Life, 1895-07-18 · page 7 of 16
Life — July 18, 1895 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 39 **Top Illustration ("Nervous"):** Shows a woman in elegant dress with two men by a river, with a mansion visible. Uncle Treetop warns about putting "in a day on the river" while "the fish are biting now," asking if their bite is poisonous—likely satirizing concerns about food safety or the summer social season's hazards. **"Go To, Robert" Section:** Robert Grant, a well-known author, is criticized for his outdated views on "summer girls." The text suggests Grant's opinions about women's social behavior and morality are twenty years behind current times, mocking his failure to recognize that women's social status and independence have evolved. **"The Drawback":** Mrs. Dorcas jokingly justifies women wearing men's clothes solely because they're cheaper—satirizing feminist dress reform arguments by reducing them to economic self-interest rather than principle.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
~ heretofore. NERVOUS. Uncle Treetop: Jess (a niece from the city): GO TO, ROBERT. R. ROBERT GRANT, the well-known author of The Art of Struggling Along on Nine Thousand a Year,” speaks unkindly in the current Serzéners’ of the summer girl. He does not say flatly that she is a nuisance, but he hints quit much | as that, and is definite enough in his speci- fications for one to understand why he thinks so. The summer girl is about the same as There was a time when Mr. Grant liked, aye, loved her. She is not noticeably different now from then. But WE MUST PUT IN A DAY ON THE RIVER ; THE FISH ARE BITING NOW, Is THEIR BITE POISONOUS ? that was twenty years ago, and now she belongs to a differ- ent class from Mr. Grant, the great class of persons under forty. The biographer of Rogers the Bank Clerk should not go back in his maturity on the Frivolous Girl of his adol- escence. Age needs to judge itself from hour to hour to keep reminded that its opinion about the more active social pleasures has become the opinion of a spectator and longer the view of a hustling participant with energy to spare. THE DRAWBACK, RS. DORCAS: wearing men’s clothes. I see only one objection to our sex Dorcas: And that? Mrs. Dorcas: They cost so much less. comichooks.colu)