Life, 1899-03-16 · page 6 of 20
Life — March 16, 1899 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 206 This page contains three separate humorous sketches typical of early 20th-century satirical comedy: 1. **"Now, Were I to Add Gas"**: A child watches her mother add gas to what appears to be a cooking apparatus, with exaggerated results showing the mother blown backward—satirizing the novelty and dangers of early gas cooking technology. 2. **"Another Dressed Beef Inquiry"**: A butcher defends "dressed beef" to a customer, but reveals she's "only a cow belle"—a pun playing on "cow bell" versus "cow belle," mocking customers' confusion about processed meat origins. 3. **The main text section** contains a courtroom anecdote about a Duluth witness named John Peterson, humorously exploring confusion over marital status through rapid-fire questioning—standard period humor about working-class misunderstandings of legal proceedings. The overall tone reflects contemporary attitudes toward technology, food, and class.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Spirit of Beethoven: WHAT A NotsR! Spirit of Handel : YES, 17'S A TERRIBLE THING, ALL THIS MUSIC BY AMATEURS. T was in a Duluth court, and the wit- ness was a Swede who was perhaps not so stupid as he seemed to be. The cross-examining at- torney was a smart young man, whose object was to disconcert the witness and dis- credit bis testimony. “What did you say your name was?” was the first question. “ Yaho” — very deliberately— ‘** Pe- =, tersen.” “John Peterson, ch? Old man Peter's son, I suppose. Well, John, where do you live?” “Where Ab live? In Dulut’.” “ Now, Peterson, answer this question carefully. Are you a married man?” “Ah tank so, Ab was married.” “So you think because you got married you think you are a married man, do you? That's funny, Now, tell the gentlemen of this excep- tionally intelligent jury who you married.” “Who Ab married? Ab married a woman.” “See here, sir! Don’t you know any better than to trifle with this court? What do you mean, sir? You married a woman? Of course you Little Ra-Ba: 8a¥, AREN'T YOU A SAMPLE OP THIS “DRESSED BEEF” 1 HEAR merens women Did:yon-ever hear.ofj anyone 80 MUCH SCANDAL, AnOUT? marrying a man?” Miss Helfer: OU, DEAR, NO] I'M ONLY A COW BELLE, “Yas. Mab sister did.” ANOTHER DRESSED BEEF INQUIRY.