Life, 1904-05-12 · page 5 of 20
Life — May 12, 1904 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The page contains two distinct pieces: **"To a Girl on a Dresden Plate"** (poem by Kate Masterson): A romantic poem addressing a woman depicted on fine china, playing with the conceit that she's a painted figure on porcelain. It's sentimental Victorian verse mocking idealized feminine beauty in decorative art. **"The Valley of Unrest"** (main illustration): A chaotic scene showing an automobile navigating treacherous terrain—appears to be satirizing early automobile travel's dangers and unpredictability. The vehicle struggles through rocky, dramatic landscape, likely commenting on the nascent automotive age's hazards. **The anecdote** about train berths is a brief comedic exchange about travel accommodations, unrelated to the cartoons. The small illustration of anthropomorphic birds appears to be a separate decorative comic element about long necks.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
459 To a Girl on a Dresden Plate. HO were you? In your dainty day Did you once tread a measure, And havoc with the beaux’ hearts play, Your whim—their pleasure ? Did you look out above your fan With piquant glances, And make a willing slave of man Between the dances ? Or lived you in some poet's brain— An artist's fancy— A beauty he could only feign By necromancy ? Perhaps—poor chap—he loved you too. Each graceful line a Tribute to one he only knew On Dresden china, Where’er you lived your lacy life, Each hour— each minute Brimming with love and laughter rife, Aman was init! So you won immortality— Picture and ballad, And looking up, you now win me Through lobster salad ! Kate Masterson. MAN, wishing to go to Omaha on a certain train, calls up the Pullman office by “phone. “Have you a_ section Omaha?" “No, but we have two upper berth: “How the devil do you ex- pect me to go West in two upper berths?” THE VALLEY OF UNREST “NOW EACH VISITOR SHALL CONFESS TWE SAD VALLEY'S RESTLESSNESS. NOTHING THERE 18 MOTIONLESS —" mae Edgar Allen Poe NECKS CREATED, LoviEY? comicbooks.com