Life, 1899-02-02 · page 14 of 20
Life — February 2, 1899 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon:** Columbia (personification of America) scolds "William" (likely Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany) for not sweeping "insects" from "the establishment." This is Cold War-era or WWI-adjacent satire critiquing Germany's failure to control internal instability or political extremism. **Bottom Cartoon:** A social satire on materialism. Two gentlemen discuss "wedgewood" (fine pottery)—representing refined taste—while a woman between them appears distressed or conflicted, suggesting wealth/status supersedes genuine emotion. **Poem "In Modern Times":** A classical allegory modernized: Cupid's arrows (love) fail to move people until tipped with gold (money). The satire is explicit: wealth now conquers hearts where genuine affection once did, critiquing the era's materialism and commercialism replacing romantic or moral values. All three pieces target similar themes: failed institutions, moral decay substituted by greed or force.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Columbia: WILLIAM, HAVEN'T I TOLD YOU MORE TITAN ONCE TO SWEEP TUOSE INSECTS OUT OF THE ESTABLISUMENTT Zave arther “HOW DOES THAT CIT OF WEDGE WOOD STRIKE YOU, MY DREARY” In Modern Times. EEPING, there came to Venus whero she sat 'Mid fairy bowers, within her Cyprian seat, Hor rosy son, Cupid the archer-boy, And flung his sheath ofarrowsat her feet. For many years, upon love’s mischief bent He'd roamed at will, and sent his well-aimed darts: But now, some evil god had charmed mankind, For lo! his arrows failed to pierce their hearts, ‘Then Venus comforted and soothed him; called For clever Vulean, and the sorrow told; And Vulcan, smiling, gathered up the shafts, And tipped each little fairy point with gold. Now Cupid, glad again, goes through tho land Upon love's mischief bent, with bow and dart; And where his arrows once could not avail, Now, tipped with gold, they pierce the hardest heart, BJ.