Life, 1894-06-14 · page 3 of 14
Life — June 14, 1894 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This page from *Life* magazine presents two satirical pieces about romantic encounters in New York City: **Top cartoon** ("What Wots She of the Ills to Come?"): Shows a couple on the elevated train platform—he's a well-dressed man flirting with a woman. The satire mocks brief, superficial city romances. **Bottom poem and illustration** ("A Romaunt of the 'Elevated'"): Depicts a young man spotting an attractive woman on a passing elevated train. The accompanying verse humorously laments their missed connection—had his train gone a different direction, he might have pursued her. The poem parodies romantic Victorian poetry while mocking the transient nature of urban life and chance encounters. Both pieces joke about how modern city infrastructure (the elevated trains) creates fleeting romantic possibilities that come to nothing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XxIll. ° L. | F E e NUMBER 598. WHAT WOTS SHE OF THE ILLS TO COME ? A ROMAUNT OF THE “ELEVATED.” (AT THE STATION.) ER train was going ‘* up,” And mine was going ‘down ;" And I saw her through the window In her dainty hat of brown. She flushed a pretty crimson— = It was only one short glance It surely was not sinful, Such a very brief romance ! Had I been bound for Harlem Instead of Rector Street, I might have had for vis-a-vis My incognita sweet. O maddening thought! O cursed trains, That will not, will not stay ! (And, like a Wagnerian accompaniment to my thoughts, the guard clangs the gates, and remarks: ‘'N'ome, this train don't stop to Nineteenth Street. Don't try to pass that there dog on ; ain't "lowed. Ye'se dropped yer package on the platform, lady. Can't let ye off train's a-startin', Look out, there ; want to get killed? Next station, Fift'-ninth Stre’—change there fer th’ Ninth Avenye.) THE TRAVELERS GUYED, And the trains both whirled away,