Life, 1895-02-14 · page 7 of 18
Life — February 14, 1895 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "A Terrible Threat" - Life Magazine, Page 103 This cartoon satirizes schoolyard bullying and social hierarchies among children. A group of girls confronts what appears to be a vulnerable or unpopular peer, with the caption revealing a threat of physical violence—pushing the victim's face so hard her "back teeth 'll bend." The humor derives from the disproportionate severity of the threat (permanent dental damage) for a trivial schoolyard dispute. The illustration shows a crowd of children, suggesting mob dynamics and social pressure. The accompanying article discusses "Our Village" and artistic pursuits, but the cartoon's point is broader social commentary on childhood cruelty and how groups enforce conformity through intimidation and physical threats—a form of social commentary relevant to understanding turn-of-the-century American attitudes toward youth behavior.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
—-s I A STUDIO TEA. OR some reason which I have never under- stood the magnifying glass that distorts and exaggerates our trivial sayings and doings toan absurd extent fails to do even common justice to a great many of our good qualities, and consequently, an impression has gone abroad that the inhabitants of Our Village are a selfish and hard-hearted lot, and that we are all so engrossed in money making and money spending that we have no time for the culti- vation of art, letters and the musical glasses. Now I desire to say, in the most emphatic manner, that so far from being uncharitable, we are more prone to deeds of kindness than are many other people of my acquaintance, and that in no other community in the world is such hearty recognition extended to young yu writers and artists, In fact strangers have frequently commented on the attention paid in Our Village to those who, they assert, are regarded with feelings of indifference, if not absolute contempt, by the dwellers without our gates. I cannot better illustrate my meaning than by a recital of the manner in which that dear and charming Teddy Wimbledon came to the rescue of young Bob Grilton, whom he found almost stranded on what the poor boy must have considered the inhospitable shores of Our Village. When Bob first returned from Paris, where he had spent several years in the study of art, he leased what he called a studio in a rather shabby side street and went to work with brush and pencil, Now the boy really has a great deal of natural talent, and if he had only had fea 103 the sense to develop it by means of a suitable training, I am sure that he would have found no difficulty whatever in establishing himself as a successful and popular painter; but I am afraid that the years which be spent abroad were sadly wasted, for he learned nothing about giving studio teas, and brought back scarcely anything in the way of Persian rugs and an- tique lamps, which are, as we all know, abso- lutely essential to an artistic career, I am even told that until Teddy took hold of him he had never seen a lettuce sandwich and was utterly unable to converse in an unintelligible jargon about art. It is doubtful, indeed, if Bobby learned any- thing at all during his stay in Paris except drawing, and that is an accomplishment that cutsa very poor figure, I can assure you, in the artistic life of Our Village. Well, Bob worked away in his ramshackle studio and sent his pictures to the spring and fall exhibitions, where they were very much admired by those who were unable to buy them. He was growing poorer and poorer every day, and I don't know what would have become of him if he had not run across his old schoolmate, Teddy Wimbledon, one of the most popular of our young men and the very best and kindest fellow on earth. “One of YOU'M GIRLS SENT ME THIS, AN’ I'M A-GOIN' TO FIND OUT WHICH ow! A TERRIBLE THREAT. FACE IN SO FAR THAT HER BACK TEETH ‘LL BEND.” IT wuz, AN’ WHEN I DO I'LL PUSH. HER UGLY comicbooks.com