Life, 1893-04-06 · page 6 of 16
Life — April 6, 1893 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page contains three separate satirical pieces from Life magazine: 1. **"Ignorance is Poverty"** - A brief dialogue mocking working-class characters (Tattered Tom, Ragged Robert, Small Gamin) who lack education and awareness of their own exploitation. 2. **"One Way of Acquiring a Supply of Fuel"** - Three sequential sketches showing poor people collecting driftwood or coal from a boat, illustrating economic desperation during what appears to be an industrial era. 3. **"The Gobble-Un Gets Him"** and **"A Wise Boy"** - Commentary on poet James Whitcomb Riley's popular verse, suggesting his sentimental poetry sells well to common people despite its modest literary merit. The overall theme critiques both working-class ignorance and commercialized popular culture, using class-based humor typical of late 19th-century American satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
220 IGNORANCE IS POVERTY. ATTERED TOM: Well, I'm dummed! RAGGED ROBERT: Wot's ther matter ? soup tickets good ? TATTERED TOM: I wisht I'd paid more attention to me studies when I was young. Here I've tramped forty blocks to a soup house an’ th’ woman inside says them tickets calls fer soap. Ain't them PASSER-BY (to small gamin, crying): What's the matter, sonny ? SMALL GAMIN: Micky hit me because I ain’t Irish. ONE WAY OF ACQUIRING A SUPPLY OF FUEL. > LIFE: THE GOBBLE-UN GETS HIM. » POUT oncet a year Jim Riley writes a book o’ verse ter sell, An’ the folks 'at buys it reads it, and ‘ey likes it mighty well ; His pomes are plain ‘nd common, like the folks ‘emselves I guess, With a dreamin’ music in ‘em ‘nd a sort er tenderness "At creeps into the heart ‘nd makes its somehow beat in time With the fancy of the poct ‘nd the ripple of his rhyme ; So you who like the potery you c’'n read ‘nd think about Will be glad to hear ‘at Riley’s got a book out. ‘There's a heap o' verse gits written in this kentry now-a-days, But it’s mostly ca’culated to be used to make a blaze; It’s aimed above the people's heads instid of at their hearts, Its message is Philosophy’s, its beauty all is Art's, And the poets, them as writes it, I suppose they wonder why When they print they're high-flown verses there ain't nobody ter buy ; But oncet a year go in the shops ‘nd hear the book-folks shout To the potery people: ** Riley's got a new book out. And in ‘Green Fields and Running Brooks" he warbles like a bird What knows the message of the dawn, the winds and water’s word, Here's songs of love and natur’ and joy and grief and jest All genuine ‘nd warranted—none printed but the best. Of course we like some other potes besides this Hoosier Jim, But there ain't no other one of ‘em ‘at ‘zactly matches him. Some says they ain't 20 poets now, but / ain't got no doubt. While I can hear ‘at Riley’s got a new book A WISE BOY. <TRANGER: Is the editor in? OFFICE Boy: What do you want to see him about ? comicbooks.com