Life — December 9, 1905 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page contains a satirical section about **Mr. Brockway, Mayor of Elmira**, a former Superintendent of the Elmira Reformatory who was charged with cruelty and removed from his position. He was subsequently elected Mayor. The text mocks this outcome as absurd—that someone investigated and presumably discredited for mistreating inmates at a reformatory would nonetheless be elected to higher office. The satire suggests citizens voted for him despite (or ignorant of) his problematic record, characterizing this as a commentary on public judgment and electoral choices. The section also includes unrelated literary content ("Horatius at Bridge") and a joke about Chinese porcelain at the bottom. The illustrated vignettes appear decorative rather than directly satirical to this narrative.