Life, 1905-02-02 · page 28 of 40
Life — February 2, 1905 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts **Mr. Alfred Austin** riding a donkey while precariously balancing a large bowl or vessel. Austin was a British poet and critic known for superficiality in his literary judgments—a quality Life frequently mocked. The exaggerated, unstable composition satirizes his precarious intellectual position and the absurdity of his pretensions. The smaller illustration shows two anthropomorphic cats in domestic dress with accompanying dialogue about promising lifelong love, likely a sentimental parody of romantic poetry or greeting-card sentimentality. The accompanying text discusses American "superficiality" and reviews books including one by Bliss Perry on "The Amateur Spirit." The page critiques both British cultural pomposity (represented by Austin) and shallow American attitudes. The satire targets both specific literary figures and broader cultural pretension of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
PRESS HERE is no national accusation more often laid against America | or more often received by Americans ® with incredulous surprise than th superficiality. Indeed, the ve and adaptiveness which the fault tend to make us unmind- ‘ ful of its existence ; nor is the German tempt, the Frenc ment, nor the E herly patrona ninded conviction of glish- e con- elder-bre ducive toan open-r sin. Yet if we resent instruction, we sometimes take a hint, and in his essays upon The Amateur Spirit Mr. Bliss ] Perry offers us, clothed in his delight- ful pr 1 suggestions The Gray World, by Evelyn Under- hill, is a strangely eccentric coupling me delicate and graceful on this touchy question. of mysticism and satire, which lures one on in hopes of promised wisdom which is never forthcoming. The book, “WILL YOU PRO! WHOLE LIFE LoxG “AYE, MORE THAN THAT, KITTY ; 1 PROM- ISE TO LOVE YOU THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE MR. ALFRED AUSTIN. OF MY NINE LIVES. comicbooks.com