Life, 1903-04-30 · page 3 of 20
Life — April 30, 1903 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts a couple discovering a "Garden" labeled "To Let" with a sign reading "To a Highly Respectable Couple" and instructions to "Inquire Within." The couple appears to be a caveman-like figure and a woman in a cart, seemingly mocking primitive or lower-class people seeking respectable housing—the satire being the absurdity of such people being granted "respectable" accommodations. The accompanying text sections include fables and moral lessons. "Aesop Up to Date" tells of a farmer who kills a golden-egg-laying goose after a syndicate outsmarts him—commenting on greed and failed schemes. The "Degrees" section satirizes the value of college degrees, suggesting they're increasingly meaningless despite what institutions claim. The overall page mocks social pretension, class anxiety, and institutional claims of respectability.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ee: = OA HGHLY [Regphgutiy | Coupie Tus GARDEN, INCLUDING FRuiT TREES AyD MENAGERIE within wquike USIC is the art to which He's wedded, not disguising ‘A morganatic union with The art of advertising. Esop Up to Date. THE. GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGGS. ONCE upon a Time, a Farmer going to the nest of his Goose, found there an Egg of Pure Gold. To his Great Delight this same Phenomenon occurred every Day, and by Selling his Gold Eggs the Farmer soon became Rich enough to give his Wife a Dia- mond Tiara, But she, being a Properly Ambitious ‘Woman, desired also a Diamond Sun- THE ORIGINAL MAY YinsT. burst and a Stomacher set with Rubies and Emeralds, ‘‘for,"’ said she,“ I wish to shine in New York Society.” Whereupon the Farmer offered his Goose to a Syndicate for a Fabulous Price, telling them that by killing the Goose at Once, they could secure a Practically Unlimited Supply of Gold. The Syndicate eagerly snapped at the Chance, and paid the Farmer his Fabulous Price. They then killed the Goose and opened it, only to find Nothing, while the Farmer casually remarked to his Wife, ‘‘ Ha-ha, Ha-ha.” Mora: Wisdom is better than Rabies. Carolyn Wells. Degrees. ~CHOLASTIC degrees never meant much, They mean less now, probably, than ever. What if there were no degrees ? Those who go to school in order to graduate would stay away, of course. Those who go to learn would still go, and study as long as they found study worth while, be it a year, or four years, or ten years, True, we have Mrs. Astor’s word for it that nobody is a real gentleman un- less he is a college graduate. Butafew real gentlemen go a good ways. One or two small colleges bestowing de- grees would supply an abundance, comicbooks.com