Life, 1903-04-16 · page 13 of 22
Life — April 16, 1903 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical humor piece critiquing the behavior of a college-age son and his financially-struggling self-made father. The cartoon (showing cherubs/putti with geese) illustrates the epigraph about spring and love. The "postals" format presents a one-sided correspondence where the son repeatedly asks for money while describing irresponsible behavior: buying new clothes, cutting classes, drinking heavily (beer and crème de menthe), a failed engagement requiring new waistcoats, and wanting funds for an automobile. Each request is framed casually or with feigned innocence ("raising a crop of peaches"). The satire targets: - **Generational entitlement**: The son's constant demands despite his father's modest means - **College excess**: drinking, gambling (poker), and moral laxity - **Consumer culture**: perpetual need for new goods and luxuries The title's contrast—"home-made son to self-made father"—suggests the father built his wealth through hard work, while his son squanders it through frivolity. The implied frustration (the father's unshown responses) makes the son's obliviousness the joke.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘ “POW LOVE AND SPRING MAKE A Goose or Every oNne."—Old Ballad. Postals from a Home-made Son to a Self-made Father. [ EAR FATHER: Larrived on the college green this morning. Something is wrong with my clothes, as I was made considerable Yun of. Am going to get a new suit. Will send you bill. Yours, Jim. Dear Pa: Cut chapel this morning. All the boys doit. Lam keeping away from whiskey as you suggest. Have you ever tasted cr¢me de menthe? It settles your dinner, Yours, Jim. Dear Por: You are way off on temperance question. Beer is the great leveler. If we all drank beer there would be no drunkards, I got away with ten bottles last night. Dead easy. Yours, Jim. Dear Dap: Would you care if I got marriet I was introduced to a lovely girl last night. She is older than I, but a few don’t matter, What allowance can we count on from you? Wire answer. Jim. Dear Fatuer: If you have not yet answered my last postal, don’t bother. Affair all off. She went back on me in most shameful manner, After all, she was only a college widow. I send bill for new waistcoats. Had to have ‘em: Yours, Dear Governor: Can you let me Jim. have my next month's allowance? By the way, have you ever played poker? Great game, isn’t it? iin, Dear Dap: How is everything around the old homestead? How's Dobbin, and are tho calves taking notice yet? I love the old place dearly. Send me a hundred, will you? I'm raising a crop of peaches myself. Jim. Dear Por: I've just got an invite from a chum to spend the vacation with him, so don’t expect me. Say, can’t you get a second mortgage on the farm, and send me enough to buy an automobile ? Yours, Jim. Dear O_p Boy: It was handsome com it ‘| icbooks.com