Life, 1902-09-04 · page 3 of 22
Life — September 4, 1902 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Illustration:** A seasonal vignette showing a person resting in a hammock during September, with clouds and landscape. **Main Content:** A poem signed "Lucas" criticizing wealth inequality. It contrasts the rich's financial schemes ("stock, and bond, and fiting dividend") with working people's struggles, using the dollar sign ($) as a symbol of dividing society. **Comic Exchange:** A brief dialogue about a new butler, with one character praising him as "a peach" for making them "feel at home at once." **Bottom Cartoon:** Three men in what appears to be a confrontational scene, with caption "YET, TET! YOU ARE NOT GOING TO FIGHT?" and "I AIN'T DIDN'T YER FUST HEAD HIM CALL YE SE BLAMED ARISTOCRAT?" This satirizes class tensions and working-class resentment of wealthy elites, likely reflecting early 20th-century American social anxieties.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“ $ ” POTENT SYMBOL, dollar-mark divine, That charms away the legion ills of life, Inspires our daily toil, our fiercest strife ! For some must work, while others scheme to rake In cash of fondest innocents and make Their everlasting fortunes. How we shun, When thou art coy, the landlord and the dun ! The rich man’s thanks, the poor man’s curse are thine. O sweet, mine own! Come, fairy, dwell with me, ‘That we may roam the golden vales along, Where coupons sing the sweet, alluring song Of stock, and bond, and fatling dividend ; We'll burn the legal tender to the end Of all our mortal days. It's up to thee! Lucas, } EW ARRIVAL: Well! Well! I had an idea that heaven was paved with gold. Sr. Peter: No—anthracite. Fit. } RS. GILTEDGE: How do yon like the new butler? Giutepor : He’s a peach! Made me feel at home at once! “TCT, TUT! YoU ARE NoT Gono To FlonT!” “t ain't? DIDN'T YER JEST HEAR MIM CALL ME ER BLAMED ERtsTOCRAT!” comicbooks.com