Life, 1905-10-05 · page 17 of 44
Life — October 5, 1905 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several satirical pieces satirizing early 1900s American society: **"A Parent's Plea"** (poem): A father laments his 8-year-old son's modern education. The boy excels at practical crafts (raffia work, paper boats), learns science and astronomy, but cannot read or write. The satire mocks progressive education trends that emphasized manual skills and scientific knowledge while neglecting basic literacy—suggesting schools prioritized fashionable subjects over fundamentals. **"The New Régime"**: A brief anecdote about families switching from Dr. Lubbig to Dr. Pond for delivering babies, implying casual consumerism toward medical care. **"A Warning"** (bottom cartoon): A man threatens his wife that if she divorces him, he'll never remarry her—absurd logic presented as marital "wisdom." The page also includes brief aphorisms and a joke about Oklahoma weather (tornado/cyclone). The overall tone satirizes contemporary American anxieties about education reform, medical practice, and domestic relations circa 1900s-1910s.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- 395 A Parent’s Plea. M Y little boy is eight years old, He goes to school each day He doesn’t mind the tasks they set— at play. He heads his class at raffia work, And also takes the lead At making dinky paper boats— But I wish that he could read. ‘They seem to him They teach him physiology, And, O, it chills our hearts ‘To bear our prattling innocent Mix up his inward parts He also learns astronomy And names the stars by night— late, But I wish that he could write. OF course he’s very up: They teach him thi nical, y how to draw, He babbles of mytholog And gravitatic And the discoveries of science With h They tell me he’s a clev But I wish tha ‘slaw; te a fad, he could Po McArthur The New Regime. R. LUBBIG had passed on, and many of his patients were em- ploying Dr. Pond. A litt had a good many brothers and sisters, proudly anne wh need to ar hbor “We have a new baby at ot ‘A new baby!" sai “Where did you get it? “Well, we used to take from Dr. Libbig; now we take from Dr. Pond.” hou neighbor. OME people hoard their ignorance like a mise LOVER is known by the pulse he keeps. * DAPA, is Ti “Very, my * And bald-h “ Why—er—yes. “Then how can he be taken by the forelock ?” an old man ? é —WEB-Kine. HEN the soldiers were on the stage, Japan rejoiced and Russia mourned. When the statesmen were on the stage, Japan mourned and Russia rejoiced Oklahoma. R: .Wagin er rail? ew Arrivat: Cyclone. A WARNING, He (threateningly): MARIA, | WARN YOU, IF YOU GET A DIVORCE FROM ME, AS YoU! SAY YOU WILL, ULL NEVER MARRY YOU AGAIN AS LONG AS YOU LIVE. comicbooks.com