Life, 1899-03-30 · page 15 of 20
Life — March 30, 1899 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page contains three distinct satirical pieces: **Top cartoon**: A "Happy Family" scene depicting various state abbreviations (ER, TO, RI, CO) as animals in a cannon, satirizing American state politics and unity during what appears to be a military/patriotic context. **Middle cartoon**: A joke about a ship's manuscript being thrown overboard to lighten the vessel. This mocks playwright Hall Caine, whose work was apparently considered so worthless that jettisoning it could literally save a ship—a cutting literary insult. **Bottom cartoons**: Two brief humor items. One questions whether the War Department was "inoculated" with suspect material (likely referencing a military scandal or health controversy). Another jokes about a man who drinks "easily" rather than heavily, playing on word ambiguity. The page's overall theme appears to be satirizing contemporary American politics, military affairs, and literary figures through absurdist humor typical of early 20th-century Life magazine's irreverent style.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
this fateful saliva is peculiar to the Sur- geon-General is readily accepted. | Was the War Department inoculated with the same material? Saved. “(TV IGHTEEN fathoms!” cried tho man at the lead. Rolling like a log in the trough of the sea, the apparently doomed ship was rapidly approaching the American coast, She would soon strike, unless something could be done to lighten her. Realizing that the \ocrifice’ must be made, the Scotch captain called aft the entire crew, and with a mighty effort they lifted the manuscript of Hall Caine’s next play and threw it overboard, and like a thing of life the noble vessel responded to the helm and headed once more out to sea. se 1° he what you would calla hard drinker?” “Quite the contrary. I never saw @ men drink 8o easily in my life.” A THOUGHTFUL HOUSEKEEPER. “NOW, QUASHY, DON'T BRING ANTONE HOME TO DINNER TO-NIGHT, A8 THERE'S NOTHIYO LLITERATION is the thief of IN THE HOUSE BUT THAT COLD missioNaRy.” rhyme.