Life, 1896-03-05 · page 3 of 20
Life — March 5, 1896 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page (Volume XXVII, Number 688) This page contains three separate satirical pieces: 1. **"On the Not-Altogether-Credible Habits of the Ostrich"** — A fable mocking the ostrich's supposed tendency to bury its head in sand when threatened. The hunter catches the bird by timing his arrival to when its head is down, then kicks it. The satire critiques willful ignorance as a failed survival strategy. 2. **"Unique"** — A brief joke about an "original" woman who stays silent when she has nothing to say—presented as paradoxically distinctive behavior. 3. **The cartoon** (right) depicts two well-dressed men interviewing a woman for a household position, asking what capacity she'd serve in. The satire targets either class assumptions about women's domestic roles or employment discrimination based on gender or status.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XXVIIL. ; L | Fk E- NUMBER 688. FABLES FOR THE TIMES. ON THE NOT-ALTOGETHER-CREDIBLE HABITS OF THE OSTRICH. N ostrich, who was closely pursued by a hunter, suddenly thrust his head deep down into the sand. «Ah! ah!” exulted the hunter, ‘I have the silly thing at last." He advanced to place a rope around the bird's. legs; but the ostrich, who had accurately timed his arrival, landed a kick in the pit of his stomach that sent him into the hereafter like a bullet through a fog-bank. Immoral : ‘‘Umph,” said the ostrich as he surveyed his victim, “‘ because a man looks sad at the opening of a jack-pot, it doesn’t necessarily follow that he’s only got ace-high.” H.W. Phillips. HE way of the transgressor may be hard, but then no one would expect anything else of a road that is traveled so much. UNIQUE, “©CHE is the most original woman I ever knew.” “ How is that?” ‘* When she hasn’t anything to say she doesn’t talk.” SoMe temptations are like privileges—granted only “toa few. SON-IN-LAW, IF YOU HAVE NO OBJECTION.” ““YOU WANT A POSITION IN OUR HOUSE. IN WHAT CAPACITY ?" comicbooks.com