Life, 1897-12-02 · page 19 of 26
Life — December 2, 1897 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top cartoon ("A Safe Hit")**: A baseball joke. A man at a safe (the baseball term "safe" doubled with a literal vault) represents scoring safely in baseball without being tagged out. **Large center image ("Hail, Fair Londonderry!")**: Depicts men in formal dress celebrating atop what appears to be a large bottle or container labeled "Londonderry Lithia Spring Water." This appears to be advertising or satirizing a mineral water brand, showing enthusiastic endorsement. The celebratory pose suggests the product's popularity or the exaggerated marketing claims typical of early-20th-century patent medicines and bottled waters. **Right side**: Three product advertisements (Vici Leather Dressing shoe polish, Ypsilanti Health Underwear, and Horkum's Navy Scotch Whisky) typical of Life magazine's revenue model. These are straightforward ads, not satire. The page mixes genuine satire (baseball pun) with advertisement content, reflecting Life's dual purpose as both humor magazine and advertising vehicle.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Attracts Attention The shoc that is polished with Vici eis Leather Dressing looks new, looks § een paves, soft, looks comfortable, looks right. BASEBALL TERMS. 3 % ICI 4p sare nttT.” Leather Dressing { re fo © ROBERT H. FOERDERER, Philadelphia, Pa. & for all ages. The perfect one-piece un derwear for progressive people. Sotd ta all eties ahd large tonne Hay & Todd Mlg.Co., YPSILANTI, Mich. “THE FINEST OBTAINABLE.” A TRULY CHOICE SCOTCH WHISKY AGENT Cc. H. ARNOLD 27 So. William St. “HAIL, FAIR LONDONDERRY!” NEW LORE, CIN. comicbooks.com