Life, 1894-01-04 · page 8 of 16
Life — January 4, 1894 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The New Leaf" - Life Magazine Satire The main cartoon depicts a bishop counseling a young woman to reform her behavior by doing unto others as she'd have them do unto her. The woman responds that she's already quit associating with "those Grissby girls"—suggesting she's adopted moral superiority by distancing herself from peers deemed disreputable. Below, the page mocks various New York theater practices: inflated ticket prices, use of wigs for bald patrons, ticket speculation, and exclusive advertising in theater programs. A separate joke features a railroad man and farmer discussing a cow that hasn't produced milk in five years, with the farmer's punchline revealing he valued the animal merely as a curiosity—commentary on absurd values. The satire targets social hypocrisy and commercial exploitation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE NEW LEAF. Bishop Gullem; MY DEAR YOUNG LADY, HAVE YOU STARTED IN THIS YEAR TO DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YoU? Dear Young Lady: YS. V'VE QUIT SPEAKING TO THOSE GRIGSBY GIRLS. That a New York manager was sent to an insane asylum because he put a civil em- ployee in the box office. That all seats in the first two rows of many New York theatres were equipped with nickle-in-the-slot wigs for the use of bald- headed gentlemen. That the hotel ticket-speculators philan- thropically decided that to exact a thirty- three-and-a-third per cent. profit from a business in which they incur no risk is rob- bing the public. . ‘That all advertisements of theatres announced distinctly the time of be- ginning the performance. That such lines he cuspidores used in this theatre are supplied by Moses, Isaacs & Co., 42 Baxter St..” were rigidly excluded from all theat- rical programmes. That it was made a penal offence to sing “ After the Ball,” “ Two Little Girls in Blue,” or other similar ditties of the vintage of 1893. That those old and respected citizens who have composed the chorus of grand ] opera ever since that form of entertain- ment was introduced in New York, had been replaced by younger singers. But the average New Yorker then woke up to find that it was all a dream, Raises MAN (angrily): I have just found out that that cow we had to pay for had not given any milk for five years. FARMER SMARTT: Yaas; that's so. “Ttis,is it? Now, sir, what right had you to put such a high value on her? Tell me that,” “Wall, you see, I valued that cow as a curiosity.” comicbooks.com