Life, 1899-07-06 · page 15 of 20
Life — July 6, 1899 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Article: "Better Than Their Work"** This editorial criticizes American military operations in the Philippine-American War (ongoing at the time of publication). The author argues that while soldiers deserve admiration for their courage, the war itself is morally problematic—whether fought to suppress independence movements, correct avoidable mistakes, or impose governance on the Filipino population. The piece expresses ambivalence about the conflict's justification while praising the troops themselves. **Cartoons: "When They See Only by Night"** The two silhouette panels featuring Old Mr. Owl and Young Mr. Owl appear to be a humorous domestic scene where an older man warns a younger one against courting his daughter—a common Victorian-era joke format about courtship and parental protection. **"Enough Is a Feast" (by Andrew Lang)** A lighthearted poem comparing the financial value of Rudyard Kipling's writing to the author's own modest verse, measured humorously by meals it can afford rather than prestige. The page reflects early-1900s American debate over imperial expansion.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE - Better Than Their Work. HE more we hear of the war in the Phil- ippines the less attractive it secms as a national en- spect we have for the men who are busy with it. Fame goes very much by favor. More was written, printed, and ” read, about the advance of the Rough Riders up San Juan bill, than has been written and read, 60 far, about all the land fighting in the Philippines, Still, we read enough from day to day about the fighting 15 in Luzon to know what stern work it has been, and how exhausting, and how gallantly it is being carried on. It is amean job, however one looks at it, If we are fighting to subdue a people who deserve inde- pendence, it is deplorable ; if we are fighting because of mistakes that were avoidable, it is deplorable; if we are fighting to save from an- archy and tyranny eight millions of Malays who ure unfit forindepen- dent self-government, that is not so deplorable, but it is mighty dif. cult and dangerous, But whatever we are fighting for, our soldiers are doing their work in a way that entitles them to our warm admiration, We might well ask for a better job for them, but we couldn't ask for better men. “WHEN THEY SEE ONLY BY NIGHT." ‘ANDREW LANG Enough Is a Feast. HE pen-work of Rudyard {s valued, thoy say, At a guinea or two every minute; I reckon my verso, cither better or worse, By the number of meals there aro in it, In tho morning a comic quatrain is enough, T can breakfast quite nicely upon it; And I lunch and I dine, I smoke and I wine, And get protty woll jagged on a sonnet. | ee astronomy, to determine the motions of three bodics that attract one another is admittedly difficult, That's easy compared with the same problem in love, Young Mr, Owl: 1 GUESS HE WoN'T. comicbooks.com