Life — November 23, 1899 — page 8: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

OQ “LIFE « My New Umbrella. CHOSE with care and bad my pick In weight of silk and fancy stick, And, of tho cover sizes, got The very smallest of the lot. And now, with Gladys in tho rain, Tho wisdom of my choico is plain; To koep from getting wet, you sco, Sho has to walk so closo to me, Joe Lincoln, Let Us Not Be Ungrateful. HANKSGIVING boing a day sot apart for its own special purpose, let us pause and consider our manifold blessings, Indcod, things aro not so bad as they might bo. It is truo that William McKinley is Prest- dent of tho United Statos, but {t might bo worso, Algor might havo had his place, and thero is no knowing what might have happened then, Cortainly, we are fighting tho Phillppines, and it isa mighty bad business throughout, from tho beginning unto the end, which 1s not yot. But wo ought to bo thankful to know that wo aro engaged In warfare with only a part of one tribe, This, it is trae, is costing: us several miilions a minute, somo of our best blood, and, asido from the loss to our own self-respect, Is making usa laughing stock, Somothing like sixty thousand ofour men are at prosent occupied in fighting this pleayune enemy, All this {s true, but Suppose wo wero at war with a whole tribe. This, it is easy to soe, wonld be much worse, And so wo should be thankful, Wo should lift upour hearts and rejoice that our doso of war {8 ono that may be recoverod from, in spite of tho quack doctors now bending over the bedside. From polities to aociety is a long leap, yet, hero also, thero aro mitigating cireum- stances which compel our gratitude, No law has yet beon passod compelling us to read in tho columns of tho press tho movements of our “social leaders,” This in {tsclf 1s a source of solace, Oh, yes; there is much to bothankful for! Of course, the World and Journal aro still with us, an. itis not to be dentod that as sinks of iniquity and rottenness, they out- class anything olso in tho corrupting line. SUL there might bo two Journals and two Worlds. Itisa comfort tothink that Hearst and Palitzer havo no equals, Speaging of dor drama, vo may yet smile, Vo may giv tanks dat der public yet have somothings to eay, vich mitigates, aln’t it, der action of dor Theatrical Trust. Supposo dat der members of-der Trust prosentod plays only in agordance wid der own instings, un dat der publig vas abligid to uttend? Now, however, der people can stay avay {fa play is too rotten, ain't it? So dat even der small part der public {8 allowed toact is adeop gauso for gratitude. Yes, dot is 80. In literary circles there is much that might bo worse than it really is, In all probability neithor Hall Caine nor Tan Maclaren will* visit this country for somo little time, Of course, there is always tho chanco that some new and hitherto unknown literary celebrity may visit us from abroad, and, under tho kindly auspices of our friond Major Pond, induce another wavo of hysteria, But who knows but what, this year, wo may be spared all this, and thus add another obligation to kind Providence, ‘Truly, when wo consider all these mant- fold blessings, who shall say that, after ull, a Thanksgiving day this your is not as appropriato as it ever has been ? Let us rejoico and be thankful! “wv EN I visit my Fifth Avenue friends, it is difficuit to tell the butlers from the heads of the house.” “That's hard on the butlers.” icbooks.com