Life, 1895-08-15 · page 12 of 14
Life — August 15, 1895 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This page from *Life* magazine contains several brief satirical pieces: **Top cartoon**: "Sylvan Grove" depicts a picnic or outdoor gathering, captioned "Away from the Haunts of Men"—likely satirizing the popular Romantic ideal of escaping urban life for nature. **"Puzzling"**: A humorous poem about human memory—we forget important things but vividly remember our embarrassing moments. **"Next!"**: Social satire mocking the fickleness of cultural trends. It notes that Napoleon obsession is fading in New York but persists in Boston, where people treat whist (a card game) as serious intellectual work. The closing jab proposes starting a "fad for clean journalism"—suggesting contemporary newspapers lack honesty. **"Had the Price"**: A cynical exchange where a woman discusses acquiring romantic companionship, suggesting English noblemen are expensive but Italian men cheaper. **Bottom cartoons**: Brief comic exchanges about bicycling and ocean voyage gossip, presenting conventional witticisms. The overall tone reflects turn-of-century American magazine humor: satirizing social pretension, romantic excess, and journalistic ethics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: SYLVAN GROVE Ee _rut ib ies peas ea eye AWAY FROM THE HAUNTS OF MEN. WITH THE ARTIST'S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO MR. F, P, W. BeLLew. PUZZLING. HENEVER L look in memory’s glass— What pictures there may be, And view the doings of bygone days, This one thing puzzles me : Why the things and scenes I would most recall Have vanished clear away ; While the times I have made a fool of myself Are as fresh as yesterday ? C. Thomas Duvall, NEXT! T is almost time for a new fad. Napoleon in art and literature seems to be gradually slipping back to his old place; which place is, to be sure, a wide one and very high. He can afford a normal shrinkage. In this city at the present moment there is only one serious dramatization of Trilby. In Boston, however, they are more lasting in their loves. They still regard a game of whist as a_ serious intellectual effort. How would it do to start a little fad for clean journalism ? or wouldn’t it pay ? HAD THE PRICE. 667 VERY man has his price.” Her manner, as she uttered the foregoing truism, was that of one who mused. The red lips parted again: “And if I cannot afford an English nobleman, they are much cheaper in Italy.” The musing manner fled before a sunny smile, as the mist before the dawn, SENNER : After all, it is easy to make the time fly. Bicyc.ist: Yes, only the other day I made acentury run. O not tell secrets to people on an ocean voyage. They can never keep anything to themselves. i NOT A DEAD SURE THING, il ——= ANC falling Miles, giving The ju differer upon tt You an This hi success! judge te judge, vuaion b shot on atall ne papers. well as | At between were tal “Lon “ Hov Holmes, fever.” “ Hos Compan