Life, 1901-12-26 · page 22 of 33
Life — December 26, 1901 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a darkly comic narrative poem satirizing working-class social aspiration and parental authority in the late 19th/early 20th century. **The plot:** Young Philip (son of a grumpy pie-maker) falls in love with Doris (butcher's daughter) while she skips rope. He saves money to marry her, but his father mocks him. Philip visits Doris's father to propose. The butcher seems amused and agrees—then reveals Doris doesn't love Philip. The butcher, enraged at this suitor's presumption, literally grinds him into sausage meat using his butcher equipment. The poem ends with Doris happily skipping with a new rope—presumably made from the sausages. **The satire:** This mocks both the sentimentality of working-class romance stories and the brutal class hierarchy of the era. The joke's dark violence reflects Victorian literature's contempt for "common" people's pretensions to love and marriage. The butcher's casual murder suggests that lower-class fathers control their daughters absolutely, and male workers have no rights to aspire beyond their station.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
568 A Bourgeois Ballade, This is but a simple jangle, Telling howe one freefrom guile Got into a fearful tangle Thro’ a skipping-rope and smite, | ORLTS vas a butcher's “daughter, Slender, tall, and fair to see, With a smile her mother taught her In her tender in- faney. Philip's father was a pieman, Famous for his buns and cakes, But a rusty, crusty Timon— Such as Nature seldom bakes. Philip with some pies was tripping On an errand, when he first Saw the smiling Doris skipping Rope with links of wéener-rurst. PAitip with come ples was tripping. Saw the smiling Doris etippiny. Faster flew her feet and faster, Philip's heart beat pitapat, (Love, the trickster; Love, the master, Was responsible for that.) From that day throughout the seasons Philip husbanded his pay ; (But, for sentimental reasons, Versified his time away.) Till, when he had safely gathered Twenty nickels in his store, He reflected that his father’d Better know ere he did more . Fcome to fad sour daughter. ‘I've some news to tell you, Papa,” Bashful Philip meekly said ; “ For [think it only proper You should know I mean to wed.” Loudly jeered the cruel parent, Sneering * Pish!" and likewise “ Tush: “ Why, you ne'er-do-well, you daren’t ; Who'll supply your milk and mush I've funds to burn,” im ere his ire Took a more abusive tum. Left him and proceeded straightway To the burly butcher's store, Found him leaning in the gate-way, With his apron steeped in gore. “ Well, my little man, what is it? Cutlets, rufled grouse, or lamb? Whence the pleasure of this visit? Sweetbreads, leber-eurst, or ham?” “ Sir, I come to find your daughter ; Come to find and make her mine— Feeling if I once besought her, could ne'er my love decline.” Harshly laughed the sanguinary Villain worthy of the stage, Till a sudden fancy merry Dissipated quite his rage. “Step within and see my daughter, Suitor blithe and debo- nair, Speak the message you have brought her, You'll receive her an- swer there.” Joyfully, our Phi:ip entered, (Simple soul, devoid of guile!) Thinking that creation centered In the charming maiden’s smile. “ Lovely fairy,” cried he loudly, “Take a trusting pieboy’s heart. I will guard you, O so proudly ! Tet us never, never part!" But—the while our hero's cup is Running o’er with rapture sweet— « Let him join the other puppies,” Suiled his Doris; ‘‘ it is meet!” PAMIp lest hien eve dis te Took a more abusive turn, Then the rash, tempestuous tyrant (Never was a man so mean !) Thrust the overbold aspirant In his sausage-meat machine. . . ° Philip's gone—yes, gone before us, And his soul's at rest, I hope ; Tho’ the ever-smiling Doris Has a brand-new skipping-rope ! J. H. Holtiday. comicbooks.com