Life — August 8, 1901 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Life Magazine, August 8, 1901 This page features a satirical cartoon titled "LIFE" with an allegorical figure—a winged demon or devil character—confronting a crowd of small human figures. The demon appears menacing and predatory, suggesting Vice or some moral threat. The caption quotes Pope: "Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, / As to be hated needs but to be seen; / Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, / We first endure, then pity, then embrace." The cartoon illustrates this moral warning about how familiarity with vice leads to gradual acceptance and moral compromise. The small figures below represent ordinary people gradually accepting or becoming inured to whatever societal vice the artist critiques—though the specific contemporary reference remains unclear without additional context from the 1901 period.