Life, 1900-09-13 · page 8 of 20
Life — September 13, 1900 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 208 This page satirizes wealthy New York society figures through a dialogue between characters including "Professor Digger" (a naturalist), "Mrs. Browntop-Sparrow," and "Speckle." The humor turns on Mrs. Browntop-Sparrow's eccentric behavior—she's mocked for obsessively pursuing a relationship with a bird at Riverside Park, bathing in the river by moonlight, and generally behaving erratically ("quite insane"). The accompanying illustrations show men engaged in absurd physical activities outdoors. The satire targets upper-class Manhattan society's pretensions and peculiar eccentricities, particularly women's unconventional interests. The bird-watching romance premise is a vehicle for lampooning wealthy Park residents' bohemian affectations and social scandal.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Profexsor Digger’; AN AMORIGINAL TOMAUAWK, BY GUM! thought I could love a bird. You know I used to be something of a woman hater. Mrs. Browntop-Sparrow: Ever since that affair with Mrs. Flirtington Lark, Of course everybody heard of it. You were dreadfully gossiped about ! Specke (fluttering angrily): Don't speak of that woman! When I think of Birdie—sweet, trustful and innocent—and recall that perfidious creature's behavior —— Mrs. Browntop-Sparrow: Yet you were quite insane about her for a time? Speckie: An infatuation, That woman is a coquette if ever there was one. Her flat up in Riverside Park is the scene of revels that are simply awful. Birds chirping around at all hours of the night and preventing respectable sparrows from sleeping. Bathing in the river by moonlight, and taking trips on the top of trains all over the country. She's been put out of three trees since last fall, And the birds you meet there! Disreputable, married sparrows, old enough to be her father—with families at home— (He looks fizedly at Broventop-Sparrow, who nudges him in the wing with his claw and flutters.) Mr. Brownytop-Sparrow: Why intrude such subjects on Birdie’s wedding day? Ah, dear, to think we must lose her! But it’s a love match, if ever there was one. Eh, Speckle? SPECKLE (dreamily): I can recollect the morning we met as though it were yesterday. It was at a little breakfast at the Lily Pond. We hopped together for an hour and dived several times, Even then we noticed how perfectly we hopped and flew together and how our voices harmonized. After that our meetings were constant. The park became a paradise! It seemed to meas though I were a new bird. And those meetings! Her little claw fluttered in mine—and her eyes were so bright that I fell head over claws in love. Mrs. Browntop-Sparrow: I declare the guests are beginning to arrive, There's Parson Woodpecker. I do hope those horrid squirrels will keep out of the tree until after the breakfast. Why, there are the Jays from Brooklyn—and I declare if that isn’t Mr. and Mrs. Prospect Park Canary! And the Twittertwits—from City Hall Park—one of our oldest families, Speckle. And there are the ushers and the choir. How nice of you all tocome. Such a crush! (Amid a tremendous fluttering of wings and some chirping the Bird “THIS 18 AN INDIAN MOUND, SURE,” “THE MEAD OF AN INDIAN CULEP. 17 18." “no, nol MORE. OF HIM. YE GODS, WHAT A FIND!” comicbooks.com