Life, 1898-12-29 · page 15 of 21
Life — December 29, 1898 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two separate satirical pieces: **"The Troubles of the Populist"** mocks a rural farmer-delegate at a Populist party convention in Little Rock, Arkansas. The joke relies on depicting him as comically ignorant: he complains a light kept him awake all night, then reveals he couldn't extinguish it because it was trapped in a bottle. This satirizes Populists (a late-19th-century agrarian political movement) as unsophisticated and foolish—a common criticism from urban, establishment magazines like *Life*. **"A Post-Glacial Period"** is a romantic cartoon showing a woman rejecting a man's stammering excuses after he boasted she wouldn't refuse his proposal. The title appears to reference geological epochs, suggesting his romantic incompetence is prehistoric. Both pieces employ satire typical of *Life*'s editorial stance: mocking rural/working-class figures and celebrating urban sophistication. The Populist sketch particularly reflects contemporary urban skepticism toward agrarian political movements.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“A BRANCH ESTABLISHMENT.” _ The Troubles of the Populist. A® Arkansas farmer, who was a dele- gate at a convention in Little Rock, was greeted by a fellow-farmer and dele- gate the morning after his arrival, and asked how he felt. “ Mighty poorly,” was his reply; didn’t sleep a wink the whole night through.” “ Why, what was the matter?” asked the other. “There was a goldarned light shining right in my eyes all night long.” “Why didn’t you get up and blow it out?” “Blow it out?” was the reply. ‘‘ How could I blow it out when the blamed thing was shut up in a bottle?” OSEMARY: Should you call young Mr. Callowell clever? MARIANNE: Clever? He doesn’t know enough to turn around when he wants to ~Ss After rejecting him: 1 AM THE GIRL, WHOM YOU BOASsTED WOULD NoT REFUSE You! Z N "hh WELL, SIR, WHAT HAVE YOU TO SAY ABOUT IT Now? — “WHY, I-ER—ER—TO TELL TUL TRUTH, | NEVER MEANT TO PROPOSE TO YoU." A POST-OLACIAL PERIOD, Comicbooks.com