Life, 1895-10-10 · page 3 of 18
Life — October 10, 1895 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page (Volume XXVI, Number 667) This page contains a humorous dialogue between a man and woman debating whether love can survive modern marriage's practical demands. The top illustration shows a fashionably dressed woman with a top-hatted man, captioned "Clear out, you brute!" The "At Dinner" section below features witty banter about romantic proposals at the dinner table. The couple playfully argue about whether a dinner table is an appropriate setting for a proposal, with the man claiming he "knew girls to start at the end of a book" for proposals—a literary reference to romantic conventions. The dialogue satirizes early-20th-century courtship rituals and the tension between romantic idealism and practical married life, a recurring theme in Life's satirical commentary on modern relationships and domestic arrangements.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XxXvVI. NUMBER 667. Because it’s impossible for the fair one to fly. She must sit still and listen. But the doctors prescribe light and amusing conversation at meals. Isn't it possible for a declaration of love to fulfill the condition? I'm sure the bonds of modern matrimony are often airy enough. SHE: After all it depends upon the people, I suppose. Still, it must be difficult to play at making love with the soup, and Love himself must freeze if swallowed with the ice. HE: Suppose we try ? SHE: Oh, no, indeed, or | really must excuse myself. HE: And leave me stranded, like the last bit of ¢ the dish. SH Don’t you flatter yourself in the sweet simile ? HE: No, We can imagine that it is an uninviting bit— perhaps a trifle bitter. Sue: And stale and hard. HE: No. Still soft enough to be moulded into any form hy beautiful fingers, SHE: Mine would form it into a pellet. HE (eagerly): So you could swallow it more easily ? SHE: No, indeed. So it could roll away and be lost more easily. Alex, Ricketts. AT DINNER. E:* Doubtless you have often been proposed to. Sue: Why! What makes you think that ? He: Moths will EE. singe themselves in the flame. SHE: Doyou flatter, yourself that that is HE: Oh, no; it's merely a quotation. SHE: Somewhat trite. He: Admitted. > But, to start again at the beginning. Where else would you start? I have known girls to start at the end of a book. But, for a fresh start, did it ever occur to you what an excellent place a dinner table is for a proposal ? SHE: No. Why? comicbooks.com