Life, 1897-09-16 · page 6 of 20
Life — September 16, 1897 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Evils of a Mésalliance" This cartoon satirizes interspecies marriage through a visual pun. A giraffe and a chimpanzee are depicted together, with the caption explaining that a giraffe from a "best" family married a chimp from "vulgar hippopotami," producing offspring feared by both species. The satire appears to target anxieties about **mismatched social unions**—a common theme in early 20th-century satirical magazines. The joke plays on Victorian-era concerns about "proper" marriages between families of different social standing. By using animals of different species, *Life* makes the concern about such unions absurd and ridiculous, mocking the snobbery that fueled these social prejudices. The caption's mock-serious tone reinforces this mockery of class-conscious attitudes.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
226 Our Fresh-Air Fund. Previously acknowledged. Violet. 3 Infant Class of the Ci _Sunday School of Tunis and Katharine—Tab- leaux at Roberts House, North- east Harbor.. seegesee : In. rememorance of W. Headley 6 0 200 Sa,221 46 OME people seem to think that there’s not much in a name un- less it appears frequently in the socicty columns of newspapers. Full Value. ee ELLO, Pennywise, did you get the worth of your money this tion?” “Well, I was bitten by a rattle- snake, run over bya reaper, poisoned by eating canned tomatoes, broke my leg falling off a hay wagon, had typhoid fever from drinking well water, and am engaged to four strap- ping big country girls, each of whom thinks it serious. Oh, I guess so!” WYP ui PE Pps- A Melodramatic Martyr. NOVEL which is put forth with the solemnity that Mr. Hall Caine has ex- pended in launching ‘* The Christian” (Ap- pleton) is naturally subject to two forms of criticism, The one measures the book by Mr. Caine'’s own idea of what he was trying to do; the other judges it by what it actually achieves, without reference to the author's intentions, On the latter basis something can be said in favor of ** The Christian.” For one thing, it is an absorbing story. Like it or not, if you begin to read it you hang on till the five-hundred-and-fortieth page. No amount of * purpose” ever compels the reader's at- tention. But a very little bit of the natural story-teller’s gift will do the business, and Mr. Caine undoubtedly bas it. Then there is the fascinating Glory. She has many things in common with the ac- YAS ROMIET THE EVILS OF A MESALLIANCE. cepted stage-heroine of melodrama. Her copper-colored hair and dazzling complex- ion are the natural or purchasable equip- ments of a whole regiment of star actresses. Moreover, her mother was a Frenchwoman ! Whenever an English writer wants to put a dash of deviltry into a woman, he gives her aFrench mother. That explains everything tothe native reader, and he is ready to for- give the girl almost any violation of the con- ventionalities. But Glory is finer than her prototypes. She is spontaneous, generous, affectionate, and, better than all, she is really witty. ‘That is rare in a woman, real or fictitious. To our thinking G/ory's letters are the best things ina literary way that this ponderous book contains, They have the light touch, they reveal a charming temperament, and they have hardly a hint in them of the arti- ficial or theatrical. On the more serious tide Mr. Caine has done a new and impressive thing in his study of modern monasticism as it exists in the ablished Church, It seems to be fair- Mrs, Chimpanzee: POOR FELLOW! HIS FATHER BELONGED TO ONE OF THE BEST GIRAFFE FAMILIES, BUT MARRIED ONE OF THOSE VU HIPPOPOTAMI ASHAMED OF HIM, GAR HIPPOPOTAMI, AND THIS POOR BOY HAS TO PAY FOR IT, YOU SEE, THE GIKAFFES ARE AFRAID OF HIM AND THE