Life, 1896-02-06 · page 3 of 20
Life — February 6, 1896 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page Analysis This page contains two distinct pieces: **Top Image**: A dramatic nighttime scene showing figures in conversation, with a caption about whiskey and cold remedy. The theatrical lighting and composition suggest this illustrates a dramatic or humorous domestic scenario about folk medicine practices. **Bottom Section**: "The Opportunity" presents a moral dialogue between two women—Mrs. Hunting and Mrs. Larkin—discussing child-rearing philosophy. Mrs. Hunting worries her son James is cruel (tormenting animals), while Mrs. Larkin grimly suggests he'll simply "get a place as attendant in an insane asylum." **"The Sitting Son"**: A small illustrative comic featuring a rooster and hen. The page satirizes both folk remedies and parenting anxieties of the era, using dark humor to critique both medical superstition and social attitudes toward behavioral problems in children.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XXVII. NUMBER 684. **DocToR, DON'T YOU THINK WHISKEY IS THE BEST THING FOR THIS COLD OF M “IF WHISKEY WERE ANY GOOD THE COLD WOULD NEVER HAVE ENTERED YOUR THE OPPORTUNITY. FATHER wishing to bring up his child in the way he should go, told him when he was in any danger and needed help to call upon the Lord. Later in the day Willie was punished for some misdemeanor and when on the threshold of the dark closet, holding his father by one hand, he dropped to his knees and prayed, ‘‘Oh, Lord, if you want to help a little boy now's your chance.” M RS. BUNTING: My James is so cruel. He is always tor- turing the cat, throwing stones at dogs and_ sticking pins in little girls. What will he do when he grows up? Mrs. Larkin: O, he'll easily get a place as attendant in an in- sane asylum, comicbooks.com