Life, 1893-08-17 · page 12 of 20
Life — August 17, 1893 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 106 This page contains several satirical pieces typical of Life's format: **"A Punctilious Girl"** (top left): A young woman refuses a suitor's proposal, rejecting him "not to the altar as you are"—humor based on her demanding he improve himself before marriage. **Col. Eugene Field critique**: The main article mocks Chicago writer/editor Eugene Field for abandoning poetry to make inflammatory statements about Eastern literary "hermaphrodites" and cultural elites. Life ridicules his aggressive rhetoric as hypocritical posturing, urging him back to his gentle "Casey's table d'hote" poetry rather than "mouth-shooting" (aggressive speechmaking). References to "Gov. Waite" suggest contemporary political conflict. **"Effect of Diet"** (right): Irish immigrant humor—a billy goat acts frivolously from eating circus bills (advertisements), a pun on the animal's dietary misbehavior. **"Realization"** (poem): A morality tale about vanity—someone wishes to see themselves as the world sees them, only to discover they're completely unnoticed. **"Trying to Cut a Swell"** (bottom): Illustration of someone attempting to appear impressive or fashionable ("cutting a swell"), likely depicting failure at social pretense.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A PUNCTILIOUS GIRL. ‘TL KNOW MY FAILINGS, AND | ASK YOU TO TAKE ME as I aM.” “Way, Mr, Gray! CERTAINLY NOT TO THE ALTAR AS YOU arel” I IFE had always supposed that Col. Eugene Field was the one righteous man who dwelt in Chicago and saved that wicked city from destruction. has But the Colonel last fallen a victim to his own environment, as the following utterances show : “Our opinion is that the way to the founding of a great magazine in the West must be made clear by and with a weekly publication that shall faithfully represent the West and honestly reflect Western sentiment; that shall wage a merci ar upon the intellectual hermaphrodites and dwad- ling perverts and petticoated clay-eaters who, on little tinsel thrones along the Eastern coast, presume to set themselves up as dictators in the great realm of American literature. “We are not for any skirmish with those humbugs; we are for a war of extermination. That war is bound to come sooner or later; it must not be begun, however, on the part of the West until the West is fully prepared to sail into and disembowel every last moth n of those twiddling-twad- dling squirts and their queer little parasites. Ah, Colonel, why did you not confine yourself to the firma- ment where you shone so brightly? Was it not enough to chronicle the joys of Casey's table d’hote, and sip the rare Falernian with good old Horace? Why do you try to out- class Gov. Waite in the dangerous pastime of mouth-shoot- ing? Or have you again been indulging in the small hot bird and the large cold bottle? Back to your pen, good poet. Pegasus was never meant to walk bridle-deep in gore. Billings certainly gets solid comfort in living. SNNI : I don't know about that, but he takes plenty of liquid comfort. S™ PETER: - GABRIEL: PETER: saw abroad. | wager you the new arrival! is a clergyman, What makes you think so? rything reminds him of something he EFFECT OF DIET. Mrs, Finnegan: Gooo vay, Mrs, Murpuy, PHwat 1s THE MATTER WID YOUR BILLY GOAT? HE BEES TURNING FLIP FLAPS ALL DE MARNING. Mrs. Murphy: PAT SAYS IT DOES RE THE FRIVOLOUSNESS HE GET3 ALONG WID EATING DE CIRCUS BILLS. REALIZATION. WISHED one day, with Burns, some power'd gie The gift by means of which myself I'd see As to the watching world I seemed to be. And, as it chanced, some fairy came my way And granted me the wish I'd made that day ; And O! it filled my soul with blank dismay ! For as I looked—ah, how my pride did fall :-— Aghast I staggered back against the wall : The world was not aware of meatall!! Carlyle Smith. TRYING TO CUT A SWELL. comicbooks.com