest Africa":** This is satirical commentary on colonial-era African railways. The absurdist humor depicts dangerous animals (tiger, python, elephant) sharing a railroad platform with human passengers—an impossible scenario mocking both the hazards of early African rail infrastructure and perhaps the colonial enterprise's chaotic management. The caption's mock-serious "telegram from Station Agent" tone amplifies the satire. **Bottom Section - "Between Two Fires":** A domestic humor piece about hotel rules. Uncle Silas Sassafras complains that the Hypesite Hotel's posted regulations are deliberately designed to extract money from guests through violations (gas charges, cleaning fees). The brief dialogue satirizes predatory hotel business practices common to the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XxI. ENS Tah RAILROADING IN DARKEST AFRICA, Telegram from Station Agent at Umbajiji to Division Superintendent. No. 10, up accommodation, just passed without stopping. Tiger, python and rogue elephant on platform. “IP HE THINKS HE KIN MAKE UP WID ME BY OFFERIN’ ME A RIDE IN 11S CARRIDGE, HE 1S VERY MUCH MISTOOK, I KIN TELL HIM! * BETWEEN TWO FIRES. ‘©1T seems to me,” said Uncle Silas Sassafras, as he read the rules and regulations tacked on the door of his room at the Hyprise Hotel, “that these hotel people just systematically try to bleed people.” “What is it, father?” asked his wife. ** Why, one of these dinged rules says, ‘ Don’t blow out the gas,’ and another says, ‘Gas burned all night will be charged extree.’ Now what's a fellow to do?” OGGS: The street cleaning in New York now is purely mathematical. Foccs:; How mathematical ? BocGs: It is done under the rule of three—Croker, Gilroy and Brennan, comicbooks.com