Life, 1893-09-28 · page 12 of 16
Life — September 28, 1893 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page Analysis This page contains drama criticism and satirical cartoons from Life magazine. The main content reviews Charles H. Hoyt's play "A Temperance Town," which deals with prohibition debates in New England. The cartoons illustrate domestic and social humor: 1. **Top left**: A hypochondriac woman obsessively discusses her funeral arrangements with her husband, who sarcastically suggests she should request to be "buried alive" to enjoy the entertainment—mocking hypochondriacs' preoccupation with death. 2. **Top right**: A rabbit causes property damage; a boy tells it to stop complaining since it avoids Sunday school and lessons—dark humor about the rabbit's predicament. 3. **Bottom**: Caricatured faces labeled "A Good Match in a Close Race"—likely satirizing political or social competition. The critic praises Hoyt's play for its humor but wryly notes that some jokes are lifted from Life's own columns. The review indicates the play explores tensions between prohibitionists and drinkers in rural New England society.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
She (hypochondriac): YOU'LL REMEMBER ALL MY INSTRUCTIONS, DEAR, ABOUT MY FUNERAL, WON'T YOU? Yes." “Have | LEFT OUT ANYTHING 2” “Ves. YOU HAVEN'T REQUESTED TO BE BURIED ALIVE $0 THAT YOU CAN ENJOY THE FUN! A TEMPERANCE TOWN. ything should happen to the Editor of LiFe, i lishers would do well to secure, as his successor, Mr. Charles H. Hoyt, senior member of the firm of Hoyt and Thomas, and author of * A Temperance Town.” Mr. Hoyt shows a very fine discrimination in matters humorous, as is shown by the fact that some of the very best lines in his play are lifted bodily from the joke columns of Lire. We com- mend Mr, Hoyt’s good taste and would only suggest that in WITHOUT CAUSE. Boy: 1 DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'VE GOT TO GRUNT ABOUT. You DON’T HAVE TO GO TO SUNDAY SCHOOL AND YOU DON'T HAVE LESSONS TO STUDY! the programme where it states that “Ice water may be ob- tained from the ushers" and “ Mechanical effects by Mr. Matt Lyne! should also be inserted a line to the effect that “ The jokes in this play are from Lire.” Besides these good things Mr. Hoyt has introduced some very clever character drawing. As the title indicates, the play deals with the liquor question and enables the author to introduce telling contrasts between the bigoted element in a New England town, who espouse the cause of compul- sory prohibition, and the devil-may-care crowd who find their drink made doubly precious because their neighbors op- pose their having it. Mr. Hoyt avails himself freely of the dramatist’s license in broadening the virtues of the drunkards. He makes the habitual drunkard such a desirable person to have about that the play becomes almost an intemperance tract. In the depiction of the humorous side of rural New England life, Mr. Hoyt is thoroughly successful, and this part ‘*A GOOD MATCH IN A CLOSE RACE.” comicbooks.com