Life — August 15, 1895 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Life Magazine Page, August 15, 1895 This page contains a single cartoon titled "Possibly." Two women are depicted: one holding an umbrella (shown from behind in a long coat), and another standing with a bicycle, wearing a jacket and hat. The dialogue reads: "I thought you were going to have a wheel?" / "So I was, but I've decided to wait until next year and get it with a pound of tea." This satirizes the cycling craze of the 1890s. Bicycles were expensive luxury items. The joke suggests that rather than purchase a costly bicycle outright, the woman plans to accumulate it gradually through tea purchases—likely referencing promotional offers where grocers bundled products. It mocks both the bicycle's high cost and the era's marketing tactics.