Life, 1897-01-21 · page 7 of 22
Life — January 21, 1897 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "A Matter of Preference" and Related Sketches This page from *Life* magazine contains several satirical pieces about early 20th-century urban life: **"A Matter of Preference"** mocks the medical establishment's debate over appendicitis treatment. The cartoon contrasts "Old School" homeopathic methods (slow, ineffective) with modern surgical removal, satirizing doctors who cling to outdated remedies. The joke targets medical conservatism and the absurd reasoning used to justify avoiding necessary procedures. **"Laudable Efforts"** jokes about elevator managers accommodating patrons by adding safety straps—a pointed reference to public anxiety about new elevator technology. **"After the College Vacation"** depicts a father-son conversation about money, satirizing generational misunderstandings and the son's expectations for financial support. The cycling illustrations ("Ballade of the Flying Steel") celebrate bicycle culture, then at its peak of popularity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Old Man: 13 THIS THE WAY TO BETHLEHEM? A MATTER OF PREFERENCE. HEN doctors once yield to the allurements of a fad, they are powerful slow in break- ing away. So slow, that if the appendi fever endures much longer there will not be an ap- pendix in America — except in the ash-barrel, They tell us now that it is better to have it removed on general principles. And the joke of it is that during all this period of blood and terror the homceo- paths, it appears, have been quietly treating it medicinally, seldom operating and rarely losing a case. But the Old School tells us the homa@opath is a fool; and the homeeopath, naturally, has his opinion of the Old School and its methods. Well, as to choosing between the two fools, we have a leaning personally to pellets and appendix, in preference to the carving-knife and the ash-barrel. ——— LAUDABLE EFFORTS. (CUMSO: The managers of the Elevated are really making efforts to accommodate their patrons, Cawker: Are they? “Yes. I counted forty-six new straps in one car this morning.” AFTER THE COLLEGE VACATION. PeATHER (at the station): from you occasionally when you don't want money. Good-bye, old fellow, and let us hear FRESHMAN: All right, father. But let's understand ‘h other. When I write to you and don’t mention money, you'll understand that I'm devilish hard up. ‘ “you Go STRAIGHT — uP aNp— BALLADE OF THE FLYING STEEL. CE as gray as a pane of glass, Hills above with the snows bedight, Forms below them that swiftly pass — Smooth as a swallow's curving flight. The trees stand stripped by the season's blight, And streams are bound in a wintry seal; While echoing out, from left to right, Comes the hollow ring of the flying steel. Sun o'erhead, like a disc of brass, Shining slow on the snow-drift’s height. Down below is the frozen grass, Shut from the source of life and light. A wan cloud drifts, like a vagrant sprite, In airs that the chill north-winds congeal; While still from the ice, in sounding might, Comes the hollow ring of the flying steel. Here they scatter, and there they mass— Figures slipping away from sight — Far in the distance, lad and lass Fading and disappearing quite. The rushes waver, as black as night, As over their tops the breezes r hile floating back, in the wind’s despite, Comes the “hollow ring of the flying steel. ENVOI. Prince, through the winter's keen delight The skater cleaves, and from spurning heel, Full armed with blades as a falchion bright, Comes the hollow ring of the flying steel. Ernest McGaffey. T is only aftera man has known a great many women that he begins to realize how clever most of them are. comicbooks.com