Life, 1893-06-15 · page 12 of 14
Life — June 15, 1893 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Escaped" Story and Cartoons Analysis The main story "Escaped" is a dark comedy: a couple plans their honeymoon; the bride whispers her desired destination to her groom; horrified, he immediately rushes to the waterfront and drowns himself rather than comply—his final cry being "No World's Fair For Me!" The joke is that the bride wants to attend the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which the groom finds so unbearable he prefers death. "The Twilight of the Poets" cartoon mocks a poetry magazine editor who rejects submissions, boasting his rejection process is so violent it physically assaults rejected poets—throwing them down stairs repeatedly. The right column satirizes Methodist preachers' practice of "harrowing the mourners" (emotionally manipulating funeral attendees into hysteria). A recent New York funeral featured such extreme preaching that mourners fainted and one suffered a stroke, yet the preacher remained unsatisfied with the emotional response. All three pieces mock excess and absurdity in contemporary American life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
386 ‘LIFE: ESCAPED, ARLING,” she said, as she nestled closer to him and looked up with a fond gaze into the eyes of her lover. ‘* You know all the prepar- ations for our wedding have been made. The cards are out, my trousseau is complete, but there is one little matter that has not yet been settled ?” “I presume you refer, dear,” he replied, lovingly holding her hand in is, “to our wedding trip.” You have guessed it, you dear, sweet boy,” she cried joyfully, * and let's decide where we will go.” “Let me see,” he said, taking out his note book. “‘ There's Niagara, and Washington, and Old Point, and—" “No, dear,” she interrupted, “I don’t want to go to any of those places.” “ Perhaps you would like to go to some real quiet place,” he continued, “where we could be all alone by ourselves, but my darling what is the THE WONDERFUL CHANGE IN MR. WINKLE'S matter with you? You are not ill are you?” APPEARANCE RESULTING FROM A SMALL SCARE. Her face had become ashen pale. Controlling herself by a supreme effort she said “Can you not guess it? Don’t you see where I want to go,” and she whispered something in his ear. Two hours later the figure of a solitary man might have been see scurrying along the wharves in the lower part of the city. He paused a moment to see that he was not observed, and then moving swiftly to the edge of the black water, without a moment's hesitation he plunged in exclaiming ere he did so, “ No World's Fair For Me!” Tel, “ UR preaching friends of the Methodist faith used to delight in the process known as “ harrowing up the mourners" on every funereal occasion, We supposed the process had been relegated to remote country districts where emotions are scarce and even the mourners, them- selves, rather enjoyed the sensation. Right here in New York, however, and no longer ago than last week, one of these Amer- ican howling dervishes found a golden opportuni- ty and availed himself of it with the customary ghoulish glee. The occa- sion was the funeral of a man who fell dead in the Decoration Day parade. The results must have ex- cedeed the ranter’s fondest expectations. One of the male mourners had an at- tack of apoplexy in the - : church, and the corpse's THE TWILIGHT OF THE POETS. wite and several other Editor: No, | vOs'T WANT A MACHINE TO THROW OUT SPRING PORTS. IT's No TROUBLE To ue, Women fainted, but did Canvasser: All, BUT MY MACHINE THROWS HIM DOWN TWO FLIGHTS OF STAIRS, THEN HoIsTs this satisfy the harrower ? MIM UP_AND THROWS HIM DOWN AGAIN! (Sells one.) Not much. His lung comicbooks.com