Life, 1905-04-13 · page 15 of 22
Life — April 13, 1905 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical literary commentary. "A Titled Romance" mocks the absurd plot of a serialized adventure novel by listing its protagonist's implausibly interconnected encounters with famous fictional characters—*Sherlock Holmes*, *Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde*, *Uncle Tom's Cabin*, *Around the World in Eighty Days*—strung together nonsensically. The satire targets the era's popular serialized fiction, which prioritized sensational plot twists over coherent storytelling. The main cartoon shows a man in casual business attire confronted by a woman demanding he wear formal dress to call on her niece, illustrating class anxieties about proper social presentation. Below, two brief comedic exchanges mock publishers (who won't disclose sales figures) and employers (who consider all workers essential yet dispensable). The "Baa Relief" section references a fragmentary Bas relief sculpture recently excavated at Pompeii—a tongue-in-cheek juxtaposition with the magazine's lighter content above.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
441 A Titled Romance. T was on a Sunday afternoon /x New- port that Monsteur Beaucatre told the following story to Lady Teazle. My Brother Jacques was known as The Man Who Dared, for in a foolish moment he took A Desperate Chance ana proposed to The College Widow, who was none other than Janice Meredith. They were married by The Little Minis- fer, but it was A Fatal Wedding, and he w Deserted at the Altar, He drifted into the Army, where he was known as Serg/. James. He saw service Across the Pacific under Captain Bar- rington and fought Indians in Arizona, where he became The Village Postmaster through the influence of The Govern: Son, whom he saved from The James Boys in Missourt. After that he followed The For- tunes of a King, who was A Gilded Fool. \n Heidelberg he stopped at The Sign of the Four, wh he met other Soldiers of Fortune like himself, and /t Hap- pened in Nordland they ran across Sherlock Holmes, the King of Detectives, who belonged to the Secret Service of King Dedo and by deduction was following Tracy the Outlaw, who had stolen Mrs. Gorringe’s Necklace, but he aided them in rescuing The White Slave from Jvan the Terrible. After spending some time "lay Down East and traveling Around the World in Eighty Days, Brother Jacques settied down and bought Uncle Tom's Cabin, On the Suwanee River, In Old Kentucky, where he lived with Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde until the end of The Span of Life. “WHAT! ARE YOU GOING TO CALL ON MY NIECE IN A BUSINESS SUIT 2” “WELL, I MEAN RUSINESS, Omar ot If. Futile. F we could do the many things we would, IFE: Did you find out from We'd give this old world such a deal of your publisher how many copies good. of your book had been sold ? shit w fe Se oa inpocente repre AGHIGEL (No. “Theroniionewwne Ye {ail to do the little that we could ! , ) au . was in was the man who writes the . .. A THIS FRAGMENT WAS RECENTLY FOUND IN THE NO 22" is indispensable, not even advertisements about the number of Tet eale ep nad Eeoek ocuinoe an employer. copies that have been sold. AT FOMPELL A BAA RELIEF. comicbooks.com