Life, 1898-09-01 · page 12 of 20
Life — September 1, 1898 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This page satirizes the literary critic "Le Gallienne," apparently a prominent figure in English language and rhetoric debates. The left column contains an "Interview with the Great Reviser" where the speaker (likely the author) debates Le Gallienne about whether to create new English rhetoric, referencing classical Latin phrases. The right side is titled "How We Know Them"—a humorous visual guide identifying animals by their distinctive physical features (lion's mane, kangaroo's tail, camel's hump, etc.). This appears to be witty commentary on Le Gallienne's pedantic, taxonomic approach to language—suggesting he catalogues and defines things with the same mechanical precision one might use to identify animals, reducing living language to rigid categories rather than understanding its organic evolution.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
n Interview with HOW WE KNOW THEM. the Great Reviser. Richard Le Gallienne . to this master that the politan University has com- mitted the task of writing a new Rhetoric. Mr, Le Gallienne has agreed to give his services in the preparation of a treatise upon the art of writing the English lan- guage, —The Cosmopolitan Magazine, As soon as I read those words in the Cosmopolitan 1 hied me on the wings of thought to Mr. Le Gallienne. I found him sway- ing airily upon'a bank of daisics, his favorite resting-place. His THE KANGAROO BY ITS LEGS, TAIL, AND THE lightness of touch may be in- QUAINT WAY OF CARRYING ITS YOUNG. ferred from the fact, A butterfly on thistledown,”” said I. i “Meaning me, of course,” said he, motioning me to a seat on the ground in front of him, and the ice was broken, “Mr. Le Gallienne,” I said, “I have a sentimental regurd for the works of the old and recent masters in English, and the news that I lately read in the Cosmo- politan is disquieting. Is it in- deed true that you propose writ- ing a new English Rhetoric?” “Why not? Tempora mutantur © tempura o mores de mortuis nil xq- “ nist bonum, tempus edaz rerum meer me hine ile lachryme, 1 must do that which my hands find to do, ‘THE CAMEL BY DIS HUMP AND POSE. THE ELEPHANT BY 1S TRUNK AND EARS, and, while I may work havoc among sentimentalists such as you, I will unquestionably enrich the English language with pearls of thought that have long lain within the oysters of my THE LION BY BIS MANE. y black hair became incandescent for a moment, and his lambent e: ew lambenter. “That is a rarely beautiful thought,” said TL Is it ex pressed in your Rhetoric or in the unrevised version?” He did not answer me, but at mention of the last two words he said: My only regret is that [ will h: to postpone writing the Bible for a year or two. The Psalms of David ap- peal to me with such force that I THE OSTRICH BY IMIS LEGS AND PLUMES. THE GIRAFFE BY M18 NECK AND PATTERN. comicbooks.com