Life, 1900-06-21 · page 5 of 20
Life — June 21, 1900 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis The main cartoon "A Bit of Unnatural History" depicts a lobster speaking to other crustaceans, satirizing arguments about physical capability. The dialogue—"you boys have no lungs, how do you get your breath?" with the response "we breathe in the shells!"—appears to mock illogical reasoning, possibly critiquing political or social arguments of the era. The three profile sketches labeled "Mr. Smith's Nose," "Mrs. Smith's Nose," and "Master Smith's Nose" form a humorous sequence showing how facial features vary within a family, likely satirizing pseudoscientific claims about heredity or racial characteristics popular in the early 1900s. The surrounding text pieces—"Degrees," "An Adage," "Some Penalties of Success," and complaint letters—are typical Life magazine satirical commentary on contemporary social issues.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
| \ A BIT OF UNNATURAL HISTORY. The Lobster: YOU BOYS HAVE NO LUNGS. Chorus of Clams: BIVALVES IN OUR SURLLS! An Adage. FPHERES an ancient adage under the sun-- “Two is company ; three is none!” But I fling a scoff at the truth of it; *Twas by a fool in his folly writ! For comrades never went footing by Dearer than Love, and Joy, and I! Clinton Scolard, ome Penalties of Success. T appears that Rhodes's Rald has cost Great Britain in killed, wounded and ‘missing, twenty.one thousand two hundred and fifty men. In noney, three hundred and fifty milion dollars. Also, her military prestige. But she has acquired the gold and diamonds. More serious even than the men and the money 1s the loss of the prestige, as It has shown her Continental enemies that she 1s not to be feared ; and this Knowledge cannot fall to hasten the next war. Moreover, by this South African mild she bas allenated, notably in America, the sympathies of several millions of people. Bat that ts neither bere nor there. HOW. DO YoU GET YOUR BREaTu? A Just Complaint. i ad EDITOR OF LIFE: Is there no way to compel the Metropolitan Street Railway to desist from the indecent crowding of the public on its open cars? Passengers are crowded in like cattle, and the fact that they are permitted to stand in the narrow space between the seats causes a personal contact both disgusting and in- decent. A Woman. Lire agrees perfectly with “A Woman,"’ except in one comparison. There are laws which control the transportation of cattle and prevent. their being crowded together as haman beings are crowded on the street cars of New York. ‘}]RESHIE (Harvard): How about the I. O. U.'s you gave me in our poker games ? Sopn: What? Haven't you turned them in to the librarian? I thought you were collecting them as English compositions to be sealed up for one hundred years. 525 : Degrees. GENERAL (haughtily): I went to the war and defended my country. STaTESMAN (wearily): That's nothing. I stayed at home and defended the war. I is reassuring to be informed that the recent announcement that a ig ¥ beer-drinking contest would be one of the events in the class-day sports at Columbia College was a_ profligate falsehood, designed and uttered with intent to scandalize and deceive. Sad to say, the report was not successfully contradicted until at least one body of y..¢ Woman's Christian Temperance Union ladies in New York had thrown fits over it for the better part of a day and passed. resolutions of remonstrance. To mis- lead these estimable ladies was a despicable act, the doers of which will get no sympathy if they are caught and caned by Dr. Low. THE LAW OF EQUALIZATION. MR. SMITH'S NOSE, Me MRS. SHITH'S NOSE, 3 oe r MASTER SMITH'S NOSE.