Life, 1899-03-02 · page 8 of 20
Life — March 2, 1899 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis: Life Magazine (Page 168) This page contains several satirical pieces. The top cartoon shows a man with his mouth wide open being shot at by another figure—illustrating the caption "His Heart Was in His Mouth," a visual pun on the idiom meaning extreme fear. Below, "No Immediate Help" depicts a conversation between Oildig and Clinker about becoming a famous author. The satire mocks the difficulty of establishing literary credibility—Clinker promises fame in ten years, but Oildig complains he can't find anyone to trust him with money in the meantime. This critiques both slow paths to success and financial exploitation of aspiring writers. The article "The Business of Writing Books" discusses women's authorship, addressing whether female writers achieve serious recognition. The "Lent" illustration shows a dark figure—likely Death or temptation—appearing below children playing, suggesting moral or spiritual peril during the Lenten season.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
EXTRACT FROM A NOVEL. “Our traveler felt that his companion was beneath him, and secretly ¢ tion. red a separa- Almost a Death Struggle. LARGE crowd had gradually formed around the two fashion ably dressed and oblivious young girls, and at one time it seemed neces- sary to separate them, “What n it mean?” said the stranger, who had just come up. “It took me,” said the man ad- dressed, *fsome time to learn, but as I understand it now, one girl bas been six months in Europe, and while she was gone the other one has learned to play golf, and they are trying to tell each other about it.” LL women are rivals—and this they never forget. *EMPTATION, like gravitation, varies inversely as the square of the distance. “HIS HEAT W. No Immediate Help. Ole It’s hard to write with- LZ out any fame. Cuixken: Never mind. Ten years from now you will be recognized as a prosperous author. ‘But I can't get anyone to trust me for ten years.” nis MovTu.” From the Orient. WO queer little kids from Siam, Whoso names we'll call Jimmy and Sam, When asked “ Aro you twins ?”” Replied with two grins— “We really suspect that we am.” The Business of Writing Books. T HE woman who writes cleverly over the name of George Puston has had her say about the business of authorship in her novel “A-Writer of Books” (Appleton). She sets forth a serious and tolerably sane view of the question; one which many ambitious women might take to heart. “the writer of books,” who is the hero- ine of the story, drifts into authorship inevitably, as most writers do, we fancy, because in childhood she had a passion for reading,and few playmates, A sen- sitive or willful child is often driven to books for wholly congenial companion- ship, Your big brother, or the girlin the next yard, may atrociously bully you at play, but you can always havo your own way with a book. temperament that the real world pricks, even in childhood, and the scribbling babit is sure to break out. Writing is, in the last analysis, a form of vanity. You think that you have something on your mind that other minds ought to apprehend, If they agree with you and buy your books you are flattered; and if they don’t, you have your own opinion of the level of intelligence of the reading public. From either result comes the “literary pose,” one of the most offensive expressions of literary vanity. Cosima,