Life, 1901-03-07 · page 7 of 20
Life — March 7, 1901 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 187 **Main Illustration & Story "A Blow":** The large illustration shows two figures in winter clothing having an emotional conversation. The caption quotes a woman telling a man she will marry him despite his "dark spot" in his past—specifically that he was "once a member of the Y.M.C.A." (Young Men's Christian Association). The satire mocks Victorian-era social anxiety about respectability. The Y.M.C.A. membership, typically associated with moral improvement, is treated as scandalous. This inverts expectations: the joke is that even wholesome activities were viewed suspiciously in high society, or that the man's redemption through this organization is somehow compromising rather than virtuous. The surrounding text reviews contemporary books on middle-class morality and war experiences, reinforcing themes of propriety and social judgment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
187 General George A. Forsyth, who has written some very readable accounts of his own war experiences, is Jess successful in a general history of the army called The Story of the Soldier, Those facts which come within the author's own experience are simply and graphically told, but the other portions of the book are very poor. (D. Appleton and Company.) Sister Carrie is a story of middle-class immorality and crime by Theodore Dreisser It is written with an honest desire to draw a true picture of real life, but the author utterly lacks the master-touch which can create from a repulsive scene a work of art. (Doubleday, Page and Company.) Mr. Solon Hyde was a hospital steward during the Rebellion, and has told his experiences of Confederate prisons in A Captive of War, Time, the healer, seems to have overlooked Mr. Ilyde's wounded feelings, and he waves the bloody shirt with all the enthusiasm of the early seventies. Might we suggest, for instance, that it is no longer usual to refer to the Stars and Bars as “that contemptible rag"? (McClure, Phil- lips and Company.) Love Among the Artists, by G. Bernard Shaw, is an uninteresting tale poorly told. To do Mr. Shaw justice. he frankly acknowledges the fact in an apologetic preface, which is the only good thing in the book. (Herbert 8. Stone and Company.) J. B. Kerfoot, A Blow. “e ARLING,” he said, ‘there is a dark spot in my past life which I am afraid you will not overlook."* “Do not despair," she replied. “I will marry you, no matter how dissipated you have been.” The man at her side shuddered. ‘ Alas!" he cried, ‘it is not that. But I was once a member of the Y. M. C. A.”” «¢()H, I suppose George sowed his wild oats before I married him, and made a fool of himself generally, like other men, but I always trust him !’° “ What a delightfully new sensation it must be to him!"’ Lilite Elsie: sisten, po You RNOW WHAT LENT Is? “VM NOT #URE, ELSIE, BUT I THINK IT's PORTY DAYS SET APART IN TU YEAR PoR PEOPLE TO HE SORRY FON BEING EPISCOPALIANS.”” too heavy for a popular book of the moment. (McClure, Phillips and Company.) A good essay has come to be some- what of a rarity. This fact should A CONAN DOYLE'S lengthy volume, make Mr. Charles Whibley'’s volume, * Lhe Great Boer War, is somewhat The Pageantry of Life, the more wel- of adisappointment. It shows evidence of come. It contains a clever introduction much labor on the part of the author, and — anent the art of living as practiced by will doubtless make a valuable work of the eighteenth century Beau, and nine reference for future writers, but it is written biographical essays illustrating the too carly to hold the place of a standard theme. Both matter and style arc history of the war, and 1s too technical and excellent. (Harper and Brothers.) ‘TUE OCTOPUS'R COAT OP-ARMS. comicbooks.com