Life, 1883-06-21 · page 14 of 16
Life — June 21, 1883 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents a children's morality fable told in exaggerated verse, mocking Victorian moral instruction. Young Tommy the cat learns virtue, then grows up to study rhetoric under "Professor John L. Sul-li-van of Boston"—likely a satirical reference to boxer John L. Sullivan, famous for his powerful arguments (fists). The joke is that brutal pugilism is presented as respectable oratory worthy of honor. The text humorously advises children to imitate Sullivan to gain Boston's approval and presents of shoes and crockery—mocking both the city's pretensions and the absurdity of rewarding violence with household goods. A brief epitaph for "Small Willie" follows, suggesting infant mortality—a common occurrence treated with dark humor typical of Life magazine's irreverent approach to serious subjects.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
300 All there was in the Pan-try. But Tommy said that be-ing good did not Pay, and so he Grinned in his sin- ful manner, and dis-ap-peared up the drain. He was not gone long, for his con-science a-gain Smote him, as it had done on the pre- vi-ous oc -cas- ion, and Tom- my came out with-out having stolen an-y- thing. Lit- tle chil- dren, it is a great bles - sing to be a-ble to with-stand temp- tation as Tom- my did. Al- ways come a-way, if you are in the same Cir-cum- stances, Well, lit-tle Tom-my fin-al-ly be-came a great Cat, and had ma-ny more Ex-pe-ri-en-ces which were of an ex-ci-ting na-ture. He tried to ed-it a sheet which he found in the back-yard, but his sub-scrib-ers said he was too much on the Fence. Fin-al-ly he stud-ied for the ros-trum and took les- HE WOULD Go, HIS CON-SCI-ENCE SMOTE HIM AND HE LEFT. sons of Pro-fes-sor John L. Sul-li-van of Boston. His ar-gu-ments were very Con-vin-cing, and So beau-ti-ful was his or-a-to-ry that num-bers of peo-ple used to stay a-wake all night to hear him, and would make him * LIFE: presents of shoes, boot-jacks and croc-ker-y fixings with-out number. Dear chil-dren, if you wish to be honored in this world, i-mi-tate Prof-ess-or Sul-li-van, as Tom-my did. Bos-ton is the on-ly ci-ty whose ap-pro-val is THE SUL-LI-VAN OF THE BACK YARD. worth any-thing. Rev-er-end Mr. But-ler. not put your des-tin-y in a bar'l. my, and may ru-in Mr. Til-den, If you do not be-lieve this, ask ~ But what-ev-er you do, do This ru-ined Tom- THE END. AT LAST HE HAS CLUMB FROM OUT THIS HEATHEN CLIME, SMALL Willie’s gone to heaven (Willie, Willie, Waly), Buried by Doctor B-v-n (Poor Billie). We bought a nice white coffin— 'Twas that that he went off in. Alas he was an orphan (William Jones). ae 14 iw comicbooks.com