Life, 1897-11-11 · page 15 of 20
Life — November 11, 1897 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct satirical pieces: **Top cartoon**: A caricatured figure (appears to be Irish, based on exaggerated features) denies seeing chickens—likely satirizing a theft or disappearance, though context is unclear. **Middle section**: A poem riffing on Wordsworth's famous line "The world is too much with us," but applied to modern Broadway's commercialism and bustle—contrasting Romantic idealism with urban chaos. **Main article**: Satirizes a New York theater manager who gives whiskey to male patrons between acts to cope with bad performances. The joke: the manager isn't being generous, but rather acknowledging his play is so terrible it drives audiences to drink. The final line suggests patrons will need ambulances afterward. **Bottom article**: Compares P.T. Barnum and polar explorer Dr. Nansen as advertisers. It mocks Nansen's Arctic expedition as having "discovered nothing of value to science" while profiting handsomely from publicity and book sales. The piece suggests Nansen is essentially a self-promoter like Barnum, though more efficient.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“NO, MISTER, CAN'T SAY AS | HAVE SEEN AUGHT OF CHICKENS.” Wordsworth’s Da Capo. S67SHE World is too much with us!" sang the seer From the great standpoint of the sonneteer Dissecting all earth's bauble-toss en Lair, What would he chant, could he but walk to-day . Upon the dust-blown margins of Broadway, Rhyming his feet with Yankee sunlight fair, Gazing aloft where domelets dare the sky? “The World is too much with us!" still his cry. Lucy Cleveland. NEW YORK theatrical manager has been found who has so large a heart that he gives cach of his male patrons a check for a drink of whiskey between the acts, This is encouraging. To give a play so bad that the audience is driven to drink is an offense common enough; to provide 399 the drink to allay the anguish caused by the acting indicates a spirit of compassion that is as rare as it is commendable. All the patron of this house needs hereafter is an ambulance to remove him, after playand whiskey have both taken effect. Barnum and Nansen. R. NANSEN'S visit to this country is a tribute to the art of advertising. Mr, Barnum also realized the capacities of this modern engine. Dr. Nansen has achieved fame and wealth by a’shorter cut than did Mr. Barnum, and that is to his credit—as an advertiser, We have been told that themen who accompanied Dr. Nansen on his expedition were required to sign a document, binding them- selves to publish no account of their experiences during three years after their return. We are also told that Dr. Nansen has already received about three {hundred thousand dollars from his book. If these statements are correct, Dr. Nansen knows his business. The fact that he discovered nothing of the slightest value to science counts for little in face of these results, which arecertainly of importance tothe hero of the comedy. And it certainly has been anentertaining comedy, in which “everything comes out well.” Personally,we find Mr. Barnum the more interesting figure of the two. “CROSSING THE STYX.”