Life, 1897-05-13 · page 9 of 20
Life — May 13, 1897 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page from *Life* magazine (page 397) shows an illustration of a woman boarding what appears to be a train or ship, with the caption "ALL ABOARD!" The accompanying poem by Oliver Herford expresses a man's emotional turmoil at her departure—he struggles to maintain composure while she leaves, his courage "mounting" as he tries to say goodbye without revealing his feelings. The satire targets the sentimental melodrama of Victorian/Edwardian courtship farewells. Herford mocks the affected emotional restraint expected of men during this era: the speaker battles to seem indifferent while internally devastated. The humor lies in the contrast between his internal anguish and his stilted, polite external behavior—a gentle satire on the repressed emotional conventions of the time.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ALL ABOARD! UST two minutes more, O Tempus, stand stik! Stand still, I implore, One moment, until I have time to reflect On what I would say ; Give me time to collect My senses, I pray, Umtil I have said What my courage was mounting To say—when, instead, 1 was stupidly counting The moments that fied. O Tempus, you're flying ! -\ plague on this parting— This flying, good-bying— This smiling and smarting ; A plague, too, upon This—heavens, it’s starting AL aboard !— There, she's gone! Oliver Herford.