Life, 1893-09-14 · page 1 of 18
Life — September 14, 1893 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "A High Stepper" - Life Magazine, September 14, 1893 This cartoon satirizes a character named Walker for an exaggerated high-stepping gait. The caption explains the joke: Walker's affected knee action results from spending summer on his New England farm, where he developed "the habit of avoiding the couples"—meaning he's learned to step high to avoid cow manure in pastures. The humor relies on physical comedy and social observation typical of 1890s satire. The illustration shows well-dressed men observing Walker's peculiar walking style on a city street, contrasting urban sophistication with rural clumsiness. The joke mocks both rustic habits and the pretension of city dwellers who notice such behavioral quirks. The decorative border contains heraldic emblems and classical imagery, characteristic of Life's ornate design aesthetic.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XXII. NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 14, 1893. NUMBER 559. Entered at the New York Post Office as Second-Class Mail Matter. Copyright, 1893, by Mircweut & Mitre. A HIGH STEPPER. She: WHY DOES WALKER AFFECT THAT KNEE ACTION? BECAUSE HE LOOKS MORE HORSEY ? He; HE HAS BEEN SPENDING THE SUMMER ON HIS NeW ENGLAND FARM, AND HAS CONTRACTED THE HABIT OF AVOIDING THE COURLES.