Life, 1893-10-05 · page 1 of 16
Life — October 5, 1893 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Earnest Youth" This cartoon satirizes a young man's overly formal courtesy toward his date's father. The dialogue shows the youth thanking the father "for your kind permission to call on your daughter" and promising to return her by 10 PM, to which the father responds, "All right, sir; I'll not come before that time." The humor lies in the youth's exaggerated earnestness and rigid adherence to propriety—he's so scrupulously polite that he seems almost comically stiff. The father's dry reply suggests amusement at this excessive formality. This reflects early 1900s dating conventions where young men were expected to show strict respect to their girlfriends' parents, though the cartoon gently mocks taking such proprieties to absurd extremes.
📄 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, OCTOBER 5, 1893. NUMBER 562. Entered at the New York Post Office as Second-Class Mail Matter. Copyright, 1893, by Mrrcvett & Minter. THE EARNEST YOUTH. “| THANK YOU, SIR, FOR YOUR KIND PERMISSION TO CALL ON YOUR DAUGHTER.” “REMEMBER THAT | TURN OUT THE GAS AT TEN O'CLOCK." “ALL RIGHT, SIR; I'LL NOT COME REFORE THAT TIME.” ii comicbooks.com