Life, 1897-03-11 · page 7 of 20
Life — March 11, 1897 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Genius-Microbe and the Tricky Boy" This allegorical tale satirizes **Cupid's meddling in human affairs**. A microscopic genius—a supernatural being—is imprisoned by Cupid for uniting incompatible lovers. Forced into mortal work, the genius plants seeds of greatness, but when the man develops fever, his wife coldly abandons him. The genius exposes her heartlessness through a published book about love so thoroughly that Cupid's malicious nature becomes obvious to all readers. The story critiques **romantic idealism versus reality**: Cupid (love itself) appears as a trickster causing human suffering rather than joy. The illustrated playing-card figures reinforce the theme of love as mere games and artifice. The satire suggests that blind faith in romantic love leads to disappointment and that exposing love's true nature is preferable to perpetuating illusions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
> LIFE: THE GENIUS-MICROBE AND THE TRICKY BOY. GENIUS-MICROBE was once floating around in space, with nothing particular to do. Cupid saw him, and running up behind, as a boy after a butterfly, soon had the genius-microbe firmly imprisoned in his net. For the net of Cupid is so fine that even a microbe cannot escape. “You are just the one I want!” exclaimed Cupid, ex- ultantly. ‘* Recently, through a miscalculation, I united a man and a woman of such adjustable temperaments that they are happy together. This isn’t what | am here for, so you must enter the mind of the man. There being no alternative, the genius- microbe soon found himself at work in a field of gray matter, planting the seeds of greatness. Then it was that the man began to have a fever, and, turning to the woman, said: ‘I perceive that I am called upon to do something." Whereupon he wrote. And the woman smiled upon him, while her heart turned to ice. For she knew her doom was sealed. It happened, however, that the genius-microbe had feelings. And he said: ‘* This boy Cupid has played a trick upon me, and while doing my legitimate work I am compelled to open the door to domestic discord. Nature never intended me to break a woman's heart, and I will get even.” And he set to work. : When the man’s book appeared it dealt with love, and the subject EEE SPOS was so wonderfully handled, and the maliciousness of Cupid was so thoroughly exposed, that everyone who read it understood. Which was more than the man himself did, for it really had been “1 DO LOVE IAN MACLARES !’” written by the genius-microbe. “HOOT MONT And because of the book, many of those who read were able to love x oe AGG UC Resse happily, in spite of the tricky boy. Thus through the sacrifice of one woman came about the joy of many. Cupid is still at it, trying to correct the work of his betrayer through others of his kind. It happens, however, that genius-mi- “The Queen Sears : crobes are very scarce, and, like butterflies, ay late Bie tare 4's : = : can be caught only at certain seasons, Ta oA 9 y Tom Masson. A MEDICAL journal speaks of the “popular prejudice against opera- tions for appendicitis.” Yes, and there is also a popular preju- dice against railway accidents, broken necks, and highway robbery. But this “popular prejudice” will vanish when people overcome that foolish dread of disappearing before their time. ARKSIDE: I see one of our warships is doomed, SILWORTH: How's that? “‘She’s been ordered to sea.”