Life, 1895-05-09 · page 6 of 18
Life — May 9, 1895 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page 304: "Life" Magazine Content Analysis This page contains serialized fiction rather than political satire. The main narrative describes a man's internal conflict about his feelings for a woman, exploring themes of love, honor, and social propriety typical of early 20th-century literature. The section titled "Two Letters" appears to be romantic poetry or correspondence. The illustrations depict domestic scenes: a man in a club contemplating a woman's portrait, and figures in an interior setting discussing the woman's reaction to the portrait. The bottom illustration, captioned "But the alcohol had got in its work," suggests the narrative involves alcohol's influence on judgment or behavior—a common literary theme of the period. This is primarily **literary content**, not political commentary or satirical cartooning.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ALCOHOL TO THE A GOOD RUBBING WITH FRESHEN THE PICTURE UP BEFORE BISHOP ARRIVES, TWO LETTERS. HE WROTE: AST night I dared not say to you ‘The words my tongue oft strove to tell, And yet I'm positive you knew The sureness of your witching spell. Whene’er I gazed into your eyes: October's most delicious brown !— They looked at me in mild surprise, As one who sees a clumsy clown. And when I left you at the gate And gave your hand one chaste salute, I tried to ask of you my fate In love. Alas! my lips were mute. And so my emissaries must Be pen and ink and halting measure ; But you will answer this I trust— One word from you will be a treasure. SHE WROTE: This morning, Jack, I got your letter. Foolish boy to waste your scrips! But as for answer —well, you'd better Come and take it from my lips! . ONE TOUCH OF NATURE. S he reached the street, he halted, and foran instant thought he would go back and try to solve the mystery which was puzzling him. , But after a mo- ne Fy ment’s thought — aw ff on ‘LIFE: he turned away and started for his club. Ashe reached it, he hesitated, hardly daring to goin; but with a shrug of his shoulders, he entered and hastened through the hall toa room which he hoped to find empty. Lighting a cigar and touching a call bell, through force of habit, he ordered a bottle of beer and then sank back into an easy chair and smoked and thought. Though an ardent student of the law it seemed to him afterward that never in his life had he so concentrated his faculties as on this occasion. The efforts he made to solve legal snarls seemed forever after- ward feeble. Prima facie the case was simple, but intuitively he felt that there was a great deal behind. There he sat staring into space and thought over the whole evening. She had ever since he left her, had finally taken shape. He fairly reeled in his seat as it forced itself upon him, But he was sure he was not mis- taken. She was in love with him and yet why ! He could not understand it and never before had he felt so utterly unworthy of a woman's love. He had never thought of her as a possible wife, But he believed he was a gentleman, and a man of honor. If he had won this woman's love, although unwittingly and with- out effort, she as one of the weaker part of humanity, should not be allowed tosuffer. The very next day he would ask her to marry him, ‘Then he thought it all out, how all his life, he would strive to make her happy and she should never know that he had discovered her secret. Yes, this was the right thing for him to do, and nobly and chivalrously would he do it, though of his own chances of happiness he did not dare to think. Then with a sudden start, which upset his untasted beer and threw cigar ashes all over him, he pulled himself together and left the club, He strode through the hall, hardly noticing the nods with which passing members greeted him. They seemed beneath his notice, they were common mortals of the earth, earthy, while he—well, he was brave, and noble, and felt that, morally, he was head and shoulders above his fellow-men. He alone had reached the full stature of a man and was great, and good. So exulting as might a martyr on his way to the stake, he walked home. But in the still watches of the night this mood left him ; he began to doubt and slowly and sadly this time, he went over the whole YOUR WIFE VIEWED DE PICTURE DIS MORNING AND VAS DELIGHTED. SHE SAID I HAD CAUGHT YOUR CUSTOMARY ATTITUDE EXACTLY, STEP IN, SIR.” seemed uneasy, and observing this, he had striven to be entertaining. He did not know now what they had talked about, but she had been inattentive and had several times failed utterly to catch the point of what he was say- ing. Whenever she had laughed at some remark or anecdote, she had become almost hysterical. And that clinging touch of her hand when he said ‘Good night,” and that look in her eyes. They had been friends for so long. They had boasted about it to cach other, and had been so sure that now, if never before, a man and a woman were real friends without a tinge of sentiment. ‘That she should go and spoil it all by falling in love, He started as he realized that the thought which had been haunting him RUT THE ALCOHOL HAD GOT IN ITS WORK.