Life, 1899-05-25 · page 3 of 20
Life — May 25, 1899 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 435 This page satirizes marital discord, specifically the "tired husband" trope common in early 20th-century humor. The top two cartoons show a man being pulled in a cart by a donkey labeled "BRENO," with captions "Poor old Breno! You must be tired" and "But he wasn't." The joke: the husband is exhausted by his wife's complaints and demands, yet the beast of burden survives—implying the wife wears him out worse than any animal. The poem "A Willing Invalid" by Tom Mawson extends this theme, depicting marriage as a burden where the speaker "longs for a generous, lifelong dose / Of the coupon thumb and the ticker eye"—suggesting he'd prefer unconsciousness to enduring his wife's nagging. The dialogue snippet shows George dismissing his wife Ethel's complaints about his "shortcomings," deflecting to her "long goings"—a pun on her constant nagging. The satire targets wives as exhausting nags.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
BUT HE WASN'T. A Willing Invalid. . HERE are ailments raroand dis- eases now ‘That please the fancy of fickle man ; That only come to the favored few By some selective, exclusive plan, Yet among them all, as I live and move, = I aver with pride that I only sigh For those two things that I crave and love— The coupon thumb and the ticker eye. Tho ticker eye is o thing apart. ‘To me alone may It never come Without an escort! ‘Twould break my heart! It’s only good with the coupon thumb. But when combined, they'ro a goodly pair; This ailment mixed I would gladly try. I'd suffer and groan and learn to bear Tho coupon thumb and tho ticker eye. Appendicitis is gotting trito; ‘Tho halting measures of gout I scorn; Tho “lovor’s arm” is a modorn blight, And the “husband neck" is a thing forlorn. For mo nourosis is too morose. Tecan sparo all theso, but before I dio I long fora generous, lifelong dose Of the coupon thumb and the ticker eye. Tom Masson, Gone (who has lingered long at parting): Don't yawn, Ethel. I know I’m an awful bore, but you ought to forgive my shortcomings. “Oh, it isn't your shortcomings I object to; it's your long goings.”