Life, 1903-07-23 · page 21 of 28
Life — July 23, 1903 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct satirical pieces from *Life* magazine (likely early 1900s): **Top section ("Authorized Versions"):** A parody of famous proverbs and maxims, where literary authors' names replace key words. For example, "Bret Harte never won a fair lady" plays on "Virtue is its own reward." The joke mocks popular authors of the era (Kipling, Tolstoy, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, etc.) by forcing their names into familiar sayings—treating celebrated writers as interchangeable punchlines rather than serious artists. **Main cartoon:** Shows Paolo and Francesca (tragic lovers from Dante) on a honeymoon airship, with the caption suggesting they're condemned to wander through space—a visual pun on their eternal damnation. It's a lighthearted romantic joke about newlyweds. **Bottom section:** Includes humorous character sketches and brief poems mocking fashionable New York society and literary conventions. Overall, the page satirizes both pretentious literary culture and high society's affectations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
87 Authorized Versions. RET HARTE never won a fair lady. Where ignorance is Bliss Carman, ‘tis folly to be wise. Give Ade to him that asketh of thee. Of two Egglestons choose the less, Read Hay while the sun shines. Roe's by any other name would sell as well. Seize Time by the Sherlock. Anstey is the best policy. A Meredith doeth good like medicine. Don’t kill the goose that wrote the Golden Girl. Love laughs at Hop Switha. Virtue is its own Mrs, Humphry Ward. H. 8. Stone gathers no moss. Hope springs eternal in the autumn lists. 8. Weir Mitchell makes a muckle, One must have a long spoon to eat with Mary Maclean. Don't count your Dickens before they are matched. It's a long Taine that has no learning. Ella Wheeler Wilcox makes the heart grow tonder. A little Tolstoi is a danger- ous thing. One touch of Kipling makes the whole world Kim. A little more than Poe and Jess than poet. Gibbons's Rome was not built in a day. ‘The Stevenson who collabo- rates is lost, Where there's a Zangwill, =OUCaley —_ there's a way. Oh, Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Paolo (as aeronaut pasirs on his wedding trip): CHER UP, PRANCESCA MIA. THOU OhEST WE ARE NOT THE what crimes are committed in ONLY COUPLE CONDEMNED TO WANDER THROUOH srace. thy name! Carolyn Wells. there. Mrs. Iunitt was one of the On a Summer Evening. Baltimore Shamms, all charming girls. + FPWAS dark upon the baleony, Mrs. and Mrs. Bullifat Inkum ex- I knew not what did, pect toeat and wear clothes all through The moon (may be conveniently) the autumn. Behind a cloud was hid. Mrs. Toppothar Heep thinks New ww: jure Gy charms A past noUND. York society is very mixed. But it is ‘ ice to pe haaed the only place in the world, she says, I pressed a shirt-waist in my arms OMMERCE between nations is an where money counts for nothing. The ‘And kissed a coat of tan. exchange ‘in which each gets the Heeps are one of our oldest families, Tom Masson, best of the bargain. comicbooks.com