Life, 1893-06-08 · page 12 of 16
Life — June 8, 1893 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Then and Now" - Life Magazine Satire This page contains three satirical pieces mocking romantic conventions of the era: **"Then and Now"** (top): A poem by P. McArthur inverts the classic fairy tale where a prince marries a peasant girl. The satire notes that in modern times, the reverse occurs—"a maiden weds a beggar prince"—suggesting that wealthy, titled men of the contemporary period are financially or morally worthless, reduced to "beggars" despite their status. **"A Great Love"** (center): A melodramatic dialogue where Mr. Dashaway makes an absurdly overwrought romantic declaration to Miss Summit, threatening to flee to Africa and court deadly disease if rejected. The satire mocks the verbose, self-pitying emotionalism of romantic suitors. **"What Happened When the Wires Got Crossed"** (top right): A telephone mix-up comedy where a tailor receives an angry call meant for someone else, humorously deflating romantic tension. **"The Perils of Frontier Life"** and **"Their Last Engagement"** (bottom): Crude frontier and mechanical humor with minimal context visible. The page satirizes exaggerated romantic sentiment and class pretension common to the period.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
370 THEN AND NOW. PRINCE espoused « beggar maid In days when princes were supreme, For which his fame will never fade, His love is every poet's theme. Yet we should cease the deed to praise, For things have altered strangely since, This is the version now-a-days — **A maiden weds a beggar prince.” P. McArthur, A GREAT LOVE. ASHAWAY: And is there no hope? Miss SUMMIT: I am sorry to say it, Mr. Dashaway, but there is none. DASHAWAY: Maude, you do not know what you say. 1 am no ordinary man. Love to me is not a passing fancy, the idle amusement of a sum- mer hour. Beside this great undying passion of mine what is death? Noth- ing, I say, absolutely nothing. You cannot know what it means for a man like me to love. It came to me not suddenly, but slowly, until it filled every WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE WIRES GOT CROSSED. Jenkins : HELLO, 18 THAT SNIPFIT, THE TAILOR'S ? (Hears a voice say “ Yes.) “WELL, THIS Is JENKINS. SAY! WHY IN THE DEVIL DON'T YOU SEND DOWN THOSE crevice of my being, and now this great TROUSERS OF MINE? ARE YOU WEARING THEM YOURSELF?” THE PERILS OF FRONTIER LIFE. passionate yearning for you must have its answer. I will win you yet. I will be patient. You do not know me. Maude, | am a desperate man, I can wait. 1 do not-ask you tolove me yet. Miss SuMMIT: Mr. Dashaway—George—I am so sorry, | know it must be just awful for you, but what can I say? Don't you know that my heart belongs already to another? DASHAWAY: Toanother! (Burying his face in his hands): I did not dream of this. Then, indeed, there is no hope. But (proudly) do not think that I will kill myself. No! I am far too much of a man for that. 1 shall go to Africa. I will yet show the world that I am not a coward, I will plunge into jungles, I will court deadly disease, for death now is robbed of all its terrors for me. But one thing you cannot deprive me of. No one can take from me the memory of my love for you that “ BEAR?” “Nore. Wire.” “hein! “THEIR LAST ENGAGEMENT.” comicbooks.com