Life, 1905-11-30 · page 5 of 24
Life — November 30, 1905 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Image:** Shows two figures with a child on a leash in snowy conditions—"The Smallest Contributions Thankfully Received" likely satirizes charitable giving or public assistance. **"A Traveler's Soliloquy":** The caricatured figure (with exaggerated features typical of period satire) delivers a monologue about paying small fees and gratuities during travel. The piece mocks the culture of tipping and minor charges travelers face—porters, servants, etc. The speaker rationalizes these expenses as necessary costs of service, though complaining about their accumulation. **Bottom dialogue:** A brief exchange ("Dobbie, were you looking through the keyhole...") appears to be separate comic content. The satire targets the frustrating nickel-and-diming aspect of travel and service culture in this era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE SMALLEST CONTRIBU A Traveler’s Soliloquy. fee, or notto fee ; that isthe question : Whether ‘tis nobler in the purse to suffer went payments for outrageous service, against a sea of troubles, And by refusing, end them?—To fee,—to pay,— and, by this means, to say we end and the thousand little shocks 's heir to,—'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To fee,—to pay ;— To pay ! perchance for naught:—ay, there's the rub; For by those foolish fees what loss must come, When we have shuffled out the last small coin, Must give us pause, There's the respect That makes calamity of so long custom : But who would bear the open scorn of men Who wait on us, the proud maid’s contumely, ‘The pangs of the despised, the long delays, ‘The insolence of office, and the spurns That haughty menials to the unfeeing give TIONS THANKFULLY RECEIVED, When he himself might willing service gain With a bare tuppence ?- Who would bagga To grunt and sweat under a weary load, But for the dread of empty pocketbook ? ‘The undiscover'd country, where are no tips,— From such a bourn no traveler returns. ‘That makes us rather pay those fees we must, Than fly to troubles that we know not of. Thus comfort does make cowards of us all; And thus the dogged hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er when we but mect the gaze And see th’ expectant palm of man or maid, With this regard, the purse’s stri And lose its small denominations.—Soft you now ! The fair Bedelia. —Maid, in thy Be all my fees remember'd. gs untie ntions A. R. Whittemore. “* DOBBIE, were you looking through the keyhole last night at me and your sister ?"" ** Honest, no. Mother was in the way.”” comicbooks.com