Life, 1896-05-07 · page 6 of 20
Life — May 7, 1896 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 366 This page contains several unrelated humor pieces typical of Life's format: **"A Cryptogram"** (top): A poem about a woman learning typewriter skills, with romantic undertones—reflecting early 1900s attitudes toward women entering the workforce. **Baseball commentary**: A brief piece mocking the New York baseball team's tendency to lose, suggesting they need a "landscape gardener" to maintain their field rather than skill improvements. **"Historical Portrait Painting"**: A humorous caption suggesting readers commission ancestor portraits in period frames, likely satirizing Victorian nostalgia and portrait gallery customs. **Lower cartoons**: Two framed illustrations labeled as portraits of "Cousin Jack" (an amateur boxer) and "Uncle Harry" (who performed a celebrated "carry clear" of 250 yards), appearing to be humorous family anecdotes rather than political satire. The page primarily contains social humor and light domestic comedy rather than political commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AN EX IT. person. Wire me an answer here as soon as you read this. Anxiously but devotedly, Your JACK. Telegram from Miss Trent to Mr. Dar: Yorkers, N.Y. Thursday, 6A.M. Mr. Joux Dar, Young's Hotel, Boston, Mass. Dear Jack: Can you come upto dinner Thurs- day evening at six? Cordially, ALICE. W. J. Lampton. A SURE SIGN ILTON: Are your people going to move this spring ? JOHNNIE Fiat- HOUSE: I guess we are. Pa's planning to go away for a week, HIS CHOICE. L* NDLADY: What part of the turkey will you have, Mr. New- boarder? “A little of the outside, please.” . Still expecting that sentence so tender, Portrait of my Cousin Jack, N.Y. A. C., LETTING OUT MIS LEFE£ IN AN AMATEUR BOUT. *LIFE: A CRYPTOGRAM. HE is learning to use the typewriter, Her skill is but limited now. The exercise seems to delight her Though a frown sometimes darkens her brow As I ‘pause where her hands, fair and slender, Are plodding the alphabet through A fond heart is one of the prizes Whose blessings are swiftly revealed. In vain Cupid seeks for disguises ; His presence can ne'er be concealed. And I wait for no key to decipher The message that dawns on my view As I lean o'er the girl I would die for To read while she writes: “I /gve y-9.” The sweetly confessed Philander Johnson. “*T love you.” Te baseball season is fairly on its way, and the tottering and decrepit rep- resentatives of the great metropolis have started upon their exciting work of crawling around the bases and lying down to die peacefully near the home plate while their opponents are engaged in playing ball. Once was the time when the New York team lived and breathed, and had to be photographed by the instantaneous process. But now it requires a land- scape gardener to keep the weeds out of the prairie grass that finds its luxuriant growth on the soles of their russet shoes. HISTORICAL PORTRAIT PAINTING, WITH APPROPRIATE FRAMES. (A few leaves from the catalogue of a private portrait gallery.) WHY NOT ADOPT THE INTERESTING CUSTOM OF OUR ANCESTORS AND HAVE OURSELVES, PORTRAYED ES? APEINT PAR < CaRoLus DuRANY PARIS. ANNO Domini 1Xxg. os PARIS. 1396. GRAVE PAR GRAY: PARKER. PORTRAIT OF MY UNCLE HARRY (FATHER'S BROTID! BEFORE IE MADE HIS CELEBRATED “CARRY CLEAR” OF 250 YARDS.