Life, 1895-04-11 · page 8 of 26
Life — April 11, 1895 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 234 **Left cartoon:** "The Bark Worse Than the Bite" depicts a palm tree with a small animal (appears to be a monkey or similar creature) at its base. The satirical caption suggests something that seems threatening is actually harmless—a common idiom. The specific target is unclear without additional context. **Right section:** "The Growth of Greatness, IX: Bertie" features a portrait and biographical text about Umberto, identified as King of Italy. The piece satirizes his modest accomplishments and position, noting his lack of Vatican invitations and questionable family lineage (his grandmother was reportedly a Vatican cook). This appears to mock European royalty and their pretensions to importance, a typical Life magazine satirical approach of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“THe BARK WORSE THAN THE BITE.” THE GROWTH OF GREATNESS. IX. BERT. HIS FIRST PORTRAIT. [NBERTO. whose principal occupation consists in being King of Italy, has never, so far as the public knows, taken a prize ina beauty show, In his case it is handsome is as handsome does, and he is said to be a very good king as well as a model husband. His social position is good, although he is never invited to tea at the Vatican ; in fact he and Pope Leo do not speak as they pass by. This is not due to any lack of breeding on Umberto’s part, but is one of those lamentable family feuds handed down from father to son and from Pope to Pope. It had its origin in the fact that Umberto’s grandmother hired away from the Vatican a cook who could prepare spaghetti in seventeen different dialects, and who was a special pet of the Pope of that day. From this apparently trifling event’ sprung the Trojan war, the Sullivan-Corbett fight, the arrest of Charles A. Dana for libel, and many other gruesome occurrences. Umberto is now fifty-one years of age, and therefore entitled to vote. He has forty-seven pairs of trowsers, and a valet, and drinks Scotch whisky and soda before going to bed. He is an accomplished per- former on the concertina, and rarely beats his wife. The most notable event of his reign was the ennobling of a Chicago gentleman prominent in the sleeping-car business. It is said that the gentleman is so grate- ful that he invariably sleeps in the coronet which goes with the title, Umberto has never yet visited America, but it is rumored that the + Barnum and Bailey show ” has secured him for next season, NO. 652. A CO-OPERATIVE TRAGEDY. T was evening in the co-operative metropolis. In dining-room No. 14, the hundred families of District B. were assembled at their hygienic supper of rice, stewed prunes and cocoa, while automatic waiters moved swiftly and noiselessly along the rows of tables, distrib- uting the food in systematic portions, graded according to age and sex. A phonograph, concealed in an ornamental frame-work in the