Life, 1895-11-14 · page 7 of 20
Life — November 14, 1895 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 311 Analysis This page contains two satirical pieces typical of early Life magazine humor: **"A Clever Gentleman"** mocks Mr. C. D. Buckwell of Old Westbury, Long Island, who apparently copied jokes from American newspapers and submitted them to English papers under his own name, claiming to be an "educated gentleman." The satire suggests his vigilance motto "Semper Vigilans" is ironic—Life itself caught his plagiarism, yet he remained undetected by others. The piece criticizes both Buckwell's dishonesty and the naïveté of publications that accepted his submissions without verification. **"A Serious Ailment"** is a brief humorous dialogue: when asked why his friend is ill, Cawker replies the friend "lost ninety-three dollars"—the implication being financial loss causes genuine distress. The illustration shows an indoor social scene with women and men in period dress, likely accompanying one of these anecdotes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“THE WRONG MAN? BUT THAT IS VAGUE. WHO 1S THE WRONG MAN?" “THE MAN A GIRL MARRIES, OF COURSE.” A CLEVER GENTLEMAN. IFE wishes to present to its readers Mr. C. D. BUCK WELL of Old Westbury, Long Island, New York. Mr. Buck- well’s stationery, chirography and diction would indicate him to be an educated gentleman. His conduct would suggest the rogue. The motto of the crest he uses is mper Vigilans.” His vigilance recently took the form of discovering some jokes reprinted from America into English papers, copying them almost word for word, and sending them to LIFE, trusting, it is to be supposed, that the copying part of his enterprise would not be noticed. Unfortunately Lire is also “ semper vigilans ” and Mr. Buckwell didn’t know it. Lire pays liberally for the matter it uses. Far be it from us to suggest that Mr. Buckwell had ever heard of this fact. Of course if he had received a check from LIFE he never would have used it. He's not a highwayman nor a burglar. He's not even a sneak thief. Those people take chances of imprisonment. Mr. Buckwell only took the chance of this notice to the public and our contemporaries that he is “ sem- per vigilans.” A SERIOUS AILMENT. (CAvKeR: I sat up with a sick friend last night. What ailed him? He lost ninety-three dollars, Cumso: CAWKER: