Life, 1894-08-02 · page 12 of 16
Life — August 2, 1894 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 76: Satirical Commentary This page contains several humorous pieces targeting class anxieties and national stereotypes of the era. **"Some Ancestral Reflections"** mocks wealthy Americans who resent their ancestors for failing to leave them fortunes. The speaker admits hating his "honest men of merit" forebears solely because they didn't bequeath "the art of making making money"—satirizing inherited-wealth obsession among the nouveau riche. **"An Anglo Complaint"** depicts a British character boasting he has "no trouble with the French accent" while condescendingly dismissing French people as "stupid." This mocks British snobbery and linguistic pretension toward continental rivals. The remaining pieces are brief jokes: one about a congressman whose death warranted adjournment, another about a delirious patient refusing flowers in favor of his pants, and a final quip about making a troublemaker into a policeman. Each satirizes American social types—politicians, sentimentality, and parental delusion.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SOME ANCESTRAL REFLECTIONS. ¥ ancestors were goodly men, And stout of limb and muscle y bore the palm of victory In many a warlike tussle. Some sailed along the Spanish main, Some worked at blacksmith’s bellows, And some wrote poems to their king, But they were all good fellows, Honest and worthy men were they, Some rough and others polished. Alas! that such good works as theirs By time should be demolished. I've read their lives and blushed to find So much true worth revealing, And yet for them I must admit I have no kindly feeling. I hate them with a deadly ‘These honest men of meri “Tis not for what they've given me, But what I don’t inherit, It's their own fault, My thoughts of them Might be as sweet as honey, AN ANGLO COMPLAINT. If they had but bequeathed to me Robinson; 1 BELIEVE I SHALL NEVER GET THE FRENCH ACCENT, The art of making money. The Briton: AW! REALLY? Now I HAVE NO TROUBLE WITH THE ACCENT, RUT THESE Tom Sasson, ROG EATERS ARE, SO STUPID IN UNDERSTANDING ONE, DONTCHERKNOW, A CUSTOM TO BE APPLAUDED. WELL SUPPLIED. “AFTER his election to Congress did he affect the H* Offered me the New York Sun legislation of the country for good ?” AS omiay outbound train) Fewhirled , ; rar) With my new bride. The thoughtless one ‘Yes, both houses adjourned for a day when he died. y : | acaeiiadaaies iai ; ° Was not aware I had the orld, DE GUSTIBUS NON DISPUTANDOUM. the hospital the other morning one of the patients was just recovering from an attack of delirium tremens and, as is usual in such cases, desired to dress and go home more than anything else. It happened that one of the young ladies connected with the flower mission saw him and approaching said, “I have some beautiful roses here. Wouldn’t you like some ?” No response. . Again she said, ‘* Wouldn't you like to have some of these roses ? Slowly his head turned, and slightly opening his bleary eyes he said, much to the embarrassment of the young woman, “Td a d—d sight rather have my pants.” S*TF your boy doesn’t reform, old fellow, you won't be able to keep him out of jail when he grows up.” “Don't you believe it. I’m going to make a policeman of MAKING IT PLEASANT FOR HIM, him.” comicbooks.com