Life, 1896-08-06 · page 10 of 18
Life — August 6, 1896 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Man Who Vanished" The main story is a literary tale about a hunter who attempts to shoot a squirrel, misses, and encounters a bear instead. The narrative explores themes of pride and hubris—the hunter, described as a "man of dignity and social position," is humbled by his failure and his encounter with the animal's superior will. The lower cartoon, titled "The Hayseed and the Gas," appears to satirize rural Americans' unfamiliarity with modern urban conveniences, specifically gas technology. The illustration shows Egyptian hieroglyphic-style figures, suggesting this is a humorous comparison between ancient ignorance and contemporary rural bewilderment with industrial progress—a common turn-of-the-century satirical theme about rural versus urban sophistication.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
*LIFE-: THE MAN WHO VANISHED. CERTAIN hunter, clad in appropriate raiment, and armed with a shot gun of costly mechanism, sought diversion in a forest. His first effort The squirrel at which he aimed darted around the tree as the trigger was pulled and looked down with an irritating There was a look in his eye which was a_ failure. expression, seemed to say: Not this time, smart The hunter, a man of dignity and social position, was justly annoyed by this want of consideration, and he fired again. But the agile native continued to keep the trunk of the tree between them, At last the hunter, disgusted by the animal's self will, passed on for other game. He had been reared by pious parents, and that one of the lower animals should thus take upon himself to oppose the will of man, created in God's image, brought a shock to his higher nature, and, for the time being, almost shook his faith in Provi- dence. But this faith, a few minutes later, was re-established. Taking deliberate and careful aim woodpecker, and pulling the trigger be- fore the bird was aware of his presence, he brought him to the ground with his head nearly severed from his body. Leaning the gun against a tree he stepped forward and picked upthe corpse. By one of its legs he held it before himand admired its beauty; and there came a thrill of pride that he had done his work so well. As thus he stood, in silent contemplation, he heard the crackling of a twig behind him, and when he turned about, the thing he saw drove the blood from his face. ata noisy A large brown bear, erect upon his hind legs, his face ona level with his own, his arms akimbo, stood within a dozen feet, a smile upon his face. Acold tremor crawled up the hunter's spine, as, with dilated eyesand One step only and then he stopped, for his knees seemed giving way beneath him. fallen jaw, he took a backward step. “THE THING HE SAW DROVE THE BLOOD FROM HIS FACE." “That was a good shot,” said the bear with a pleasant nod; ‘had a grudge against him?” The hunter tried to answer, but his lips were dry, and his tongue refused to work; so he shook his head. Noisy, perhaps, but he was a good enough fellow. I THE HAYSEED AND THE GAS. From Life's RECENT COVERIES OF EARLY EGYPTIAN JOKES.