Life, 1893-06-29 · page 12 of 17
Life — June 29, 1893 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Satire: Drinking Culture and Social Hypocrisy The top cartoon depicts a drunk husband (marked "HIC"—hiccupping) lecturing his sons about following their grandfather's example while clearly intoxicated himself. The satire mocks his hypocrisy: he's teaching them *not* to follow his behavior by being a terrible example of it. The accompanying text critiques an unnamed "jackass" (possibly a real public figure seeking notoriety) who founded an "anti-treating society"—organizations that discouraged the social custom of buying drinks for others. The author sardonically suggests an alternative: a discreet badge reading "I will buy drinks, but I won't be treated," which would resolve the social awkwardness around paying for rounds while reducing overall alcohol consumption. The three accompanying illustrations ("Quick Consumption," "Gabriel's Winning Card," "On His Mind") appear to reinforce the theme of drinking as an inescapable, defining preoccupation of the era's gentlemen. The piece satirizes both excessive drinking culture and the ineffectual reform movements attempting to address it.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AN UNEXEMPLARY EXAMPLE. Wife: WHY DOS'T YOU TRY TO SET YOUR HOYS A GOOD EXAMPLE ? Hubby: 1 vo. Wife: YOU ARE NOT FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF YOUR GOOD OLD FATHER. Hubby: AND THAT'S AN EXAMPLE TO MY—HIC—HOYS NOT TO FOLLOW IN MINE, SEE? CERTAIN jackass, younger than Ward McAllister, but who is also seeking by newspaper notoriety to make himself a target for the fool-killer, is trying to get his name more into print by the old gag of organizing an anti-treating society. Any- nd one who is really seeking to ameliorate the condition of gentlemen who are victims of the treating custom can, with better hopes of success, try another way. Let him design and circulate an artistic badge with this inscription : “T will buy drinks, but I won't be treated.” This can be worn out of sight, and only dis- played in case of necessity. It would relieve the wearer from suspicion of stinginess, and save his constitution a lot of wear and tear. Cer- tainly none but the liquor-sellers could object to a general adoption of the principle, and it would stop a large amount of drinking. (foRELS WINNING CARD—The last “QUICK CONSUMPTION.” trump. “ON HIS MIND,” comicbooks.com