Life, 1899-05-25 · page 6 of 20
Life — May 25, 1899 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 438 This page contains three distinct pieces: **"My Vacation" poem** by Tom Mason expresses desire to escape urban life and intellectual pursuits for peaceful rest in nature. **Top cartoon**: A man shows a woman an exotic snake specimen, captioned "That's a rare specimen—let me look it up." The humor derives from the man's distraction by the snake rather than attending to the woman. **Bottom cartoon**: Depicts a woman reassuring her fiancé about his business failure, emphasizing her confidence in marrying him despite financial ruin. The caption "But just then the boa swallowed his breakfast" suggests ironic disruption. **"Cheerful Confidence" story**: Describes a woman named Miss Thanatopsis Biggs informing her fiancé Harold F. Fetterman that she'll marry him despite his business failure, confident in his character rather than wealth. The page combines romantic comedy with class commentary typical of early 20th-century Life magazine satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
438 My Vacation. IVE me some quiet, unknown spot, Where I can lay me down, Where the daily paper cometh not Far from the nolsy town, Ob, take mo dut where Naturo’s greens Soothe my most restless stato; Lot me go where the magazines May never penetrate, Remove me from tho latest books, From Poots, Wits und Seers 5 No more in culture's choicest nooks May I shed wisdom’s tears, Tako mo away from sounding art, From cleverness, from brains; From knowledge deep may I soon part, And simulation’s gains, Monotonously let mo lio Unsought, the hours through In utter dullness, so that I May learn a thing or two. Tom Masson. “MY GOOD MAN, YOU SEEM VERY SINCERE “au! WE ARE NOT ALWAYS AS GAY AS WE 100K." BUT JUST THEN THE BOA SWALLOWED HIS BREAKFAST. Cheerful Confidence. «€ TJ AROLD,” said tho beauteous Miss Thanatopsis Biggs, addressing hor flancé, “it is my duty to tell you that my dear papa bas failed in business, and to release you from our engagement. It grieves mo to tell you this, but I feel that it is only right that you should know.” The strong and brave young man bad grasped his dear one’s form with his right frm as sho spoke, and had taken her hand in his, Even when tho full meaning of her communication broke upon him he did not relinquish his hold. “ Failed, has he?" asked Hurold F. Fet- terman, the young man in question. + Yes," sobbed the girl, ‘He bas lost his all,and of course he could give us nothing If we were to marry, and 0 of course we cannot marry, for you have not saved enough to go to housekeeping on, and as for me, I always spent my allowance before I received It, feeling sure that papa would always bo rich while he lived, and