Life, 1893-12-14 · page 13 of 16
Life — December 14, 1893 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate satirical pieces: **"The Wrong Brush"** critiques militarism, praising Spain's invention of mechanical soldiers as superior to human warfare—sarcastically suggesting that seeing metal warriors in battle might finally convince humans to stop sacrificing their bodies due to politicians' inability to resolve disputes peacefully. **"A Sign of Peace"** is a brief joke about beauty being subjective—a woman is beautiful "if you include her own" eyes, mocking vanity. **"After the Hunt"** is a longer comic narrative about a fox hunt gone wrong. A man (Jack) promises his female companion (Miss Clara) a fox brush as a trophy, but when his friend Tom's horse crashes into a wire fence during the hunt, Jack cuts a lock of Tom's hair instead and presents it as a substitute—a dark joke playing on the similarity between hair and a fox's brush, combining physical comedy with crude humor about his injured friend.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
*LIFE-: THE WRONG BRUSH. A SIGN OF PEACE. THE MISTAKE OF A LIFE Te iron soldier they seem to have invented in Spain is the longest stride toward civilization that this century has seen. If the human animal could once see these metal warriors in battle he might finally realize what a brainless victim he himself has. been in putting up his own body for a target. And always because a few “statesmen” had not sufficient wit to settle the difficulty in some other way. HE: Do you believe it is true that every woman is beautiful in some eyes? He: Yes, if you include her own. AFTER THE HUNT. She: BUT WHERE'S THE BRUSH YOU PROMISED ME—THAT YOU AND ToM DENNING BOTH PROMISED ME? AND WHERE'S ToM? He; Wet, Miss Clara, IT Was THIS WAY, WE STARTED A FOX AND HAD RUN HIM FOR AN HOUR, WHEN WE GOT INTO A RIG FIELD WITH A WIRE FENCE ON THRER SIDES OF iT, Tom's MARE TRIED THE FENCE, AND 1—— She: Gracious, JACK, WERE YOU HURT? He: NO, DEAR, NOT AT ALL, I STOPPED, HUT TOM CAME A CROPPER, AND AS THE FOX GOT AWAY, BRUSH AND ALL, I JUST CUT OFF THIS LOCK OF TOM'S HAIR BEFORE HE CAME TO, TO BRING TO YOU INSTEAD OF THE BRUSH. | comicbooks.com