Life, 1899-02-09 · page 7 of 20
Life — February 9, 1899 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis: Life Magazine, Page 107 This page contains editorial commentary and comic strips satirizing American publishing practices. **Main Article ("Let Them Alone!")**: Criticizes publishers for reprinting condensed or abridged versions of classic literature—including works by Tennyson, Lowell, and Browning—in cheap formats. The satirist argues this dilutes literature's quality and accuses publishers of prioritizing profit over cultural value. The accompanying cartoon shows a dog destroying a library, suggesting such "boiled down" editions are themselves wasteful. **Comic Strips (right side)**: Depict a domestic scene where a child asks his mother "Why, Fido, you seem envious," presumably commenting on the dog's apparent frustration—likely a visual pun reinforcing the article's point about degraded literary products. The satire mocks commercialized literature aimed at mass audiences rather than serious readers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
107 firm, getting down to the office half an hour earlier than expected, * when the books are posted, when the floors have been swept, when the mail bus been answered and the shelves dusted, get to work and pick out the poorest things Irving ever wrote, and wo'll issue another section of condensed literature. There is always work for idle bands to do.” When we notice “Capsules from Mac- laren” and “ Selections from H, Caine” wo don’t mind, because, if any part of some things is ne ry, as little as possible is the best dose forall, Butthere ought to be aline drawn somewhere. A fence should be put up and some of our best friends left unmutilated. Tom Masson, A’ sight of shapely neck, who speaks of musculus sternocleido-mas- toideus; at touch of moist red lips, who thinks upon the Pacinian corpuscles? $0 HE THOUGHT. White: $0 SME JILTED YOU? WELL, DON'T WORRY. YOU CAN GET THAT BOSTON GIRL. “THAT'S COLD COMFORT.” Let Them Alone! OME stringent means should be adopted to prevent pub- lishers from printing any more emasculated editions of our classics, It is bad enough to have the supply of literature overwhelming us in the wrong direction, and coloring the life blood of the nation with yellow infusions, but when at the other end tho soure ; ro being neutralized, we bave a double-barreled « -utal to all, “Tho Best Things of Emerson,” carefully od by a former dry-goods clerk who has displayed real editorial judgment, aro now sold fora song in the Freo for All Library, in which are included “Ge! from Tennyson,” “James Russell Lowell Re-edited,” Real Meat of Byron,” “ Parts of Browning Worth Rea and so on down the long list. One publisher having gotten hold of the idea, the copyright having expired and only paper and printing being expensive, the boiling down process began in earnest, and competition was excited. “When you have nothing to do, boys,” says the head of the WUILE 1 ENJOY A REFRESUING Nar.