Life — August 20, 1903 — page 2: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Page Analysis This page contains **primarily advertisements** for the Searchmont automobile ($2,500) and Pommery Champagne, with minimal editorial content. The right side features a poem titled **"What Might Have Been"** by W. E. P. French, a satirical piece imagining alternate histories for various named individuals—"Adam," "Jonah," "Joshua," "Methuselah," "Noah," etc.—had they possessed modern knowledge or opportunities. Each stanza humorously suggests these biblical/historical figures could have become wealthy industrialists, monopolists, or famous figures if they'd understood modern business and technology. Below this is a brief humorous anecdote titled **"Not So Very Bad"** about a young boy on a Boston Harbor boating party who ingeniously avoids seasickness. The page reflects early 1900s *Life* magazine's blend of advertising, light verse satire, and brief comic stories rather than political cartooning.