Life, 1894-07-05 · page 4 of 16
Life — July 5, 1894 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine, July 5, 1894: "The New Graduate" This page offers satirical advice to recent college graduates entering the workforce. The central cartoon depicts a young man on a swing or trapeze, symbolizing the precarious position of starting adult life. The accompanying text argues that while graduates theoretically understand work's value, they often underestimate its practical demands and the unremarkable nature of entry-level positions. The satire targets graduates' inflated expectations. The text suggests most new workers possess only basic qualifications—"some sense, some education, some intelligence"—hardly exceptional. The piece mockingly notes that finding meaningful work is difficult, and many graduates will eventually accept ordinary jobs alongside ordinary people. The overall message: realistic expectations and humility are necessary virtues for young professionals.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- "While thece is Life there's Hope.” VOL. XXIV. JULY 5, 1894. No, 601. 1g West Tuirty-First StREET, New York, Published every Thursday. $5.00 a year inadvance. Postage to foreign countries in the Postal Union, $1.04 a year, extra. Single copies, 10 cents. Rejected contributions will be destroyed unless accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope. c HE new college z5 graduate is at home again by this time, or has joined his folks at the seashore, or fof is on his way wy yp) to Europe 7 with this copy of LIFE in his hand, and has leisure atlast to listen to a few remarks. What is said to him at Com- mencement and for a fortnight before, naturally affects him little, so many claims there are upon his attention, and particularly so many last ceremonies, stirrup cups and farewells, that baccalaureate exhorters ought not to expect to reach his mind. But now that he has quit the classic shades, and his nine has played its last game, and his crew rowed its race, his mind will perhaps have regained the receptive attitude. OT that LiFe has so very much to say to him. He not a senior any more, but just a plain, common man, like the rest of us. The drop is considerable. In the ordinary course of things there are few collapses possible that are to be compared with it in suddenness and intensity, But it is the com- mon lot, and that helps to make it tolerable, and another thing that helps is that the new grad- uate has discounted it all beforehand, It is conceded on all sides that the editors and paragraphers and ink-slinging philosophers generally have dealt so faithfully in times past with the new graduate that there is no longer any conceit left in him, and when he emerges nowadays from hi: mater’s embrace he fetches away a state of mind that is anything, even more self-deprecatory than it should be. Blessed is he that expecteth little, for he shall not be disap- pointed. But he must not overdo it. It is better to risk some reasonable setbacks than to suffer the solid disadvan- tages which come from not expecting enough. Let the new graduate recognize that the world is full of good things, and that he has as good a chance as other men—a far better chance than the majority of other men—to get his share of them, Let him comfort himself with the recollection that in thirty or forty years time the great majority of the men who are great and famous now, and have good jobs, will have quit work, and other persons will be drawing their salaries and enjoying their various emoluments. * . . HEORETICALLY, of course, the new graduate knows that time works wonders. Practically he probably does not realize what remark- able results may grad- ually grow out of do- ing day after day for successive years the reasonable thing that is within one’s power. Re- garding him as he sits NF, with his legs hanging over the edge of a new phase of existence, LIFE is impress not so much with the difficulty he will find in making a name and a living on this bustling planet, as with the excellent pickings this planet affords to people who are qualified to gather them. And what sort of people are qualified? Peo- ple of extraordinary gifts? Exceptional people? Oh, yes; sometimes ; but the bulk of them are honest folks who have some sense, some education, some intelligence, some patience and some fidelity, and who are able to keep as much rum as is necessary out of their insides and to do some sort of a day’s work about three hundred times a year. Surely these are not very exacting qualifications, but if the new graduate has them and lives up to them, it is not over-bold of him to expect to find the world a fairly lucrative field for labor. It is full of chances and the people who get them are the people who have got all ready to take them. It is the getting ready beforehand that is important, and that is a matter of daily labor which has to be personally performed. The chances take care of themselves, and just about as many seem to come to men who can’t improve them as to men who can. . . . I" is an interesting world full of work to be done and of people who want to be paid for doing it, full of folks whom it is good to help and of others whom it is desirable to hinder. Come down here in the ring, young Mr. New Gradu- ate, and learn to do your act. It is good for you to be here, and LIFE hopes that you will like it, and that you may learn quickly, and perform well, and command the approval of the spectators. comicbooks.com