Life, 1894-07-12 · page 5 of 20
Life — July 12, 1894 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 21 This page contains two satirical sections: **"An Every-Day Affair"** depicts a man frantically running through crowded Broadway streets, causing public alarm. Citizens mistake his erratic behavior for madness or danger. The satire critiques how urban crowds respond to unusual individual behavior with suspicion and panic, even when the person may simply be distressed or in a hurry. It mocks both the frenzied nature of city life and society's tendency toward mob mentality. **"A Softer Resting Place"** is a brief dialogue between Mr. Sommerblumen and Ikey about furniture. The joke plays on the phrase "lying down on the job"—Mr. Sommerblumen claims he doesn't rest on sofas because he prefers lying on his creditors (meaning avoiding financial obligations). It's wordplay satirizing financial irresponsibility disguised as wit.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
> LIFE: 21 ALTHOUGH THE HEAD IS COLOSSAL, HE POSSESSED NO MORE INTELLIGENCE THAN A FLY. THIS USELESS, PONDEROUS CREATION—-" AN EVERY-DAY AFFAIR. T was the hour-of the day when Broadway was crowded t6 its fullest capacity. The long line of pedestrians was filing by {he brilliant shop windows as far as the eye could reach, some laughihg gayly as they talked, others with an abstracted air, and yet others hurrying on in pursuit of some unknown object. Occasionally a messenger boy could be seen, but aside from this all was life and Yet the student of human nature would have remarked that this activity was regular, mechanical and but the automatic action of this great artery of the metropolis. Suddenly a man darted out from the crowded thoroughfare above Union Square and rushed into the middle of the street waving his hat and shout- ing wildly. With uninterrupted speed he pursued his way in the direction of Thirty-third Street. A hasty glance showed that he was evidently a stranger in all that vast throng, and the citizens eyed him strangely as he frantically sped along, his motions every moment becoming more uncontrollable. “Is he mad?" some of the people asked as he went on in his flight. Cries of “Stop him! Stop him!" became frequent, until at last, at-the intersection of Thirtieth Street, breathless and exhausted, he turned around to find himself surrounded by a curious mob. One braver soul than the rest ventured to address the stranger. “My good man,” he said, “ what means this? Have you gone crazy?" ‘Have I gone crazy?" echoed the other. “ No sir!" and he pointed rapidly up the street. ‘“ Don’t you see that cable car running away? Didn't you see helpless human beings knocked down, coupés torn to splinters, drivers hurled from their seats, death and destruction everywhere ?” A mocking laugh came from the assembled multitude, while the man he addressed gazed at him with a pitying smile. “ We thought by the way you acted,” he said, “that something unusual had happened.” Tom Masson. A SOFTER RESTING PLACE. M R. SOHMERBLUMEN: No, you don’d vant no sofa in de office, Ikey. A business man don’d never lie down on a sofa. Ikey: Vat does he lie down on, fadder ? Mr. SOHMERBLUMEN: On his creditors, Ikey! on his creditors ! BUT THIS WAS TOO MUCH, EVEN FOR A DEAD MAMMOTH,