Life, 1893-12-21 · page 7 of 18
Life — December 21, 1893 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 395 This page contains social satire about courtship and marriage. The top illustration shows three figures in conversation, with a man asking a woman if she was "never in love," to which she replies she's "been engaged to lots of men." The main text discusses Frank Norton's upcoming wedding and his receipt of wedding invitation cards from a messenger boy. The humor centers on Frank's shock that so many cards were printed—"four hundred in less'n an hour!"—suggesting either his fiancée's popularity or the absurdity of mass-producing such intimate announcements. The bottom section includes two humorous dialogue snippets between "Yalemen" about breaking bad news (a death in a game context), typical of the magazine's quick-joke format. The overall satire mocks upper-class courtship rituals and social conventions of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
He: She: \ \ N) WH} BS Uf So YOU WERE NEVER IN LOVE? No; BUT I'VE BEEN ENGAGED TO LOTS OF MEN WHO WERE. ee D°*" Blow the Gas Out,” was the FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS. sign. Quoth Farmer Jones ‘all right.” /nd so he tucked himself in bed And let it burn all night. I" was only a matter of a few days before Frank Norton's wedding, but unless Tiffany's engravers can do wonders, the happy event may have to be postponed, Frank came up town from business rather early one afternoon this week, and as he reached the foot of the elevated stairway at Thirty-third Street, thick, cream-laid envelope was thrust into his hand. He opened it leisurely, merely wondering what tradesman was sending out so swell an advertisement, and was dumfounded to discover it contained one of his own wedding cards. He hurried back in time to see the messenger boy press a few more of the dainty invitations on a miscellaneous assortment of strangers who came strag- gling down the steps, and then collaring the uniformed urchin, asked him for an explanation. ‘al, what are you doing with those cards?” he demanded. re ‘em out fair and square!” protested the messenger. “1 hope to die, I haven't give more’n one to anybody!” “ Where did you get them?” asked Frank, again. “ Off frum a lady in Forty Street near Fift’ Avener. She told me to dis- tribute ‘em this afternoon,” he said, with a glow of honest pride; “and I've give out four hundred in less’n an hour! Harry Romaine. IRST YALESIAN: Did you break the news to poor Jack's father and mother gently ? SECOND YALESIAN: Yes; sent ‘em wo telegrams, you know, First read « Jack killed in game ;" and second: * Princeton wins.” comicbooks.com