Life, 1896-02-13 · page 13 of 20
Life — February 13, 1896 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents Anglo-American cultural commentary through illustrated vignettes. The top cartoon mocks accent differences: a proper English gentleman questions why an American named Lyon-Hunter affects British pronunciation ("de-ah," "wa-fah"), and the American replies that Lyon-Hunter is one of "thrifty Americans" trying to adopt the dropped H's that English speakers omit—a jab at class pretension and transatlantic affectation. Below, George T. Angell's "Worth Trying" sarcastically proposes sending war-eager naval and military officers into Indian Territory to fight each other instead of risking common soldiers' lives—dark commentary on military leadership's distance from combat consequences. "The Approach" presents a conductor's joke: a passenger mistakes Chicago's industrial buildings for snow-capped mountains, satirizing either the city's stark industrial appearance or American ignorance of geography. The page frames these as "Anglo-American vignettes" contrasting British (Du Maurier-style) and American (Gibson-style) illustration traditions meeting through satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ANGLO-AMERICAN VIGNETTES. Introducing a new mechanical process by which the familiar creations of two widely different schools of illustration are forced to meet and exchange views. ASPIRATIONS ONE WOULD RATHER NOT HAVE MENTIONED. Fair Briton (a la Du Maurier): Tat Mr. Lvon-HUNTER 1S A COUNTRYMAN OF YouRS, I BELIEVE? WHY DOES HE Say ‘‘de-ah" AND ‘‘wa-fah" AND '* bet-tah ?" American (a la Gibson); OW, HE'S ONE OF THE THRIFTY AMERICANS WHO TRY TO PICK UP ALL THOSE H's You ENGLISH DROP. WORTH TRYING. THE APPROACH. F we had the power, we would send aut those oar and navy ofleers ASSENGER: Is that Chicago we are coming to? who are so anxious to get the poor fellows under their comman seins A ‘1 into a fight, out into our Indian Territory to fight each other, and Conpucrtor: Certainly. Can't you make out the have a suitable force stationed near to hang the survivors. snow-capped buildings ? Geo, T. ANGELL. We have a sneaking suspicion that a happy solution of a great and bloody problem is contained in this sugges- tion. Let's try it. ON merciful effect of the war scare has been the silent relegation of the New York Herald's prize epic poem to desuetude. * comicbooks.com