Life, 1896-06-18 · page 10 of 18
Life — June 18, 1896 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This page contains two satirical pieces about social hierarchies. **"A Good Foundation"** (top cartoon) depicts a college graduate being praised for his "useful knowledge" by his uncle, who had only "common school education." The joke mocks the pretentiousness of formal education—the graduate's knowledge appears purely theoretical. **"Tall Men"** (bottom section) satirizes discrimination against short men. The author expresses frustration that tall men monopolize social respect despite no actual merit, comparing their arbitrary advantage to a dog-fight. The piece notes absurdities: tall men can wear clothes that fit poorly and still look respectable, while short men cannot. A poem concludes that honest merit should matter more than height—a direct critique of society's superficial status judgments based on physical characteristics rather than character.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘A GOOD FOUNDATION. “JACK, YOU HAVE AN UNUSUAL AMOUNT OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR A MAN J “WELL, You SEE, UNCLE, I HAD A GOOP COMMON SCHOOL EDUCAT! TALL MEN. t HATE a tall man. I SS hate him from the J ground up. Tall men in- jure and despoil me in a thousand ways. Suppose that I am in an encircling crowd trying to yaze upon something of rare concern, A tall man immediately plants himself in front of me and obscures all that part of the firma- ment below the Northern Star. Can I ask him to step aside? Certainly, if 1 wish to confess to my shortness, but pride forbids. I try in silence to steal such glimpses of the spectacle as may suffice for the humble, and the tall man, looking on at his ease, as if he sat in a watch-tower, doubles his satisfaction by turning about and catch- ing me craning my neck. In the meantime I can feel that another May-pole in rear is swelling with pride to think that he can look over my head. I have never yet seen a dog-fight. Four yards of cloth makea short man a suit of clothes; but when he orders a suit at the tailor’s he must pay for five yards. Why? Simply because some tall outrage will need six yards, and the short man is held to make GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE.” ORE | WENT THERE.” up the average. Look at the brazen-faced giant, the complacent robber, swing- ing down the street! He is wearing two feet of trouser leg that some short man paid for,and he makes a fine appearance. And what is the short man do- ing? He is wearing the other two feet of trouser leg, and he is not account- ed to make any appearance at all. Pope was a short man. He had the short man’s mar- velous brain, but also the short man’s sensibility. How perfect the world once seemed to him! ‘An honest man 's the noblest work of God,” he once said, seized with a lofty sentiment and thinking that he was hitting the nail on the head. But after a series of mortifying incidents which culminated at a levee where the top of his head was mistaken for a figure in the Japanese rug, he felt constrained to qualify his original statement: An honest man’s the noblest work of all — With this condition, that he’s six feet tall ; An honest man from five to five feet eight, Though none respect yet some may tolerate; While shorter still their merit best display, To rapt beholders, in the dime musée. comicbooks.com