Life, 1906-10-25 · page 5 of 24
Life — October 25, 1906 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces about wealth and excess in early 20th-century America. **"Éclat"** (left) mocks the French term for "brilliance" by proposing an American version using denatured alcohol. The satire targets Prohibition-era America, where denatured (poisoned) alcohol was used industrially. The joke: wealthy Americans might resort to drinking this toxic substitute rather than abandon their lavish lifestyle—suggesting that maintaining appearances matters more than health or safety. **"The Right to Live"** (right) tells of Harold, a young wealthy man who inherits fifty million dollars after his parents die. Receiving everything he desires has made life meaningless until he realizes "the world at large hated and despised him." The satire critiques inherited wealth and idle rich youth, suggesting that unlimited privilege without purpose creates moral emptiness. Harold finds meaning only through the world's rejection of him. Both pieces critique American wealth inequality and excess.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
453 LITTLE LESSONS THE INDUSTRIOUS AND THE IDLE 'PRENTICE Eclat HERE is a fitness in éclat having a French name. For years France led the world in the manufacture of the gasoline cars by means of which the - Most popular éclat is produced. Eclat is from éclater, which, being interpreted, means to burst forth. Who does not know how gasoline bursts forth when you handle the levers right? We may yet have a cheap American éclat, with denatured alcohol, but we need bear in mind that grave difficulties will have to be surmounted. Nature stands well with all classes, just at present, and when we propose not only a denatured alcohol, but a denatured human nature as well, we verge upon the unthinkable. It seems to be settled, for the present, at least, that éclat is essentially urban. Farmers milk their cows (modified) by pasteurized gasoline, and farmers’ wives are all the time mistaking gasoline for dishwater and getting them- selves blown up, but quite without éclat. The Right to Live T THE age of fourteen Harold’s father gave him a ten thousand-dollar motor car. Harold was delighted. He ran it about for several months to the exclusion of every- thing else. Aiter this Harold wanted another. He got it. Next year Harold went in for motor boats. In a couple of years more, however, they had worn themselves out. At twenty Harold was married. Divorced at twenty-two. To sum up: At thirty there was nothing else for him to do. He had done every pleasure. And there were no new ones being invented. Suddenly, however, Harold’s parents died and left him fifty millions, He was about to despair, there being no use for the money, when suddenly he realized that the world at large hated and despised him, “At last,” said Harold with a sense of supreme satisfaction, “Tam happy once more. I have a new sensation.” ~ comicbooks.com