Life, 1903-07-16 · page 8 of 20
Life — July 16, 1903 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate pieces of satirical content: 1. **"Ye Summer Maid"** - A poem mocking fashionable women's seasonal wardrobes and behaviors. 2. **"The Diary of a Lover of Nature"** - A humorous weekly diary satirizing urban dwellers' attempts to appreciate nature while remaining trapped in city life (seeing ducks at market, a pumpkin in a restaurant window, church bells). 3. **"Life" and "Fiat Lux"** - Short domestic humor pieces poking fun at class consciousness and ineffectual charitable efforts by wealthy institutions (the University of Chicago receiving large donations while coal shortages persist). The illustrations show a billiards scene and a caricatured face, likely accompanying specific articles. These pieces exemplify *Life*'s trademark satire: mocking social pretension, urban ennui, and the gap between wealthy institutions' public generosity and actual community need.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HOW THINGS LOOKED TO Mi. BLEECKER MANHATTAN WHEN HB PLAYED MIS FIRST GAME OX AN ENGLISH BILLIARD TABLE. Ye Summer Maid. Nw Papa fits her wardrobe out AN And finds, unhapy The most expensive article of tan, To be her coat The Diary of a Lover of Nature. (WHO 1s COMPELLED TO LIVE IN TIE CITY.) JM OSPAY: I felt the first faint breath <4 of Spring to-day. A whole truck- load of fresh vegetables passed. Going out into the back yard I gathered a blade of grass. It had come up through the on hole in the pavement. To-morrow I 1 find another. Tvuespay: I saw a flock of ducks this morning going south—to market. They looked fatand sleek, but I understand are 40 cents a pound. Yesterday my favorite cat had kittens, and I have named them pussy- willows, Another sign that Spring is here Wepxespay: A watering-cart passed by this morning. How the season is adv; ing. It is almost time to plant my roof garden, How fragrant the air grows with the scent of bananas, fresh fish and auto- mobiles! I saw a bit of the sky this mori ing as I peeped out through two tall build- ings, and my heart took fresh cou funeral procession just went by. I see the obituary column that it was of an in the church in the next block. that the elder berries are here Tuvuspay: I had a visitor this morning. Standing near the dumb-waiter in the dining- room, where I could look out of the window into m ghbor's washing, my attention was ed to this nimble little creature he frisked about, looking for a ray of sun- light. This is the first cockroach I have seen this year. An early Summe: Frtpay : It isearly in the mornin the afternoon papers are out! T rained and I walked out in it, all by my lonesome. To be alone in the rain in a large city, with the s\ pavements, is, it to refresh one’s soul. All the thly magazines, heavy with “ads.” fresh from the press, peeped out invitingly from under gaunt tarpaulins. An age. A n rising from the ambulance hurried by. What could it mean? Had nature forgotten itself? No. It must have been a troliey car, Rain drops every where—on the cabman’s e: the soubrette’s last year’s hat, on the horses? necks, on the subway contractors, How it makes my heart leap up! ‘The dust is laid. Satervay: I had a great surprise this morning. Iwas walking along carelessly, uuheedingly, listening absently to the hum of the elevated, when a strange sight met cs. As I drew nearer, I felt my heart ‘nto palpitate, Yes—there it was—a pumpkin in a restaurant window. I stopped and examined it closely, and then I felt a sudden sense of relief. Summer, then, was clashes, on “ Extral” not so carly, after all, It was only papier- maché. To-morrow I shall go out for pea- nuts. pay: How quiet the air is to-day. I hear nothing but the church bells, an oc- casional automobile, some boys calling cxtra!" anda fireengine. So stillis the air that the heat rises from the bakery under the opposite pavement to a height of forty feet. What beautiful spirals it as- sumes. I know it would tan my Leet beautifully if I stood over it, and yet I do not dare make the attempt. This morning I saw a banch of violets—the first I have seen since the price fell. How glowing and fragrant and fresh they didn’t seem! Nature, my dear old pal, how beautiful you are on this calm, still Sabbath morning. Tom Masson, A. GIRL knows she is look- ing her best when none of the other girls tells her so. Life. Ts mother’s voice quivered with emotion now, “If you marry below yonr station,”’ she said, ‘you are likely to get a hus- band who will object to your falling in love with other me But the daughter only laughed ; she was such a mere girl yet, knowing next to nothing of life. Fiat Lux. ‘PHE University of Chicago has in- deed received only six hundred and fifty-one thousand one hundred and fifty-five dollars in gifts the past year ; but it behooves us to be steadfast in our high hopes. Because the supply of coal oil is run- ning low, shall the lamp of learning go out, to say nothing of the light of the Gospel (Baptist) in foreign lands ? No, no, For look you! Even as we speak, the Standard is getting into other things. “EL USBAND: I wish I could borrow me money to tide me over. : Well, haven't you lots of Writ friends? “Oh, yes. But they don’t know yet. that I need the money.” “money TaLKs,” comicbooks.com