Life, 1897-04-22 · page 9 of 20
Life — April 22, 1897 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 337 This page contains three distinct elements: 1. **"The Mill Race"** (top): An illustration of an industrial mill scene with scattered building materials and equipment—appears to be social commentary on industrial development or labor conditions. 2. **"A Suggestion"** (right): A poem by John Kendrick Bangs proposing a new name for New York State, replacing "New York" with "Greater Vaudeville." The satire critiques New York as merely a place of entertainment and frivolity rather than serious substance. 3. **Rev. W.S. Rainsford portrait and quote** (center): Shows a clergyman discussing "fancy dress," suggesting contemporary social debates about appropriate clothing and morality. 4. **Bottom cartoon**: Two figures in what appears to be a social or financial mishap, captioned "At this Mr. Connstein turned up his nose." The page primarily mocks contemporary American social pretensions and material excess.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
No, 253. G. Maynard No, git. PORTRAIT OF THE REV. W. S. RAINSFORD, D. D. Said Dr. R. “I have a strong Conviction fancy dress is wrong, Yet who can say I look amiss In such a fancy dress as this ?"" No. 34. H. Breckenridge Before a powerful cathode ray An anxious maiden sits alone; And she may sit for many a day, Nor ever find a single bone. A SUGGESTION, Assemblyman Trainor has introduced a bill to make New York, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Richmond, Westchester and Put- bam counties a separate State. —Daily Paper. BRAN new State! Imperial New York Made up of all the best there is from Beer- sheba to Cork; With Brooklyn, and Westchester, and grand Concy’s lovely Isle— ‘Twill make a State ‘pon which | vow Dame Fortune's sure to smile. A splendid thing — ‘Twill hold within its borders every blessing on the earth; ‘Twill teem with men of intellect and men of sterling worth; ‘Twill hold our noble harbor and a fair line on the sea, And ‘mongst its other treasures it can surely count on me, Then call our State Manhattan—'tis a name with meaning fraught; It signifies great fullness—or at least so we've been taught; And we are brimming over witha joy intoxi- cate Inevery nook and cranny of our new and splendid State. And for our great metropolis, our capital, cut loose From calling it New York, a name that hath no good excuse; For ‘tis not ‘* New” and ‘tis not '* York,” nor ever more shall be— ‘Tis but itself, and infinite in its variety. Chouse, rather, from the many one which plainly doth describe The joyousness that here is found, and let the ribald jibe. We all go in for pleasure—wherefore choose a merry seal, And from the ashes of ‘* New York” raise “Greater Vaudeville !" Jokn Kendrick Bangs. IFE congratulates the esteemed Bookman in having attained to a condition of prosperity which seems to warrant it in discourtesy to uninvited contributors. The Bookman ina printed notice declines to undertake to return manuscripts which may be sent to it, whether stamps are sent with them or not. So faras Lire knows, it is the only American publication which permits itself this particular manifestation of superciliousness. Some of the haughty British weeklies follow the same rule, and a stupid rule it seems to be, though no doubt it saves some clerk hire. AT THIS MR, COHNSTEIN TURNED UP HIS NOSE. comicbooks.com