Life, 1897-05-13 · page 8 of 20
Life — May 13, 1897 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page 396 from Life Magazine - Analysis This page contains satirical commentary and sketches from a 19th-century American magazine. **"O Governor!" section**: A lengthy editorial critiques the Governor of New York for being absent during Grant Day celebrations when 12,000 soldiers marched. The writer sarcastically hopes the governor will develop "practical usefulness" and suggests he at least show up to office work occasionally. **"The American Father" cartoon**: Shows a woman asking a seated man for his hand in marriage "pretty soon." The caption reveals he's a gentleman who has spent his evenings at this location for three years—satirizing either the man's idleness or the woman's patience/presumption. **Right side**: "Some Experiments with a Single Line" displays caricature sketches—likely celebrity or political figures of the era rendered through economical line-drawing technique. The overall tone is genteel mockery typical of 19th-century satirical magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
396 ARRIVING AT A CONCLUSION. La HE doctors are in consulta- tion in the next room.” | “Have they come to any de- cision yet?” “No, but they just asked for a copy of Brad- street's.” T is a pleasure to congratulate the Rev. John Watson on the refusal of the Synod, which has oversight of his religious opinions, to call him to account for any of the views to which he has given expression, The Synod’s action, however, only concerns the matter of Dr. Watson's ideas, and does not in any degree condone his lamentable habit of tricking them out in shameless Scotch dialects. “LIFE: © GOVERNOR! Lz persists in hoping that the Governor of New York is not so black as he has occasionally painted himself, and that he will somehow, and in the Lord's good time, develop unpre- dicted qualifications for practical useful- ness. Such a spare, studious-looking, spectacled, austere, schoolmaster-like sort of man ought certainly to have secreted some precious fruit of mental ap- plication that will some time do us good. But dear, dear; how lacking the man is in spectacular instinct! Twelve thou- sand New York soldiers in line on Grant Day and the Governor of New York nowhere visible! Oh, fempora/ Noton a horse, not in a four-horse carriage, not even on a bike! Well, Governor, do try to make it up to us in office work and vetoes, but another time remember that when the sun declines to shine the moon should go under too. A staff without a governor has no excuse for publicity. THE AMERICAN FATHER. ‘*PA, MR. WITHERS WILL ASK YOU FOR MY HAND PRETTY SOON,” WHO IS MR, WITHERS? “HE IS THE GENTLEMAN FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS." VHO HAS BEEN SPENDING HIS EVENINGS HERE SOME EXPERIMENTS WITH A SINGLE LINE.