Life, 1899-06-15 · page 20 of 20
Life — June 15, 1899 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines political/satirical cartoons with period advertisements. **The Cartoons:** "Tommy, the Office Boy, Proves a Proverb" illustrates the saying "there's no smoke without a fire" through two scenes. In the first, Tommy sits at a desk producing smoke from a pipe; in the second, he races away from a fire. The joke is a visual pun: Tommy literally demonstrates the proverb by creating actual smoke (from his pipe) and then an actual fire, treating the familiar saying as literal fact. **The Advertisements:** The page is dominated by Harris Portable Fire Escapes and Automatic Fire Alarms—industrial safety equipment marketed to building owners and managers. The other ads promote travel (Santa Fe Railway's California route), brandy (Martell's "Three Star"), bicycle lubricant (Dixon's Graphites), and whiskey (Old Crow Rye). The juxtaposition of fire-safety equipment advertising with a humorous cartoon about fire suggests the page ironically plays on contemporary anxieties about workplace fire hazards, a genuine concern in 1900s America.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
TOMMY, THE OFFICE BOY, PROVES 4 PROVERB. THERE's NO SMOKE wituour 4 rine. Fire Need Have No Terrors tera; HARRIS PORTABLE FIRE ESCAPES ‘2. AND AUTOMATIC FIRE ALARMS. The esly practical, ble, and reliable Fire Escape yet devised. Constructed oe ree hard drawn flexible steel cables, with strong steel rungs. CAN'T BURN AND WILL NOT BREAK. NEVER OUT OF ORDER, INSTANTLY AVAILABLE. A CHILD MAY ADJUST AND USE IT. closely wo on’ Teel and enclosed in ornamental oxidized case ndow sill, In case of fire the reel is thrown out and ally, be furnishing a safe means of reach: Ing around. If flames are breaking out of lower window it mas be drawn Loonie, Harris Automatic Fire Alarms asue DA TH NOTICE. aol onener, NY INCA ELE: AND ARE VENER ALLOW A LSE T fe MOST THOROUGH NINSPECTION ivr ORR AND Be cONVINCED: OR WRITE FOR DESCRIPTIVE CIRCU! In California Is a cooler season than that ot the Middle and Eastern States or the Atlantic Coast. S Q 6 O 6 O é S 6 o 6 6 6 O @ Take your outing there this 9 year, Reduced rates, with 6 choice of return routes and long limit of tickets, will Le mace by the Santa Fe Route at the time of the N. E. A. Convention at Los Angeles 3 in July. Q 8 a Cc Address General Passenger Office, The Atch'son, Topeka & Santa Fe Rallway, cutcaco, 1900090099900900009909000000000000 0 000000 jooecocccocecoccojeccocecef Martell’ Ss Don’t ¢ Gather Dust Rough riding a-wheel is smoothed immensely by a clean chain—and aciean chain comes with using DIXON’S E455 GRAPHITES In five ntyles—stick and paste—the only perfect lubri- Gunts for chalna and anrockrta Hold by ail dealers, JOSEPH DIXON CRUCIBLE CO., Jersey City, N. 3. A LiguiD SUNSHINE. It brings the sunlight of health and@hope to the invalid, comfort and joy to the festive board, refreshmeat to the weary, and is a fricnd in need. Its surroundings at place of manufacture are such that no other has equal facili approach it in quality. refer to OLD CROW RYE. B. KIRK & CO. New York,