Life, 1896-01-30 · page 3 of 20
Life — January 30, 1896 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page (Volume XXVIII, No. 683) The main photograph shows three people with bicycles in a park, captioned "Thought you were opposed to bloomers. I am, but I want to spite May Jones. She can't wear them." This satirizes the "bloomer" controversy—a debate over women wearing practical split skirts (bloomers) for cycling instead of restrictive long skirts. The joke suggests a woman opposes bloomers on principle but would wear them out of spite against a rival (May Jones), revealing that fashion opinions are driven by social competition rather than genuine conviction. The accompanying poem "A Candid Lover" and illustration "Utterly a Drop in the Bucket" appear unrelated humorous content typical of Life's format—mixing social satire with whimsical verse and illustrations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
95- ony VOLUME XXVII. ° NUMBER 683. 5. are at it ised iate rety cure asal t in THOUGHT YOU WERE OPPOSED TO BLOOMERS.” “Tam, BUT I WANT TO SPITE May JoNES. SHE can’? WEAR THEM.” A CANDID ;LOVER. A STARTLING DISCOVERY. I MIGHT descant on her hazel eyes, HROUGH the efforts of Mr. F. W. Put- Or her wondrous chestnut locks : : I nam, Peabody Professor of Ethnology at But I prefer in my practical way t Z Harvard, the State of Massachusetts has been To write of her lovely stocks. s i er brought to the knowledge that it has been I might go mad o'er her peach-like cheeks, \ i 2 doing business for a century past with a bogus As red as they can be: y Z Indian on its coat of arms. Mr. Peabody de- But her collection of U. S. bonds , ZR ‘ clares that the Massachusetts seal Indian is a Is what appeals to me. 5 b dime novel—or, as Mark Twain would say, a I might on her beautiful hands hold forth ; Fenimore Cooper savage, and differs from the In a lovesick mood elate : y Uj" valid aborigine in his garments, in the way he But my heart's most stirred when I hear J fi holds his bow, and in divers other essential accounts L y particulars. Prof. Putnam is of the opinion Of her heaverily real estate. i § that cigars could not be sold successtully behind I might, on charms like these, and more a saa” such an Indian as Massachusetts uses. For Dwell long, but to me they're tame. accuracy’s sake it would now be well to have I'd rather dwell in the brown stone front ny the department of piscatology at Harvard pass That stands in her sweet name. . upon the famous Massachusetts codfish. Tom Masson. {~ {YONLY A DROP IN THE BUCKET. comicbooks.com