Life, 1893-08-03 · page 12 of 18
Life — August 3, 1893 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 76: Satire & Social Commentary This page contains several satirical humor pieces typical of early 20th-century Life magazine: **"Why She Thought So"**: A brief joke mocking a poet—his girlfriend assumes he quit writing because his last book was so bad. **"Rastus & Jake dialogue**: Uses racist dialect humor (common to the era) where Jake defends wearing a red-and-green necktie by sarcastically comparing it to watermelon colors, turning the insult back on Rastus's criticism. **"A Tale of the Sea"**: Absurdist poetry parody set during "silly season" (summer, when news was slow), featuring nonsensical nautical imagery—ships on mountaintops, punishments with cobwebs and gold. **"Result of Hot Weather"**: Young women eagerly pursue a widower simply because he's available, satirizing both female desperation and shallow courtship. **"Foreigner on train"**: A joke implying a gentleman's attentiveness to an "ordinary looking woman" is noteworthy only because she's his new cook, not a romantic interest. The page exemplifies period humor: wordplay, ethnic stereotypes, absurdism, and gentle social observation about courtship and propriety.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: WHY SHE THOUGHT SO. The Poet: WHaT LED YoU To THINK I HAD QUIT WRITING POETRY ? She; YOuR Last BOOK OF VERSE. RAsres : Wha’ foh yoh wear such a necktie as dat, niggah? Doan yoh know red and green am an_ inhommonious combination ? JAKE Am dat so? Den how ‘bout er water- melyon? He: | NOPE THAT GENTLEMAN BELIEVED IN THE DOCTRINE OF RE-INCARNATION, She: Wny? He: BECAUSE, OTHERWISE, HE MAY DISAGREE WITH US, A TALE OF THE SEA. Written in the Silly Season. POET'S mind got off its hcoks Once on a Summer's day ; And sitting on a pile of books *Twas this he had to say : Preiatcry. A good ship rode at anckor The Concition On the top of a mountain peak ; of Affairs. And the captain had a canker Inside of the first mate’sckeek. Then up the crew did mutiny While they were all asleep ; But at the captain's scrutiny Their ears began to weep. The Uprising. He tied them all, both hands and feet, The Fearful With cobwebs from the kold ; Punishment. And gave them nought to eat but meat, And paid them nought but gold. Tom Hall, A RESULT OF HOT WEATHER. HAPERONE: Girls, one of the gentlemen who goes “with us to the theatre to-night is a widower who to marry again. He is a nice man, GiRLs (22 one breath); Anice man? I'll take him. 'OREIGNER (0 a suburban train): Who is that distinguished looking gentleman, showing so much attention to that ordinary looking woman beside him ? “Fo! DE LAWD'S SAKE, MALACHI, WHAT DOIN’ STANDIN' IN DAT 'DICKLUS POSITION ?” “ MODDER DONE PUT A MUSTARD PLASTER ON MA BACK LARSE Cirisaus, AND CLAR DONE FORGOT ALL avout iT TILL pis BINTHER: Oh, that is De Fitz-Smith returning from YAR FOFE JULY.” town with a new cook. comicbooks.com