Life, 1899-05-04 · page 17 of 20
Life — May 4, 1899 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising**, not editorial cartoons. It showcases consumer products from circa 1890s America, with one small satirical poem as the sole editorial content. The poem—"The King can drink the best of wine, / So can I"—is a democratic sentiment suggesting that ordinary people deserve the same luxuries as royalty. It accompanies a Ruinart Champagne advertisement, ironically using egalitarian rhetoric to sell expensive wine. The advertisements themselves reflect late-Victorian consumer culture: collar buttons, garters, bicycles, shaving soaps, shoes, and whiskey. The American Ring Co. ad humorously addresses the mundane problem of sewing buttons with a mechanical solution. One small comic at bottom-right presents a dialect joke attributed to "Uncle Eben" (a stock African American character type), playing on wordplay about oyster shells and discovery—typical of period humor that modern readers would recognize as reflecting racist stereotyping. The page documents what products aspirational middle-class Americans purchased and how they were marketed.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
.. SHAKSPEARE SAID GooD WINE 1S A GOOD FAMILIAR Tay CREATURE” LET US MAKE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE LABEL OF THE BEST GOOD WINE RUINART CHAMPAGNE Vin Brut. vhaeggy OOSEVELT 8 SCHUYLER Sol Ag rh Uded Stes Canada Ho! STAND To YOUR GLASSES STEADY “TIS MERE WE HAVE FOUND A PRIZE ta 4 A. 2 9 8 The King can drink the best of wine, So can I; He hath enough when he would dine, So have I; Then where's the differ- ence, pray tell me, Between my Lord-the King-and me? 2 mt = DON’T SEW ON BUTTONS. Racheto American Rinz Co. P.O. Box 58, Waterbury, Conn. Wittiams' Soars SOLD EVERYWHERE, RUT SENT BY MAIL IF YOUR DEALER DOES NOT SUPPLY YoU. Williams’ Shaving Stick, _. . 25 cents. Genuine Yankee Shaving 10 cents. Lurury Shaving Tablet 25 cents. Williams’ Shaving Soa s')y Six Round Cakes, 1 1b, « . 40cents. Exquisite alsofortoilet.’ Triaicake for 2c.stamp. TheJ.B. WILLIAMS C! AONOON 6 CREAT MUBEELL OF, WE OF We Feet rwar NOTHING MORE NEED DE SAID OF 1890 RAMBLERS Agencies Everywhere GORMULLY & JEFFERY MFG CO. Chicago. Boston. Washington. New York. Brooklyn Detroit. Cincinnati. Buffalo. Cleveland. London, Eog COLLAR BUTTON INSURANCE GIVEN WITH EVERY K REMENTZ One-Piece Collar Button Made of One Piece of Metal Without Seam or Joint .....0 You get a new one without charge in case of ofuny kind, Best for ladies’ xhirt waists and children's dresses, The Story of a Collar Button gives all par- ticulars, Postal us for {t, All Jewelers sell Krementz buttons, KREMENTZ & CO., 60 Chestnut St., Newark, N.J. BOSTON GARTER is an Essential of the Well-Dressed Man. ALWAYS EASY EVERY PAIR WARRANTED THE H y CUSHION BUTTON «CLASP Lies flat to the leg— never slips, tears nor unfastens, THE NAME “BOSTON GARTER” is stamped on every loop. Sold Everywhere Ne Pair, Silk Se, Cotton 236. lailed On receipt of price GLO, FROST CO. Makers Boston, Mass. FROM LIFE! MADFL STUOIES for painters and scul; ; bean. ot os! Price het with 100 minisiare and 3 cabinet size photos, #1, Note or stamps &. RRCKNAGRI. Nachfolger, Pablishers, Munich, Germany. I. Brieflach. Comfortable Shoes, $4. Geationen’s Shoes: erie lealth=givi: < ; Good fitting Shoes. Shoes that give you character. Send for Catalogue free. Ralston Health Shoe Makers, Campello, Mass. Seeecececececceceeeeeeeee 99999099999999909009R, Sececececececce OLD OVERHOLT High Standard Pennsyl- vania Pure Rye Whiskey, * Bottled in Bond" dircet from the barrel at the Distillery. afford all the pleasure and exercise of bicycling with- ae Sima gers weig! 31 pounds. Tinkham Chair Cycles also permit invalids to ob- tain all the exhilarating effects of driving. The driving frame can be de- tached a3 shown below. Send for descriptive catalogue. JOHNSONS / DIGESTIVE TABLETS. “Don't go by fast impression,” said Uncle Eben. T+ wha'd folks be now ef de man dat diskivered de oystuh hadn't stopped ter pry open de shell?"— Washington Star, comicbooks.com