Life, 1900-10-18 · page 15 of 22
Life — October 18, 1900 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces: **The main cartoon** ("On the Way Home") depicts a tired husband and wife discussing their evening. The wife mentions Professor Buxley's intelligence, prompting the husband's quip about the Constitution lacking provisions to fill a vacant Vice-President position—likely referencing contemporary political vacancy or incompetence. **"Lost, Strayed or Stolen"** is a prose satire mocking newspaper circulation editors' disappearance from the publishing industry. The author sarcastically suggests they've become literary publicists for popular novels instead. The piece criticizes inflated sales figures for romance novels—claiming first editions sell 150,000 copies with "second impression" orders arriving before the first ships. The satire culminates by questioning whether newsboys will soon treat novels like disposable commodities, selling millions by noon and discarding them for newer romances by evening. The satire targets both vanished professional standards and the commercialization of publishing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
NO, THIS 18 NOT A REFUSAL. INSTEAD OF TUE CLERK. SERIOUS. HE REALIZES NOW THAT HE SHOULD HAVE USED THE MID-InON 345 On the Way Home. HE: Oh, I'm so tired ! He: Poor little woman ! “You know Professor Buxley took me in to dinner ; and he’s so intelligent.”’ aC: (TEX say that Nature ab- hors a vacuum.”’ “That is the difference be- tween Nature and the U. 8. Government. There is no pro- vision in the constitution to fill the vacant office of Vice- President.” "[ HERE are grounds for divorce to be found in the lives of all men, Lost, Strayed or Stolen. TIE circulation editors of the great dally journals, powerfal ‘once, have evantshed, The papers powadays are content to say that thelr circulation ts double that of any two contemporaries; or that tt is 8 million a week, or something else which expresses but a vague, general idea. What has become of the circula- on editors? Did they don the uniform of their country to figure in the list of * missing" after some great siege or battle? Notat all; they have found green flelds and pastures new — not only ew, but near, ‘They live in luxury; they have taken an upward step. They work for the publishers of popular novela, Their handiwork, but slighty disguised, ts seen through. out the land, Does a romantic college girl write story? The first edition ts one hundred and hfty thousand coples. Orders for the entire second “im- pression" are received before the first edition bas been delivered. Does Sharkleigh Fitzbitmmons- touch the Boxer question? Instantly his Chinese career is laid before the poblic. And after his work has passed the quarter-miliion mark, bis publishers announce a limited edt: tion de luxe bound tn sponge with decorations in bottle-green. Are not these figures the work of the circulation editor of ® day gone by? And are not the publishers who scoffed at such methods, too, a part of the things that weref Or are we coming to the day when each newsboy will receive Dia stock of morning novels, sell a mil- Hon of them by noou, and then discard them for # later romance, of which be will sell four handred thousand copies before dusk