Life, 1895-11-07 · page 5 of 18
Life — November 7, 1895 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 293 The main article "Men You Meet: The Man Your Wife Knows" is a satirical piece about a recognizable social type—apparently a literary or intellectual figure whom the writer's wife admires, though the husband finds him pretentious. The text suggests this man is a poet or author whose books appear in libraries, and the husband feels inadequate by comparison, fearing his wife prefers this intellectual to him. The "Goldberger" cartoon below appears to be financial satire, depicting a figure juggling money, with text about "gold" and financial knowledge. The specific target is unclear without additional context, but it likely satirizes financial speculation or economic anxiety of the era. Both pieces mock social pretension and masculine insecurity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: 293 finds the charred remains of a page from one of them on the hearth, the fact should not be considered proof positive of your guilt, When a man wants a piece of paper from which to manu- facture a spill he is very liable to be absent-minded, and to mistake objects of value for rubbish. You become aware, through the medium of the papers, of his bavirg read one of his poems or an essay on “ The Symbolism of Common Things,” by himself, at Mrs. So-and-So's, and you are invited by your wife to subscribe ten dollars for tickets to one of his Readings at Chickering Hall. Later you learn that he has become engaged to ‘* Lucille, eldest daughter of Mrs. What's-her-name" —a very satisfactory match, by the way, from a monetary standpoint, and you fervently thank the Lord that your own daughter has inherited some of your good sense. Finally your wife informs you at dinner some night, and without provocation from you, that she knows it is ‘all a mistake,” and diligent inquiry elicits the fact that it has been found in time to save “ Lucille, eldest daughter of Mrs, What's-her-name,” that The Man Your Wife Knows as a wife and six children in Valparaiso, Indiana, or Monotony, Kan-, sas. Whereupon you laugh rather beartlessly, and your wife loses her faith in humanity for at least fone ensuing month. Richard Stillman Powell. BERGER ** 1 WOULD LIKE SOME POWDER, PLEASE.” “Face, GUN OR BUG?” MEN YOU MEET. THE MAN YOUR WIFE KNOWS. E is a most remarkable looking individual, and the stamp of genius is visible on every inch of his person from shoes to hair. The former are painfully luminous in front and regrettably rusty behind ; and they also lack symmetry of form. The latter is worn in startling abandon and reaches to his coat collar, whereon it continually deposits minute white specks of the substance which your barber holds in mortal horror, and for the prevention of which he strives to sell you wonderful preparations of his personal concoction. You meet him—The Man Your Wife Knows—once in a great while at a musicale or an At Home or something of that sort. You are never introduced to him because your wife ‘is sure you wouldn't interest him." Whereupon, although you feel reasonably sure that no compliment to you was implied, you thank her and beg that she will never put herself out on your behalf. You are led to believe that he is a Poet or an Author ; you are quite ready to believe it; you would, in view of his appearance, just as willingly believe him to be an Anarchist or the proprietor of an Old Book Emporium, Often you are permitted to listen to eulogies on “his Depth of Character,” © the Immortality of his Work,” ‘the Refinement of his Manner,” or ‘the Ab- sorbing Interest of his Discourse” from your wife, To these, however, you Wit GatAWAy are not absolutely obliged to listen, and can even, upon occasions, if the provo- : cation be sufficient, wink indecorously at your cigar. ‘THE KNOWLEDGE DAWNS UPON ME For awhile you find books bearing his name on their title pages distributed ERCE GALVANIC SHOCK, over the whole area of the library and drawing room—generally with a large FROST 18 ON THE PUMPKIN proportion of their leaves uncut. Afterwards they disappear, and if your wife AND MY OVERCOAT'S IN HOCK. comicbooks.com