Life, 1893-06-01 · page 6 of 16
Life — June 1, 1893 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 348 The page features two distinct sections: **Left side:** A sketch portrait labeled "Portrait of the Young Man Who Says He Can Shave in the Dark." The cartoon mocks a man claiming an impossible feat—shaving safely without light—a humorous exaggeration of overconfidence or male bravado common in early 20th-century satire. **Right side:** An article discussing *Life* magazine's use as a Harvard textbook for English composition. The text humorously notes that Harvard professors have assigned *Life* to students, claiming it provides superior instruction in English writing compared to traditional composition textbooks. The piece celebrates this validation while poking fun at academic pretension and the magazine's broader cultural influence. The page combines visual satire with self-promotional commentary typical of *Life*'s irreverent style.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
348 OUR FRESH AIR FUND. HE days are here when children of the city begin to weaken from the heat and whea LiFe again asks you to lend a hand, Those youngsters who have had a taste of the country wish to try it again, and it seems no more thaa fair that those who have never seen it should be given a chance. Our farm is all ready waiting The fresh air, the fields and orchards are March #5. H. C.D. Apr. 24, Fresh Air Fund. May 1; In memory of Theo’ M. Lilienthal. 2 $1449.94 3.00 7.9? 5.02 4. Fresh J Fresh Air Fund, Little Nina Lit: jarbara and Little Winifred. $5 each... May 19, Proceeds of Fair held on March 25, by Oct, 22, Beatrice Daven- Marland W. Rollins, port... ose . Hans Zuisser, Walter Nov. 22, Baby T. Stern, Theo. Haum- Dee. 27, Xmas Day. man, Wm. G_ Morse timore.. and Arthur F. Gotthold, 189% May 22, Keystone Liter: Feb, 2, For Summer Fresh ary Society. Air Fund ..... May’ to, Fair held on May Feb. 18, Proceeds of sai 6, by Gertrude Kearney, of articlesat ©’ The Lau- Elsie Blake, Ruth Bene- rel in the Pines” Lake- dict and Ella Cann, wood, N.J.... ese names did not appear last year, but the amounts were included in this balance) 88.68 Total. $1766.37 The following note accompanied the very eftective donation which ends the list : My Dear“ Lire" :—We are four little girls about eleven years old, and on Saturday we had a fair for your Fresh Air Fund, and we made $88.68, which we send to you with this note, and we ‘hope you will send as many children as you can for this sum to the country. Your little friends, TRUDE KEARNY, ELste BLAKke, PORTRAIT OF THE YOUNG SHAV MAN WHO SAYS HE CAN IN THE DARK, “LIFE” AS A TEXT-BOOK AT HARVARD. ROFESSOR GREENOUGH, of Mass., has been writing on “ The English Question” in the Af//antic, and, after setting forth the terrible inability of the Young American to express himself in decent English, he advises certain self-evident remedies and concludes: “If this be done, . . we shall not have classes of freshmen in Harvard College to whom allusions to any literary work except the last number of LiFe are absolutely unintelligible. This is the case now, as I have been told by a Harvard pro- fessor, who formed his opinion from actual experiment.” This is the first authentic information that we have received that Harvard students are regularly examined by the English department as to their knowledge of Lire. It is gratifying tous to know that, however deficient they may have been found in a clear conception of Professor Wendell’s ** English Composition,” they were able to pass a first-rate examination (without cribs) on Lire. We suspect that the freshmen were found unusually well-informed about those numbers of Lire which have kindly but explicitly pointed out the faulty English in novels produced by Harvard professors. We frankly confess that LIFE has not been edited with the definite idea that it should be used as a text-book; it has been made rather as collateral reading for all university departments. Of course it has not been possible entirely to confine its circulation to university circles; a limited number of copies reaches the outside world—but when we have reached the Academic, Scientific, Veterinary and Theological depart- ments of a University like Harvard, we have felt that the main part of our mission has been accomplished. Our greatest felicity has been attained when we have received commendations like these: Harvarp University, th Avenue Stage cartoons have Their anatomy is “Dear Lip Your Fi thrown a new light on Veterinary Science. perfect.” Jones, V. S. Camprino Used your joke on the Bishop in y Thanks. SsitH, To Lirr: sermon to students with great effect, 1 words, collect, D.D. . . . “HE more we think about it, however, the better are we pleased with the idea of using LiFe as a regular college text-book in English. We can see that it has many advan- tages over existing text-books on the subject. To take the purely commercial side of it first, it can be bought on the instalment plan at ten cents a week, and this is a great con- venience to all the poorer students in our universities, How much easier is it for deserving young men to pay ten cents a week for LIFE rather than $1.50 at one fell swoop for Wen- dell's “ English Composition !”" comicbooks.com