Life, 1899-10-12 · page 7 of 20
Life — October 12, 1899 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 287 This page contains a section titled "Historical Bits VII: Old Put Gets Away" with an illustration and story about "His Coup d'Etat." The narrative describes a domestic crisis at the Dimpleton household—a man recovering from illness who must manage his wife's emotional distress and physical needs while in a weakened state. The accompanying sketch depicts figures in what appears to be a bedroom or domestic interior scene. The text emphasizes the man's predicament: he's physically depleted yet emotionally responsible for his wife's wellbeing during a crisis. This appears to be satirical domestic humor typical of early Life magazine—using exaggerated domestic scenarios to comment on gender dynamics and marital relations of the era. The specific historical reference "Old Put" remains unclear without additional context.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HISTORICAL BITS. VII. OLD PUT GETS AWAY. : His Coup d’Etat. Sl OW will she take it?” The deep silence which in domestic at- mospheres often foretells a coming storm, brooded over the Dimpleton household. It was eleven o'clock in the morning, and the head of the house, with a towel wound fecbly around his head, lay back on the pillow and reflected aloud, as much as it is possible for a man to reflect who, the evening before, has unwound several miles of aclub dinner. The bibulous leave-taking, and the long, dark space between this and his arrival home, lighted up like a comet heaven, with flashing and wobbly electric lights, his {ntermin- able effort to find himself and get away from his clothes, his boundless good nature that seemed to reach up and envelope the very universe, and, through all, the tattered memory of his wife's 287 pale and terrified face—all these rose up like ghosts. And now he must explain. Now he must summon all his energies, use his utmost eloquence, be re- sourceful, complaisant, watchful for the advan- tage, cunning and strong, with a head that split like a thunder cloud when lightning goes through it, with a conscience that see- sawed from one emotion to the other, and with a wife not unable to cope with him when in the full possession of his normal faculties. He could not doit. How could he make her see the really fine in- atincts that had led him to this height of intellectual abandon? He knew why he had taken too much, but to explain it to a wo- man! Bah! Impossible! What should hedo? There was noescape. He must take his punishment. Be- sides, he needed water, His throat lay before him likean interminabledesert, with every grain of sand asponge, andevery sponge quivering with thirst. He must have it. He called —a dry and husky call. There was the swish of a woman's skirt; his wife appeared, and the mock courage that Dimpleton had summoned up but a \ ' “a8 BLACK AS THE ACE OP rapes,”