Life — December 2, 1901 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This illustration satirizes childhood aspirations through a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson's *A Child's Garden of Verses*. The cartoon depicts children in an interior setting with a decorated Christmas tree, examining toys and dolls. The satire targets the sentiment expressed in the verse: a child's boastful promise to be "proud and great" as an adult and to selfishly guard possessions from others. The visual context—children surrounded by material goods—underscores the irony: the child speaker imagines future greatness defined by toy ownership and exclusionary behavior rather than genuine accomplishment or generosity. The illustration critiques how childhood materialism and possessiveness can reflect or predict adult character flaws, suggesting that such attitudes persist into adulthood.