Life, 1889-09-05 · page 6 of 16
Life — September 5, 1889 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Arrogance of Optimism" This page satirizes American optimism in the early 20th century. The main article critiques what it calls the "arrogance of optimism"—the tendency of optimists to dismiss legitimate suffering and social problems as unimportant. The left illustration shows impoverished families in crowded conditions, illustrating the real hardships the optimists ignore. The text argues optimists are self-centered, assuming their comfortable worldview applies universally without acknowledging others' genuine struggles. The right illustration, titled "Age's Retrospect," shows an elderly man reflecting—suggesting that time reveals optimism's naiveté. The article contrasts this with older Puritan pessimism, ultimately concluding that unchecked optimism lacks moral awareness of actual human suffering.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: OUR FRESH AIR FUND Before After Checks for Fresh Air Fund should be drawn to the order of Lire. HE other day five little children before leaving Lire’s village wrote a letter to our superintendent, It ended with these words : We have had great appetites and thank you for all you have given ustoeat. We have tried to be good and we hope you will let us come again, Certainly they shall come again; and there are many thousands who have not been once, They are crowded together in wretched tenements, many of them growing weaker and thinner as the summer advances, They are surrounded by suffering, and their lives are an up-hill struggle against disea: Your money will do a positive and perceptible good in giving these little ones a chance for happiness and strength. Flos c Laierost Coreen, STE From a little Boston girl, ea: catching millers, Pomona : Portion of Receipts for Tickets to inspect the White Line's Steamer ** Tento Monday, August 19, 188 .’ 100.00 0 “In Memoriam F.".) "10.00 Wm. H. Proceeds of a Fair given by the From Francesca ae Children of Quogue, L. I. John C.Coonley . ° 2”. ag. H.Van B.. .' Moline, Mls, Medicus" E, L. Ludlow Myopia. Raby Woot “Be W. H. Siviter Proceeds of y by little gi the Oc! louse, Seabright, N. J. Never mind who . . . Proceeds of a Bazaar given at Pewee Valley, Ky., by the Nancy Witton and rite Caldwe'l, aged 14 ears respectively . 45.00 Miss Katharine Ar Duer” ". So-co From the Monmouth Beach, b Dramatic Clab . . ren at Baby: 157.00 10.00 AW. «x From’7o So. Broad N.H. . . 45.00 4:00 “THE ARROGANCE OF OPTIMISM.” HE. arrogance of optimism will probably cease to exert itself when it has received from evolution a disclosure of its own hypocrisy. For very few of us can live at all without being, in a measure, pessi- mists.—£dgar Fawcett's * Agnosticism.” This is not the pulpit for a philosophical discussion, and, if it were, Edgar Fawcett could hardly furnish the text. He stands, however, for a phase of opinion which is more or less prevalent in old communities of the East. It seems to be the regular thing for a certain grade of intelligence (when it realizes for the first time its limitations) to exhibit its cha- grin by crying out that “the game is not worth the candle,” at best, and it, therefore, withdraws from the contest and devotes its energies to croaking at those who still find some enjoyment in the pageant. It is not optimism, but pessimism which in these days is insufferably arrogant. Between the old Puritan who made life gloomy with his unceasing cry that all are on the road to perdition, and the modern pessi- mist who perpetually asserts here that in this life all are in perdition—there is little choice. We have the advantage over the latter, however, because we know that this life is not so terrible as he makes it, whereas the old Puritan had a great possibility on his side. RULY, the optimist is the least arrogant of men. His serenity is of a kind which needs not to assert itself at the expense of the feelings of other people. He merely as- sumes the brave attitude toward life instead of the cowardly one. He takes evolution at its word so far as revealed, and hopes for the survival of the best. The pessimist may puz- zle him—but he remembers that certain forms revert—that there is devolution as well as evolution. As a Nation, he knows that we are optimists. Through- out the great West the prevailing mental attitude is one of AGE'S RETROSPECT, comichooks.coy