Life — April 20, 1905 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Life's Sunday-School Class This satirical cartoon depicts a Sunday school lesson where a young teacher attempts to instruct a group of caricatured adult men (identified as Teddy Roosevelt, Willie Bryan, Tommy Platt, Jacob Riis, and Booker T. Washington) as if they were unruly children. The joke mocks these public figures by portraying them as childish and argumentative—bickering over classroom rules, insulting each other, and refusing to behave. The teacher struggles to maintain order while the "students" prioritize personal attacks over learning. This appears to satirize American political and social leaders of the early 1900s, suggesting their public behavior was petty and immature rather than dignified or statesmanlike. The cartoon uses the metaphor of a chaotic classroom to critique their conduct.