Life, 1905-04-20 · page 9 of 28
Life — April 20, 1905 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The image shows two young children in formal attire with the dialogue: "Bobby, why don't you stand up?" / "Are we to be married, too?" The accompanying text titled "Achievement" contrasts two young persons born with equal literary bent: one wrote a novel and gained "ephemeral credit," while the other "went patiently to work" and learned gardening, eventually producing a "garden book every week" by age nineteen. The cartoon satirizes childhood confusion about social rituals—the child misunderstands the formal wedding setting, assuming "standing up" means participating in marriage himself. The broader editorial message celebrates practical accomplishment (gardening/horticultural writing) over fleeting literary success, reflecting early 20th-century Life magazine's tendency toward moral instruction alongside humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AT THE WEDDING “pony, WHY DON’T You STAND UP?” “ARE WE TO RE MARRIED, TOO?" Achievement. WO young persons, ee upon a time, were equally born with the literary bent One of these wrote a novel forthwith, and gained a cer the six best-sell- ing novels for precisely ten scconds by the stop-watches tain ephemeral cre His was amon! But the other young person went patiently to work and learned how to garden before ever he put pen to paper Thus he laid a broad and deep foundation for literary achievem He was scarcely heard of until after he was nineteen, but thenceforth he produced a garden boo every week The tilling of the soil is the basis of all genuine pros- perity comicbooks.com