Life, 1901-04-04 · page 11 of 32
Life — April 4, 1901 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Inverted Fables" - Life Magazine, Page 273 This page presents a satirical story titled "Inverted Fables" that inverts traditional moral lessons. Two babies debate whether deliberately mistreating an infant (dunking her in cold water, wrapping her roughly, forcing medicated milk into her mouth, then passing her to an Irish nanny to be joggled around the park) constitutes cruelty or beneficial hardening. The First Baby claims this rough treatment built character; the Second Baby questions the logic. The satire criticizes turn-of-the-century "scientific" parenting advice that advocated harsh, austere child-rearing methods supposedly to toughen children—what we'd now recognize as harmful neglect disguised as pedagogy. The inverted fable format mocks the pseudoscientific justifications adults used for such practices.
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273 Migratory. HE ( plaiaticely): Oh, Harry, would it never occur to you that we have occupied this flat one year and three months? He: alize it. Didn't I agree with you the other day when yon sai K it was as near perfec- tion as a flat could possibly be and that we had never been comfortable any where? Sne: Of course I do like it, but we have lived here over a year! Don't you think that is long “ AOR CANNOT WITHER, NOM CUSTOM STALE HER INPINITE VARIETY.” enough to —? HE (resignedly): Yes, I think it is quite long enough to be suited and comfortable and at rest! Shall we go out and look for another place to-morrow ? “VY ES,” said the First Baby, contemplatively, “I woke Sue (calmly): I found one this morning. up this morning determined to do it, and I did it, and in very truth it v most enjoya- ble. Her struggles and kicks were so amusing that my sides shook with laughter. Nevertheless, I performed my duty conscientiously and remorse- lessly.”” “And to think,” said the Second Baby, “that it was your own mother.” Ah!" replied the First Baby, ‘and this but made it the more agreeable; for you, my dear friend, will pever know the truth until you have tried it yourself. And now let me tell you what I did. While it was yet morning and my mother was sleeping peace- fully, I proceeded to her bedside, and grasping her firmly, I hurried her into the bathroom, where I doused her well and good. Then I put her on my knee, rubbed and slapped her ardently with a coarse towel, wrapped her up in eighteen or twenty heavy blankets, and forced into her mouth the black rubber end of a bottle filled with milk that had been so much modified by science as to take all the good out of it. Then I gave her to a raw-boned Irish girl with a French accent, who pum- melled her into a baby carriage and took her out in the park and joggled her up and down the rest of the day.’’ Inverted Fables. Is THE Lanp OF THE OvGHT-TO-BE. MORAL. The Second Baby repressed a tear by a strong effort. “But wasn't this cruel?" he ob- served, with a pe tible shudder. “Cruel !”’ exclaimed the First Baby, contemptuously. “ Of course it was Magazine Editor: not. MY DEAR MADAM. 1 AVE MF: cruel, you idiot. That's why I enjoyed DENTE it so much !"" Y ATTEMPTED To GIVE YOU, NDLIEST SPIRIT, A PEW HINTS ON METRE AND CONSTRUCTION 1 WOULDN'T HAVE SUCH A MBAN DISPOSITION A® YOU MAY POR A THOUSAND DOLLARS !** comicbooks.com