Life, 1897-08-05 · page 3 of 26
Life — August 5, 1897 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 103 This page contains satirical dialogue about lawyers and legal progress. The main cartoon depicts a fantastical scene set in "Greater Africa" with two figures in top hats riding in an unusual contraption pulled by what appears to be a large animal. The dialogue jokes about lawyers making slow progress ("not losing time") while handling cases involving inheritance and money disputes. One character, Castleton, describes a chaotic street scene of cable-car accidents and violence, while another (Crubberly) suggests they "run" from the danger. The satire critiques both the legal profession's inefficiency and the hazards of contemporary urban transportation (cable cars), suggesting lawyers exploit disorder rather than resolve it. The exotic African setting appears purely whimsical, typical of early 20th-century Life magazine's absurdist humor style.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
66 RE the lawyers making any progress with that will case?” ONE OF THE HErRs: Oh, yes. They've used up about half the money. ASTLETON: Herecomes my p tailor, old man. CLUBBERLY: Shall we walk across the street? “No. Let'srun.” GREATER AFRICA. A Look Ahead. EXT case!" cried Beelzebub. “The next on the calendar, your Majesty,” said the Recording Imp, “is a gentleman who has come here from New York. He was the general manager of the Metropolitan Traction Company, and comes to us with the recommendation that he be boiled in vitriol for seven months out of every twelve.” “*What's his crime?” “Same old cable-car business, your Majesty. Crushing people to death, inside and outside; snipping off his patrons’ legs ; smashing heads at every opportunity ; employing thugs to finish the work that the cars leave undone.” “Aha!” cried Beelzebub, ‘I know him. The vitriol boiling is too mild. Send him back to New York again and doom him to spend the next century crossing and recrossing Broadway at dead-man’s curve. Next!" ‘ 1FE learns that ‘thirty covers were laid” for the recent dinner of Mr. Whitelaw Reid to the Prince of Wales and other highnesses in London. What do persons who speak of covers being laid think they mean by that phrase? There are no covers—at least none to speak of—at dinner parties, so far as Lire's experience of contemporary habits goes.