Life, 1894-03-08 · page 12 of 14
Life — March 8, 1894 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page contains satirical humor pieces from *London Punch* magazine, reprinted in the American *Life* magazine. The main content includes: **"The Doves of Venice"** (top): A poem mocking American tourists in Venice who are distracted by German honeymooners ("turtle-doves") rather than appreciating the city's artistic and historical landmarks. The satire targets both American tourists' shallow priorities and the prevalence of German couples vacationing there. **"Gems from London Punch"** (bottom): A collection of brief puns and wordplay jokes, each with accompanying caricatures. These include: - Wordplay on "Torr-y" (Tory political party) - Puns on "blue look-out" and Blue-coat School - Visual jokes about taxation, Kew Gardens, book titles, and pigeon shows The humor relies entirely on verbal puns and contemporary London references that would have amused educated readers familiar with British politics, institutions, and cultural events. Modern readers would miss most specific allusions without research.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
y Zz THE DOVES OF VENICE. S the trans-Atlantic tourists Have been rowed on the Lagoon, ‘They have mourned its ancient glories, They have watched the Germans spoon As they've sailed these famous highways, As they've floated on these tides, The arts that most impressed them Were the artless German brides. As they've listened to the music Of the poor Italian bands, Heard the same old tunes repeated, Seen the Germans holding hands. They have wondered why all Venice, From San Marco to Lagoon, Is just now illumined only By a German honey-moon. Why, the very stones of Venice, Which the great John Ruskin loves, Are nothing but a roosting-place For German turtle-doves. Laurence Hutton GEMS FROM LONDON PUNCH. THE FOLLOWING CLIPPINGS ARE ALL FROM ONE NUMBER OF OUR REVERED CONTEMPORARY, LIFE'’S EXCHANGE EDITOR READS THEM ALL, AS HIS VARYING PORTRAITS SHOW, To Tuk DEFRATED OF HORNCASTLE. ORR, ask * Why you're not in” Your friends are very sorry, If you had thought of * why” before, And then had placed it after Torr, You'd have become a Torr-y. no more ! “WHERE DO THEY EXPECT TO GO TO?” UESTION forthe Blue-coat Boys. If the present building is pulled down, and if no site be obtained outside London, it is ‘rather a blue look-out" for the Blue-coat School. ALL at (L.C,) C. ROPOSED now to tax site values. Pre- sumed that ground which is lost to site = (though to memory dear) will be exempt. Kewrtous, 66-7 HE most popular,show at Kew Gardens,” says Mrs. R., ‘is the Topical House.” Neary Rep-py, “OGRE RED SHIRTS,” an appro- priate volume to follow Mr. Mc- Carthy’s ** Red Diamonds,” Why not have colourless titles, and hope that when the pub- lic sees the books they'll get re(a)d? CLEAR AS CRYSTAL (PALACE). R. PUNCH is much puzzled to hear that there had been a Peristeronic Society’s Show. Very relieved subsequently to find it wasonly a show of pigeons. ** Peristeronic”” evidently an interesting example of Pigeon-English. AN Appropriate ELection, R. SWAN elected an Associate of the Royal Academy. A SWan-song the appropriate prelude to the end; very thoughtful of the R.A.’s to secure their own Swan to sing it. SuGcestep ENTERTAINMENT TO BE PRO- MOTED BY THE ‘* THIRTEEN Ciup.” STEAD of Twelfth Night give The Thirteenth Night at Fri-Dayly's Theatre ! comicbooks.com