Life, 1896-05-14 · page 17 of 20
Life — May 14, 1896 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising** rather than editorial satire. The dominant content includes: 1. **Vino-Kolafra advertisement** (top): A tonic wine claiming to help athletes (referencing Yale-Cambridge games) and benefit invalids, featuring muscular figures. Typical of patent medicine ads promising broad health benefits. 2. **Humorous anecdote** (right column): A brief joke about an ash-wheeler (garbage collector) named "George Washington" who's worked in the alleys for ten years—the humor relies on the contradiction between the famous name and the lowly occupation. 3. **Multiple product ads**: Sibyline skin tonic, Baths of Homburg (German spa), Haviland China (with trademark marks), and a Search Light bicycle lantern. The page reflects late 19th-century advertising conventions: patent medicines with exaggerated claims, spa tourism pitches, and luxury goods marketed alongside working-class humor. The racial dialect in the anecdote reflects period attitudes toward African Americans.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
hendel Simm Fl one TP — ; AN old colored man who wheels rubbish oyt of | alleys in a southside residence district considers | himself pretty well known among the people away from whose back doors he pushes ashes. One morning recently one of the gentlemen who em- ployed the African walked out into his back yard and spoke familiarly to the ash-wheeler. “What is your name?” he asked, in address- ing the colored man. “George Washington,” was the reply. “Washington — Washington,” repeated the gentleman; ‘it seems to me that I have heard that name before.” “Guess you have,” rejoined the African, | ‘1 have been wheeling ashes out of these alleys for "bout ten years."—Chicago News. A MATCHLESS SKIN TONIC, SIBYLLINE. SPEEDILY REMOVES Wrinkles, Tan, Sunburn, CURES Eczema, Pimples, \ Blackheads, and all catancous disceses, ‘making the skin clear ‘and soft, Unequalled for Use after Shaving. For Sale by all Druggista, or by mail on recetpt of price, bo cents per bottle. —Send for free booklet.— ts harly, BENE SIBYLLINE CO., 4 Madison Ave., N.Y. tic BATHS oF HOMBURG ons O Half an hour from Frankfurt-on the-Main. Mineral Springs, very salutary in diseases of the stomach and attacks of gout. Gouty disposition, diabetes, scrofula, and certain diseases of the heart. The iron-wells prove usetul in cases of anemia and the conse- quences of influenza. Unrivalled summer Climate, pure and bracing mountain air. "Whey"? Cure. New Bathhouse. Salt, Carbonic Acid, Pine and Mud Baths. In- halations from Vaporized Salt Water. Cold Water Cure. Gymnastic and Orthopzdic Establishment, Magnificent Kurhaus, First- class Restaurant. Excellent Orchestra. Opera. Reunions. Illuminations. Lawn Tennis (36 courts), Golf, Rounders, Cricket. Comfortable Hotels.” Private " Houses. Moderate Charges. Mineral Water and Salts exported in any quantity. Haviland China It is important to buyers that they should be informed that the only ware that has always been known as Haviland China is marked under each piece: he only strictly first Class bicycle lantern on | the market On White China, On Decorated China. | SEND FOR CATALOGUE No. 47. comicbooks.com