Life, 1898-01-20 · page 13 of 26
Life — January 20, 1898 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 47: Two Satirical Pieces **Left: "Bub to Mary Ann"** (by Nancy Vincent McClelland) A sentimental children's dialogue imagining Heaven. A boy and girl plan to race across the sky after death, with the boy playfully worried the girl will beat him flying. The humor lies in the domestic, mundane details—Mary Ann will be busy curling angels' hair and tying bibs—deflating romantic notions of the afterlife into household drudgery. **Right: "Studies in Demonology"** A brief comic anecdote: A man with only a dollar and quarter debates whether to dine or see theatre. He chooses theatre, but encounters a friend who invites him to the café. Forced to choose between whiskey and beer (both expensive), he orders whiskey and walks home broke. The final line—"After the play he met the Devil around the corner"—suggests his financial desperation and moral compromise have infernal consequences. The satire targets urban poverty and the precarious economics of working-class leisure.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Bub to Mary Ann. UT say, I've got the goodest plan! When we are deaders, Mary Avn, ‘ goes to Heaven, you and I, Let's have a race across the sky! °N then, if you get to the gate Afore I catch you, will you wait ? Because I'm most afraid you can Beat me a’fyin’, Mary Ann. Ob, my! won't you be busy there A’curlin’ all us angels’ hair! *N brushin’ down our feather-wings, ’N tyin’ on our bibs and things! I guess that when you get to Heaven You can’t go out one day in seven, Nancy Vincent McClelland, ©© GHE says that since she married she has been through everything.” “Yes. Her husband says the same thing. DH AS es Gee » w- es H AVING but a dol- Jar and a quart how can I dine?” he muttered. 1 will go to the theatre instead.” On his way out between the acts, while he was thoughtfully balancing his last quarter in his pocket, he encountered a friend and asked him into the café. “You are desperate.” Wy — DETION SX OLOGY “If he takes whiskey I shall be forced to beer,” he thought. ‘Bah! how I hate the stuff.” His friend ordered beer. “Whiskey,” he said, and reflected that even then he would have to walk home, His friend offered him a cigar- ette and he absent-mindedly took two. After the play he met the Devilaround the corner, comicbooks.com