Life, 1905-12-14 · page 5 of 24
Life — December 14, 1905 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three unrelated humorous sketches typical of early 20th-century satirical magazines: **"In Athens"** depicts tourists at the Parthenon. The caption quotes someone mocking classical antiquity—"Keeps of Temple of Theseus... built more dan four hundred year B.C." and "I was just goin' to say it was a dead steal of the sub-treasury in New York"—satirizing American provincial ignorance and boastfulness. **"Mythology"** jokes about classical education: a teacher asks what Ceres is; a student replies she's "the goddess of continued stories" (confusing her with serialized fiction). **"Unexpected Surplus"** and **"At Tuxedo"** are brief comic exchanges about hair-burning and social pretension. These sketches target American cultural illiteracy and class pretensions rather than specific political figures or events.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
IN ATHENS. ‘DEES DR TAMPLE OF THESEUS. REEL? DAN FOUR 'ONDERT VEAR B.C." “ S'LONG AGO AS THAT, EM? 1 WAS JUS! Mythology. EACHER: What _ is goddess 0 Errir: Series, ma‘am, is the goddess of continued stories! Unexpected Surplus. Ceres the Shampoo? No— he ends of the hair ? Experty Party: Say, do I look as if I had hair to burn? * TO SAY IT WAS A DEAD STEAL OF THE SUD-TREASURY IN NEW YORK."* At Tuxedo. ITTLE BOSTON GIRL: Are you a cottager? Littte Harem Boy: flatterer. No, I'm a comicbooks.com