Life, 1897-09-09 · page 3 of 20
Life — September 9, 1897 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 203 **Top Illustration ("A Fly-Trap"):** A whimsical drawing shows a fashionably dressed woman in an elaborate carriage being pulled by two large flies, satirizing absurd transportation or social pretension. **"A Plea" (Left Column):** The poem humorously addresses "Mr. Comstock's mind," requesting mercy and an end to prudish censorship. The speaker seeks to examine "dull and prosy" books, suggesting this mocks Anthony Comstock, the famous anti-vice crusader who aggressively censored publications he deemed immoral. The satire criticizes his rigid moralism as stifling. **"The Decalogue of Golf" (Right):** A humorous mock-religious text ("thou shalt") listing golf etiquette rules—a parody of the Ten Commandments applied to the sport. **Bottom Exchange:** A flirtatious joke about kissing, likely satirizing Victorian propriety.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A FLY-TRAP. ® The Decalogue of Golf. H, Fate, be kind, HOU shalt have none other game than Golf. And grant me Thou shalt not take to thyself any Golf balls Mr.Comstock’smind! found upon the links, or in the earth beneath, nor in I'm so d/asé, So ennuyé, I can't but pray Upon my knee You grant to me water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thy- self in driving, for the rules of Golf are inexorable rules, and bad form shall be visited unto thee, unto the third and fourth holes, That mind Thou shalt not play the game of Golf in vain. 1 Remember to keep strictly the rules of Golf. Nine immense That finds so Holes shalt thou play and do all thou hast to do, but on Aifato— much of spiceininnocence. tH€ next nine shalt thou do better, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and the stranger that is upon the I'd like to look links. Upon some‘dull and prosy book With such an eye That I could spy, If I should try, At but a glance Some indication that it came from France. Honor the advice of the professional, that thy form may be good on the links which the club hath given thee, Thou shalt not kill—a caddy. Thou shalt not sole they club in a hazard. Thou shalt not sclaff. Thou shalt not hand in a false score for the handicap. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's driver; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's brassy, nor his cleek, nor his masher, nor his niblick, nor his lofter, nor his putter, nor any club that is his. BQ. F. You'd help me much If you would give my mind that touch, So that my life, In which is rife So litle strife, Might permeated be With highly virtuous indecency— Gre How did you know I wouldn't object to being Oh, Fate, be kind, kissed? And grant me Mr. Comstock’s mind! He: Your chaperone had fallen asleep.