Life, 1893-06-29 · page 11 of 17
Life — June 29, 1893 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Graduate" - Life Magazine Satire This page satirizes the tension between academic education and practical worldly experience. "Father World" (personified as an old, wizened figure) confronts a young Graduate, arguing that book learning doesn't prepare one for life's realities. The Graduate defensively claims scholarly credentials matter, but Father World dismissively calls him "confoundedly slow" and "awfully dull." The accompanying illustrations show the Graduate encountering various globes and maps—visual symbols of the world's complexity—while appearing small and helpless beside them. The satire mocks overeducated but naive young men entering society, suggesting that academic degrees and intellectual knowledge prove useless against practical experience. The poem's conclusion has the humbled Graduate apologizing for his youthful arrogance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
=<{=—= OU are old, * Father World," cried the é Graduate, ** But for one of your age and size, I feel it is only my duty to state You are not uncommonly wise." “That I'm aged,” replied Father World, “it is true, And not very wise I agree. Do you think tho’ it’s fair for a scholar like you To abuse an old fossil like me?” Said the youth, ** I refer not to college degrees, Nor dates that one crams in his skull, I complain not because you are lacking in these, But because you're so awfully dull ! “TL have studied you now I should think more or less For twenty-one years, and I know You right through and through, and I. can but confess You are really confoundedly slow.” Said the world, ‘* My dear sir, you are right, there's no crime Like dullness—henceforth I will try To be clever—forgive me! I'm taking your time, Perhaps we'll meet later! Good-bye!" * * . * LATER. ** You are cold, Father World, and harden'd forsooth,” Cried the young man, ‘and wondrous wise, And for any offensive remarks of my youth I beg to apologize." Oliver Herford. comicbooks.com