Life — December 3, 1903 — page 15: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A MENTING OF THY SOCIETY POR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO MES IN THE FUTURE STRANDED ON A DESEKTED ASTEROID, A Latter-Day Fable. MAN was once walking along the Highway, when he met a Big Boy and a Little Boy carrying a Basket of fine Apples between them. The Man wanted the Apples very badly, and he offered the Big Boy Ten Dollars for them. But the Big Boy thought the Apples were worth more than Ten Dollars, and he refused to sell, though the Little Boy begged him to. As the Big Boy and the Little Boy started to walk on, the Man tipped a significant Wink to the Little Boy, who at once ‘‘caught on.’’ Snatching the Basket away from the Big Boy, he ran back with it to the Man and exchanged it for the Ten Dollars. When the Big Boy ran up to inflict Punishment on the Little Boy, the Man said he could not bear to see little Boys fight, so he held the Big Boy off while he ate up all the Apples himself. MORAL. This Fable teaches us that the Panama Canal must and SHALL BE constructed by U. S.! WILL. comicbooks.com