Life, 1894-05-03 · page 8 of 16
Life — May 3, 1894 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "A Dressmaker's Dream" - Life Magazine Satire This illustrated satirical piece depicts a fantastical vision titled "A Dressmaker's Dream" from June 1894. The whimsical drawing shows exaggerated, elaborate fashion designs floating surreally—oversized bonnets, theatrical garments, and ornamental headpieces rendered as dreamlike, almost grotesque forms with tiny figures beneath them. The accompanying text, "Reflections of a Gripman," humorously chronicles a streetcar gripman's week of observations. The satire mocks social hierarchies and workplace dynamics—his nervous observations about passengers, anxiety over fellow worker "Grant," and complaints about elite behaviors reflect working-class frustrations with class distinctions and job precarity in 1890s urban America. The fashion illustration likely satirizes the absurdity of contemporary high fashion and women's elaborate dress conventions of that era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ONDAY. This has been a great day for me. Yester- day was my day off and I felt down in the mouth at going to work this morning. The first thing I struck on the down trip was an old woman, She dropped her umbrella and market-basket and the whole cross-walk was covered with a salad of whalebone, cauliflower and turnips, In front of Delmonico’s I took the back-breadth off a dude’s trousers, and at Four- teenth Street run over a thorough-bred Gordon setter. If it had been an Irish setter I wouldn't have done it. I'm the stuff, | am. Tuespay. I felt nervous and jerky to-day, and I suppose this feeling com- municated itself to the people who rode on my car. At least I saw two or three hundred of them, after their hats and bonnets had been smashed to pieces, look at me as though they didn’t like me. WEDNESDAY. There's only one thing on earth that’s better than Iam. That’s the driver of a beer wagon. He's my peer because he’s half drunk all the time and I'm only a fiend. A fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind and I dislike to smash into a brewery truck; but I had to,do it to-day. My friend was more sodden than usual, and-besides taking the hind wheels off of coupés and broughams, refused to get off the track. Therefore I tightened the grip and smashed into him. He fell off the seat and was clubbed to death by a policeman ; but it only served him right for not getting out of the way of ME! THURSDAY. Who the dickens is this man Grant, anyway ? I heard a fellow that I put off the front platform say | thought I was a bigger man than old Grant. Hecouldn’t mean Mayor Grant, because everybody knows he ain't a big man. If ever I see that fellow Grant in front of my car I'le let go the grip and see if he knows how to sprint, Fripay. Felta little bit blue to-day, so I didn’t do anything but go by every- body that wanted to get on the car. Got to the stable every trip ahead of time, and the Superintendent told me I was the best gripman on the line, and I'd get a raise every month if I kept on that way. SATURDAY. Last night went toa . ball given by the Gripmen'’s Homicidal Association, of which IT am vice-president. Made all my stops to-day in the middle of the block instead of on the cross-walks, so as to give people a chance to walk through the mud and slush. They comicbooks.com ee |