Life, 1893-06-15 · page 7 of 14
Life — June 15, 1893 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 381 This page critiques a serialized story called "Social Strugglers" by author Mr. Boyesen. The upper photograph appears to show a theatrical scene depicting a marriage proposal, with dialogue about class differences—a man of means proposing to a woman of lower social status. The text review is skeptical of the story's literary merit, suggesting its dialogue is stilted ("literary soap bubbles") and that Boyesen uses social themes primarily to entertain rather than meaningfully explore them. The reviewer (signed E.S.M.) argues the work provides "objects for service and amused contemplation" rather than genuine social commentary. The small cartoon labeled "The Speech from the Throne" appears to be unrelated satirical content, likely political commentary on government.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
““MiGHT I BE SO BOLD AS TO HOPE THAT YOU WOULD ONE DAY BECOME MY WI “YOUR WIFE, MR. BONDHOLDER! BUT CONSIDER THE DIFFERENCE IN OUR AG: “THEN PERHAPS YOU WOULD AGREE TO BE MY WIDOW.” herself besides, she would have been a social failure in a Western city, the mother of these girls who would not marry the men they knew, and could not very well marry the men they didn’t know. And even in New York without her courage and energy Peleg’s money could not have availed to make the family. As it is, thanks to a fortune made in the clothing business and the generalship of a woman not too well bred to push, the Buckley posterity can spend the next half century in an agreeable process of refinement which may be expected to culmi- nate about the time the exhaustion of the Buckley resources necessitate a return to vulgarizing toil, Accordingly, the comforting conviction above noticed that it is not worth while to get into New York society is not one that Mr. Boyesen’s volume is adapted to impart. The matter of “ Social Strugglers" has appeared, to one reader at least, some- what better than its manner. Sometimes the dialogue plods when it ought to go tripping, and there are places where literary soap bubbles would fit better into the story's construction than the more sober and solid materials that Mr. Boyesen has used, From the spectator’s point of view, the chief end of social strugglers is to provide him with objects for service and amused contemplation, and it is quite possible that the average reader will think himself entitled to have rather more fun at the expense of Mr. Boyesen’s character than the author has seen fit to Provide, ELS. M. THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE, comicbooks.com