Life, 1903-09-17 · page 15 of 20
Life — September 17, 1903 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1903 *Life* page contains satirical social commentary through a two-part structure: **The Cartoon ("Serenata"):** D. Cupid's illustration depicts a cherub observing a romantic couple in an alcove above while a figure below (appearing to dig or labor) works beneath them. The epitaph "Depth" mocks shallow romanticism—suggesting love exists only on life's surface while labor and hardship support society invisibly below. **The Definitions Section:** This satirizes American types through mock-dictionary entries. "Statesman" is extinct (post-1865, suggesting Reconstruction-era decline). "Plutocrat" is a monster confined to "Trusts"—referencing the monopolistic corporations dominating early 1900s America. "Poet" is a delusional fantasist; "Philosopher" a pretentious fool. **The Society Essay:** Closing commentary on class structure uses bridge metaphor: upper-class society requires an exploited underclass ("submerged tenth") as foundation, now worsening—three-tenths are submerged. This critiques industrial inequality. The overall message: American society rests on invisible suffering while celebrating romantic and commercial illusions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
275 Depth. ENEATH this marble slab there lies Am of enterprise. How much he left I do not wis, Nor just how fir beneath he is. Definitions. A STATESMAN.—A type of A American that flourished from 1776-1865. He is supposed to be ex- tinct: g| i re rumors of the only surviving one hav ing been seen in A Pivtocrat.—A_ kin monster—having a small hy and large body. Ie is seen alone, but is fe tribes known ag‘ Trusts.” Oceasionally one who has jar from his cave is killed in Wall Street. A Port.—A guileless inno- cent who worships a divinity which he calls the Godd t Beauty. He is very popular With the savants who write comic paragraphs for the daily press. He keeps them from —The prose Curtpres. — The illustra- tions. Bacnetons. — Unbound copies. Moxey.—A symbol of self ishness. Fawr.—A phantom A’ Puttosoruer.—A man who thinks he has solved life's enigma. A Foot (2). A man who knoves he cannot solv Tur Bony Deatu.—Free Ernest Neal Lyon, Society. Goclery is like a bridge \ tower—the higher up it goes the deeper has to be the foundation. Time was when a sub- merged tenth afforded a sufficient foundation for so- ciety. But the structure has been rising pretty rapidly of late, until now, according to the latest statistics of Lon- SERENATA don life, about three-tenths D. Cupid. are submerged. Copyright, #903, by Lite Pudtishing Co. comicbooks.com