Life, 1900-04-26 · page 3 of 20
Life — April 26, 1900 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Life" Magazine Page 355: Two Satirical Pieces (circa 1900) **"My Friend Cupid"** (top): A poem mocking Cupid as a thief who steals hearts. The decorative header shows Cupid's head in a medallion surrounded by arrows and flowers—standard romantic imagery that the text ironically undercuts. **"A Fleeable Talk"** (bottom): A humorous dialogue between a flea and a soldier. The soldier insists fleas can jump 200 miles; the flea protests this exaggeration. The joke satirizes absurd military boasting and the gap between claimed abilities and reality. The accompanying illustration shows a potted plant with a flea character and a tiny soldier figure, emphasizing the flea's perspective and the ridiculousness of the claim. The humor relies on scale inversion and deflating military pretension.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
& y* FRIEND (grip z UPID’S a thieving rascal they say, There's no mistake about it, That he's a thief is my firm belief, Whether a rascal—I doubt it. For ho’s an excellent friend of mine Whatever way I viow it, For Dorothy meant to say me nay, But Cupid had stolen ber heart away, 80 sho hada’t the heart to do it, Soldier : V'V8 GOT HER DRAD! SEE HOW SHE BLUSHES ! A Fleable Talk. ¢¢] UST imagine! If you were a flea, you could jump two hundred miles at a single jump.” * But I am not a flea.” “Tdido’t say you were. I said if you were.” “But you implied that I might be.” “Not at all. In estimating the relative strength of a flea as compared with a man, I said that one of your size could jump two hundred miles.” “Nothing of the sort, sir. You distinctly spoke of me asa flea.” “How absurd! 1 merely inferred that suppose you were a flea.” “Do I look like a flea?” “Why, no, sir, cer- tainly not.” “Have I the arms, legs, proboscis, anat- omy of a flea?” “Who said you did?” “You did, sir!” “Tdidn't!” “You did 1" “Well, sir, I am sorry. I apologize.” “You admit, then, that you did refer to me asa fleat” “Why, no, I don’t.” “ But you have just apologized.” ‘Well, well, let it go. I said you were a flea, I apologize. Iam sorry. I was wrong.” “Good 1 You were wise. flea, sir.” “Of course not. from a flea. You couldn’t be one if you tried. Impossible!" “Impossible, sir! For me, sir? How impossible 2” “Yes, sir, exactly, sir. ass be a flea, sir?” T am no Utterly removed How can an A Superfluous Measure. Cnataam, N. B., April 7, 1900. The Editor of Lire. IR: Referring to your issue Sth inst.,the cut “This Map" and comments thereon, please bear in mind that there are twelve hundred nig- gers in the Philippines called rebels, commanded by one Aguinaldo, In order to capture or defeat these your Government has sent out one hundred and ten thousand Yankee soldiers; ‘they have been there for a year, Aguinaldo ts not canght vet. Kindly give us ® companton map of your campaign in the East. Canada. We have not felt the necessity of pub- lishing a Philippine map because the majority of Americans realize the stu- pidity and injustice of that campaign. Occasionally, however, we do encounter an educated American who is almost tempted to side with the British in South Africa, That map was for his benefit.