Life, 1910-02-17 · page 42 of 44
Life — February 17, 1910 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page's main satirical poem (attributed to *Punch*) mocks romantic idealization of English countryside life. The speaker recalls nostalgic train trips to the dairy farms, where he romanticized pastoral scenes: pretty milkmaids, buttercups, and "the captivating cow." The joke: this fantasy has died. Modern reality disappoints—cows are now "common creatures," and the milkmaids are "mostly men." Rather than poetry, the speaker now asks only practical questions: "How stands the price of beef?" **The satire targets** sentimental Victorians who fetishized rural life as charming and restorative, contrasting it with modern industrial malaise. By the poem's end, even the cow has become merely economic—a commodity rather than inspiration. The titled excerpt from *Country Life* magazine sets up this critique, lamenting that English cows have lost their "charm." The surrounding advertisements (including one for digestive tonic "Man-a-cea Water") reinforce the page's theme: modern life causes constant dissatisfaction and physical ailment, even when we seek escape.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘LIFE A Happy Marriage Depends largely on a know!- edge of the ‘whole truth ‘about self and sex and their relation to life and beat This knowledge does Come intelligently Of Itself, nor correctly from ordinary every-day sources. SEXOLOGY (Utustratea) & William H. Walling, AM. MD. imoparts in a cleat, rt to His Son, Have. Knowledge a Knowledge a Young Wit Knowledge a Mother Shor Knowledge a Mother Shy pari to Her Daughter, Medical Knowledge a Wite Should T All In one volu IMustrated, $2, postpaid. Write for "Other People's Opinions" and Table of Costents. Puritan Pub. Co., 711 Perry Bldg., Phila., Pa. The Passing of Romance. [The English cow has lost the pleasing atmosphere of interest and charm which rightly belongs to her—an atmosphere made up of buttercups and three-legged stools and milkmaids.—Country Life.] Time was, if intra-mural Delights began to flag, I rhapsodized the rural, And packed a carpet bag. I left the lures of London, And, pining for the plough, Made many a brief but happy jaunt To study in her native haunt The captivating cow. I took (three bob the fare is) A ticket to a scene Where damsels decked the dairies, The daisies graced the green. Mid buttercups and beauty I seldom failed to feel The “lowing herd "’ proceed to wind A spell around my simple mind, Like packthread round a reel. But gone are all the features That used to charm me then; The cows are common creatures, The milkmaids mostly men. The bovine brings no longer A joy, however brief, But, moaning in her native mire, She merely moves me to inquire, “ How stands the price of beef?” —Punch, We Want Your Wife Befenings Distress ‘after’ Eatiogs ‘Neuse? tateem Bloating, ‘Try One More Good Dinner.” anything she desires or craves—and while eating Sip MAN-A-CEA WATER \ eT, MANGANESE You Can Stop He peated and weld By—NEW YORK. Pak & Tilo Acker PHILADE! eit Fletcher & ALTIMORE. "Jordan Sabie 1.0," Faxca, Willass Bee @ i ‘White y; Pharmacy WAS "rom SSeS ae ee aa ABINGTON, eae Send for Book:et, MAN-A-CEA WATER CO.. 13 Stone St., New York. Latest Books Legends of the Thomas A. Janvier. City of Mexico, by (Harper & Bros.) The Biography of a Boy, by Josephine Daskam Bacon. (Harper & Bros. $1.50.) The Tempting of Paul Chester, by Alice and Claude Askew. (R. F. Fenno & Co. $1.50.) The Seventh Noon, by Frederick Orin Bartlett. (Small, Maynard & Co. $1.50.) The Art of Short Story Writing, by George Randolph Chester. (Publishers’ Syndicate.) Essays on Modern liam Lyon Phelps. Company, $1.50.) A Group of English Essayists, by C.T. Winchester. (The Macmillan Company $1.50.) Hylas, by Edwin Preston Dargan. (Richard G. Badger. $1.00.) The Triumph of Love, by 1 Whitney Allen. (G. P, Putnam's $1.25.) From the Cup of Silence, by Helen Huntington, (G. P. Putnam's Sons) velists, by Wil (The QUERN TAKES JACK Photo-Gravure, 16x 18} in. 50 cents, Always a Copyright 1809 by Life Pablsblog Compa: Copyright 1909 by Life Pubtibing Company. “wey THERE! WANT ANY HELP!” Photo-Gravure, 16 x 1334 in. 30 cents, Welcome Gift Copyright 1905 by Life Poblishieg Company. TROUBLES NEVER COME SINGLY Photo-Gravure, 20 x15 in. $1.00. MER WINDOW Photo-Gravure, 16 x 18}4 in. Scents. On receipt of 25 cents we will send you the pocket edition of L/FE'S PRINTS. It contains 160 repro- ductions, in sizes here shown, of these most artistic and pleasure-giving pictures. The larger prints, whose prices are given, are PHOTO-GRAVURES of the highest possible quality and finish. Neither care nor expense has been spared to obtain the very best artistic results. LIFE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 17 West 31st Street, New York 306 comicbooks.com