Life, 1893-12-21 · page 5 of 18
Life — December 21, 1893 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Christmas Again" - Life Magazine, Page 393 The top illustration shows a woman surrounded by jack-in-the-boxes, satirizing how adult women receive toys similar to childhood playthings—suggesting the cyclical nature of gift-giving and perhaps mocking commercialized Christmas excess. The lower section contains two articles. "What Any Woman Can Do" features a sketch of a woman with a dog in winter, with dialogue about imagining a "tally-ho coach." "The Best Man" discusses the responsibilities and pressures faced by the groom's best man at a wedding, particularly regarding his duties in the twenty-four hours before the ceremony and the potential for mishaps. Both pieces use gentle satire to comment on social rituals and expectations surrounding holidays and weddings in early 20th-century America.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CHRISTMAS AGAIN. AND NOW SHE’S GROWN, HER TOYS ARE VERY LIKE THOSE THAT GAVE HER CHILDHOOD SUCH DELIGHT. WHAT ANY WOMAN CAN DO. OUNG LADY: Oh! Oh! Oh! I never in the world could climb into that upper berth. PORTER: Just imagine it’s a tally-ho coach, ma’am. “ GOATS IS HUMAN,” SAID MRS, TERENCE DUFFY TO HER FRIEND, Mrs. BrRipGeT GoRMAN, LasT TUESDAY; “‘AN’ LL TELL YEZ PHWHAT MAKES ME THINK SO, Do VEZ MOIND THAT WEE BIT OF A SUKATIN’ POND 1 HAD FORNINST ME DOOR DOORIN’ THE LATE. COLD SHNAP? PHWELL, IMAGIN ME FRONT DOOR WAN MOR'R'NIN’ AN’ S| SO" ME GOATS A PAIR 0° SHKATES IV HIS HOR-R-RNS BEING PUSHED AS AISY AS YEZ PLAISE BY MACQUIGGAN’S PASTE FROM ACROST THE WAY—ON, THE SINSE AV IT!” THE BEST MAN. HERE was a wedding yesterday ! Was there? Gracious, I trust this is not the bride- groom! Oh no! The bridegroom and the bride have left for parts unknown. This gentleman was the best man. He seems somewhat broken up. Is he a young man of intemperate habits ? No; his habits are not bad. matrimony, I daresay he had aspired himself to the lady's hand, and has been drowning out his disappointment ? No, That is not it cither. There were one or two ex- aspirers among the ushers, but the best man was simply a faithful friend of the groom. His fidelity seems to have brought him in for some onerous obligations. It is true, His responsibilities and anxieties of his position have aged him somewhat. Is it indeed so serious a job to be a best man ? Indeed it is. Why, what is there to do? For twenty-four hours before the wedding the best man is the responsible owner of the groom. He tacitly undertakes to produce the groom at the church, clean shaven, suitably attired, and in his right mind, or else to take his place. If the groom shows symptoms of running away, he must shackle him. Some best men invariably handcuff themselves to their grooms on the morning of the day before the wed- ding as a reasonable precaution against accidents, for when a best man’s confidence has been abused once or twice it makes him cautious, At the convivial exercises of the day He is simply a victim of comicbooks.com