Life, 1900-01-18 · page 7 of 20
Life — January 18, 1900 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 47 The main illustration depicts a scene titled "What Might Have Been If Li Hung Chang Had Been Born of Different Parents." Li Hung Chang was a prominent Chinese diplomat and statesman. The cartoon shows him as a Western-style office worker or businessman at a desk, wearing Western clothing and a hat, surrounded by Western furnishings and papers. The satire appears to mock the idea of cultural assimilation—suggesting that if this important Chinese figure had been raised in Western society instead, he would be merely an ordinary clerk or functionary rather than a significant statesman. It plays on late-19th-century assumptions about Western superiority while simultaneously mocking Western ordinariness, implying that even "Western" training couldn't make someone truly exceptional.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ERIE OEY. ——— sions, Tho New England seacoast in winter, in ono picture, and tho Bahamas in the next, give plenty of seope for color and felicity of phrase, He is never a pompdus poet, and thero is no brass band in his verses. The nearest he comes to it is in these lines: There ts fox upon the river, there is murk upon the town You ¢an heat the groping ferries as they hoot eactother down ; From the Rattery to Harlem there ts seven yn! miles of slush, Through looming granite canyons of glitter, > noise and rush, * * “proch. ieee On Economy. Ti chalut of saving your mone¥eis oné which shontd be ‘followed by every respectable young man ‘who de- ‘Afred to succeed. ' This Is comparatively easy wiien an énrly'start ix made. It should be remembered ‘that If one cent be put méthe savings bank fhen ‘you Ave? say} thréé anoptha! old; it tt be? Aavefully. guarded fratehieaand. Kept safe fro he unscrupulous’ ey@oft the eashl ident, hd if, atte Yon ttevery year you inust not fi Ahateiit thirtecn? om years, Jast when youl heed It most to get Antolcollewe? with; It will then ai ‘to'two cents ® --* Tul ts only one remarkable example of the n- creasthg capacity of tnonty Jydiciously tnvested. Of course, should you prefer some otheravenue for'your penny, greater care should be exercised, but the same prineipte holds good, Putting your money: in some home misstonary soctety {8 not a Lad thipg. Invested In this way 1t goes further than tp any otber. Dreadful ! IRST BRITON; Another overwhelming victory yesterday in the Transvaal. ; COND Briton (ahuddering): Is it so bad as that? Talks With Fictitious Personages. 1 DOCTOR VON SERUM, MONG fictitious personages whom I have met, no one occupies a more secure position than Doctor Von Serum. His stern P sense of professional B/ etiquette and his great f financial success en- title him tothe highest consideration. It is truc that he is some- what baughty in bis bearing, but this is not strange or unusual in one of his calling. When, as a young man, he wasstruggling to gain a foothold, bisconscientious work, bis great care, even with WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN IF LI HUNG CHANG HAD BEEN BORN OP DIYPRRENT PARENTS. unimportant cases, his honesty of intention and his extreme modesty, excited my highest admiration, Ashe advanced in his profession, however, and grew prosperous, I detected a marked change in his methods. One by one he yielded to the inevitable temptations which he was sure to meet. I determined, there- fore, that upon the first opportunity I would show him that there was one whom he had failed to deceive. Waiting one day in his office until his other patients had been dismissed, 1 plunged at once into the heart of the whole matter. “Doctor,” I said, abruptly, ‘I have been studying you and your methods for some time, and I have come to the conclusion that you are more or less of a fraud. Your dogmatic assump- tion of superiority amuses me, for bebind it all lam convinced you know no more than I do. Indeed, your ignorance and